Talk:Saoi

John McGahern
I am not convinced John McGahern was a Saoi.
 * Evidence for:
 * Aosdána "Former members" page lists his name with the torc icon indicating a Saoi
 * Evidence against:
 * Aosdána biography does not mention
 * I checked all the Arts Council annual reports ( available here and here) and AFAIK the election of every new Saoi is noted in the relevant year; but McGahern is not noted. The 2004 Aosdána report does not lists McGahern as a Saoi: "There are never more than five Saoithe at any one time. In 2004 they were Louis le Brocquy, Anthony Cronin, Seamus Heaney and Benedict Kiely. " The 2006 Arts Council report notes his death but doesn't mention Aosdána at all. The 2005  Arts Council report says there was a separate Aosdána report for 2005, which I can't find online. It's just possible McGahern was elected Saoi that year. But I would expect some google news archive hits for such an event. jnestorius(talk) 18:27, 2 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Arts Council press release on his death does not mention; I have removed him from the List. jnestorius(talk) 11:19, 4 February 2015 (UTC)

Year of election and investiture
The Arts Council Annual Reports ( available here and here) give the year of election and/or investiture of new Saoithe; sometimes these are a year earlier or later than those given in the Wikipedia page. I surmise that sometimes someone is elected one year and not invested till the following year, and that third-party sources may conflate the two events. The article should specify which date is given for each name; ideally listing both where different. jnestorius(talk) 18:27, 2 February 2015 (UTC)

Edna O'Brien was missing, so I added her, but I am not sure if I got the distinction between the election and investiture dates right. The source on the Aosdana website mentions there was a ceremony to celebrate her election in 2015, though. Detritus2 (talk) 14:36, 19 October 2017 (UTC)