Tributes are being paid to Irish author Val Mulkerns. The Aosdána member has died at the age of 93.

Aosdána was set up in 1981 to honour artists whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the creative arts in Ireland.

The Arts Council has expressed its regret at her passing.

Chair of the Arts Council, Sheila Pratschke, said: "One of the first members of Aosdána, Val Mulkerns was an integral part of the fabric of Irish literary and cultural life.

"A writer of astute observation and genuine beauty, she worked across multiple forms - novels, short fiction, children’s literature, criticism, memoir.

"Deeply admired and widely read, Mulkerns leaves behind a rich legacy, and will be greatly missed."

Born in Dublin in 1925, she moved to London after working in the civil service.

She returned to Ireland in 1952 as associate editor of The Bell.

Her novels include A Time Outworn (1951), A Peacock Cry (1954), The Summerhouse (1984) and Very Like A Whale (1986).

Her short stories are collected as Antiquities (1978), An Idle Woman (1980), and A Friend of Don Juan (1988).

She also jointly won the AIB Prize for Literature in 1984.

Ms Mulkerns wrote a weekly column for the Evening Press from 1968 to 1983, and she wrote two children's books - which have been translated into German and published by Benziger of Zurich.

She was married to the late writer Maurice Kennedy, and edited a posthumous collection of his work The Way to Vladivostok (2000).