"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.
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