Irish poet Seamus Heaney was recognised for the "sheer scale" of his literary achievements with the £40,000 David Cohen prize this evening.
His fellow poet and chair of the award's judges, poet laureate Andrew Motion, honoured Heaney for a body of poetry that over the past 40 years has "crystallised the story of our times, in language which has bravely and memorably continued to extend its imaginative reach", and for his critical writing, his translations and his lecturing, which "have invigorated the whole wider world of poetry".
The prize, one of the most prestigious honours for living British writers, has been won in the past by Heaney's fellow Nobel laureates VS Naipaul and Harold Pinter. It is awarded biennially for a lifetime's excellence in literature. The prize is unusual in that the winner receives a further £12,500 to be donated either to a literature organisation that supports young writers, or to an individual writer under the age of 35. Heaney chose to give the £12,500 to an annual poetry speaking competition open to all post-primary students in Ireland, Poetry Aloud.
On receiving his prize this evening at a ceremony at the British Library, Heaney said the award was "highly honorific". "First of all there's the list of the previous winners, a roll call of the best; there's the fact that you don't enter for it but are chosen from the wide field of your contemporaries; and then there's the verification of that reference to 'lifetime achievement'", he said, calling it "a lovely reward when offered by a panel of such distinguished writers and readers".
Motion admitted that Heaney's reputation as Nobel laureate, bestselling poet and "venerated public figure" meant that "judging panels might be expected to feel some trepidation about bestowing another prize on him". But the David Cohen prize judges, who also included novelist Rose Tremain, poet and critic Robert Crawford, Guardian journalist Maya Jaggi and Malawian poet Jack Mapanje, felt that the "self-renewing force of his writing, and the sheer scale of his achievement", made the award of the prize "an absolutely right and proper act of recognition".
Heaney, born in County Derry in Northern Ireland in 1939, launched his poetry career with Death of a Naturalist in 1966. His work includes a mix of poetry, criticism and translations – including 1999's Beowulf – and in 1995 he won the Nobel prize for literature. He was praised by the Nobel academy "for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past". His 11th collection, District and Circle, won the TS Eliot prize in 2006, and he is also the recipient of the Somerset Maugham prize, the EM Forster award and the Whitbread book of the year (twice).
"Setting his name alongside previous winners does honour to the Cohen Prize, even as it honours him," Motion said. The prize, which is privately funded, has been won in the past by Muriel Spark, William Trevor, Doris Lessing, Beryl Bainbridge, Thom Gunn, Michael Holroyd and Derek Mahon, as well as Naipaul and Pinter.
The additional £12,500 is from the Arts Council England for the Clarissa Luard award, which was set up to honour Clarissa Luard, a firm supporter of young writers who worked in the Arts Council's literature department, and died in 1999.
Arts Council literature director Antonia Byatt said she was delighted at the judges' choice of Heaney, and at his own selection of Poetry Aloud. "He's had long involvement himself with teaching young people poetry," she said. "It's very close to his heart. For us it's fantastic – a lot of the organisations we fund spend a lot of time working with young people, introducing them to poetry, getting them involved in writing and reading it, so it's wonderful for him to choose something aimed at getting young people to learn about and enjoy poetry."
