Indeed, Ireland didn’t even get its own national poet or fiction laureate until 1998 and 2015, respectively. “Laureateships, like prizes and bursaries, recognise a coherent tradition built over time and reinforce a robust faith in the value of Irish literature as a category. Irish literature is now a term with clear meanings and resonances, institutionalised as an aspect of Irish life. … But the apparent certainty with which we now use the term should not blind us to its long birth across centuries of conflict and change.” – The Irish Times