Discover more about Seamus Heaney : Irish Poet, Critic, Playwright and Nobel Prize Winner : find out about the area in which grew up and the unique area of Northern Ireland that he writes about

Seamus Heaney : Irish Poet, Critic & Playwright : Nobel Prize Winner

Seamus Heaney - Irish Poet
Seamus Heaney Biography
Seamus Heaney Tours
Seamus Heaney Accommodation - Laurel Villa Townhouse
Seamus Heaney Poems
Seamus Heaney Bibliography
Seamus Heaney Image Gallery
Seamus Heaney Links
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Seamus Heaney : Irish Poet, Critic & Playwright : Nobel Prize Winner

 

Seamus Heaney : Irish Poet, Critic & Playwright : Nobel Prize Winner

 

Seamus Heaney : Irish Poet, Critic & Playwright : Nobel Prize Winner

 

Seamus Heaney : Irish Poet, Critic & Playwright : Nobel Prize Winner

 

Seamus Heaney : Irish Poet, Critic & Playwright : Nobel Prize Winner

 

Seamus Heaney : Irish Poet, Critic & Playwright : Nobel Prize Winner

 

Heaney & Friends

by Tom Byrne

 

 
Discover more about Seamus Heaney : Irish Poet, Critic, Playwright and Nobel Prize Winner : find out about the area in which grew up and the unique area of Northern Ireland that he writes about

Seamus Heaney: Irish Poet, Writer & Nobel Laureate

"Anyone who reads poetry has reason to rejoice at living in the age when Seamus Heaney is writing"

The New York Times Book Review

This website is aimed at encouraging interest in Irish poet Seamus Heaney and enhancing the enjoyment of his work. It also seeks to celebrate and promote that unique area of Northern Ireland where Seamus Heaney was born and grew up, namely South Derry in Northern Ireland. It is not owned by nor affiliated in any way to Seamus Heaney, nor does it seek to represent his views nor those of his publishers and contact with him can not be made through this site.

Seamus Heaney was born near Castledawson in County Derry and now divides his time between Dublin and Glanmore in County Wicklow. His bibliography or list of published work is vast and includes poetry, prose, criticism, theatre and translation.

He has been Professor of Poetry at Oxford and for many years taught at Harvard University. His writings, lectures and readings have made him one of the most popular and admired writers of our time. He is a member of Aosdána, an association of people in Ireland who have achieved distinction in the arts. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995 for his outstanding contribution to literature.

Seamus Heaney is best known for his poems, including translations into English of other poets. Along with Ted Hughes he has also edited two best-selling poetry anthologies, The Rattle Bag (London & Boston, Faber and Faber, 1982) and The School Bag (1997)

He has published two plays, The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles' Philoctetes (London, Faber and Faber in association with Field Day, 1990); and a translation, The Burial at Thebes: Sophocles' Antigone (Faber & Faber, 2004).

Seamus Heaney is one of the most recognisable figures in Ireland and beyond. One of the things that has endeared him to so many people at home and abroad is that he has never lost touch with his South Derry roots. In his poems, essays, interviews and in his other public remarks he often affectionately refers to places such as Mossbawn, his childhood home ... to the townlands of Tamniarn, The Creagh, Anahorish, Broagh, Leitrim and Derrygarve and Tamlaghduff ... to the Parishes of Ballyscullion and Magherafelt ... to the towns or villages of Castledawson, Bellaghy, Magherafelt and Toome ... and to other places in the locality such as Devlin’s Forge at The Hillhead, Lagan’s Road, The Strand at Lough Beg, Church Island, Lough Neagh and The Old Cross of Ardboe.

" If you have a strong first world and a strong set of relationships then in some part of you you are always free, you can walk the world because you know where you belong, you have some place to come back to."

Seamus Heaney at Magherafelt Civic Reception January 1996

If you would like to know more about these places and to find out about Heaney Breaks and guided tours of South Derry go to our Seamus Heaney Tours page

In a generation of highly talented Irish writers, Seamus Heaney stands out as a truely international figure. His influence on contemporary poetry is considered to be immense. Robert Lowell called Heaney "the most important Irish poet since Yeats." Many others have echoed that sentiment. His influence is not restricted to Ireland but is felt world-wide. In 1995 he followed in the footsteps of three earlier Irish writers Shaw, Beckett and Yeats by being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature “ for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth which exalt everyday miracles and the living past.”

For a period of over forty years his poetry collections have been featuring consistently in the best-seller lists. His volumes make up two-thirds of the sales of living poets in the U.K. Seamus Heaney’s most recent 2007 publication is a special limited edition collection called The Riverbank Field. It is published by Peter Fallon of Gallery Press. For more information visit www.gallerypress.com

Seamus Heaney’s contribution to the world of letters is not confined to poetry. He is also a much respected critic and in 2003 he won the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism for his book Finders Keepers. To mark the occasion Heaney published a limited edition broadside poem called Testimonies – reproduced later as Anahorish 1944 in his District and Circle collection. Visitors to Heaney country can view this poem at Laurel Villa Townhouse Magherafelt Seamus Heaney has also made his mark as a playwright. His play The Cure at Troy, an adaptation of Sophocles’ Philotetes, has been widely quoted in the context of the Northern Ireland Troubles and the ensuing peace process.

Seamus Heaney Tours & Accommodation, Northern Ireland

Click here for Laurel Villa Guesthouse website