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55-519: Previous attendees have included Seamus Heaney , Jung Chang , Louis de Bernières , Junot Díaz , Colm Tóibín , Yann Martell , Margaret Atwood , André Brink , John Banville , Hanif Kureishi , Amitav Ghosh , Ian McEwan , Alexander McCall Smith , Jeffrey Archer , John Boyne , Anne Enright , Benjamin Zephaniah , Carol Ann Duffy , Pankaj Mishra , Irvine Welsh , Cheryl Strayed , Pico Ayer , Amy Tan . The Hong Kong International Literary Festival

110-456: A local linen mill . Heaney remarked on the inner tension between the rural Gaelic past exemplified by his father and the industrialized Ulster exemplified by his mother. Heaney attended Anahorish Primary School, and won a scholarship to St Columb's College , a Roman Catholic boarding school in Derry when he was twelve years old. While studying at St Columb's, Heaney's younger brother Christopher

165-551: A native of Ardboe , County Tyrone, while at St Joseph's in 1962; they married in August 1965 and would go on to have three children. A school teacher and writer, Devlin published Over Nine Waves (1994), a collection of traditional Irish myths and legends. Heaney's first book, Eleven Poems, was published in November 1965 for the Queen's University Festival. In 1966 their first son, Michael,

220-539: A population of 2,289. The village sits on the River Moyola and was originally called "Dawson's Bridge". The bridge that crossed the river here was once the largest single span stone bridge in Ireland . The village was named after its 'castle' (actually a large manor house) built by Joshua Dawson in 1713. He was Chief Secretary for Ireland and founded the village in 1710. The Dawson estate, Shanemullagh, shares its name with

275-462: A sense of the depth and range of the contribution of Seamus Heaney to our contemporary world, but what those of us who have had the privilege of his friendship and presence will miss is the extraordinary depth and warmth of his personality...Generations of Irish people will have been familiar with Seamus' poems. Scholars all over the world will have gained from the depth of the critical essays, and so many rights organisations will want to thank him for all

330-550: A short illness. After a fall outside a restaurant in Dublin, he entered a hospital for a medical procedure but died at 7:30 the following morning before it took place. His funeral was held in Donnybrook , Dublin, on the morning of 2 September 2013, and he was buried in the evening at St. Mary's Church, Bellaghy his home village, in the same graveyard as his parents, younger brother, and other family members. His son Michael revealed at

385-427: A substantial portion of his literary archive at Emory University as a memorial to the work of William M. Chace , the university's recently retired president. The Emory papers represented the largest repository of Heaney's work (1964–2003). He donated these to help build their large existing archive of material from Irish writers including Yeats, Paul Muldoon , Ciaran Carson , Michael Longley and other members of

440-468: Is a book of shades and memories, of things whispered, of journeys into the underworld, of elegies and translations, of echoes and silences." In October 2010, the collection was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize . Heaney was named one of "Britain's top 300 intellectuals" by The Observer in 2011, though the newspaper later published a correction acknowledging that "several individuals who would not claim to be British" had been featured, of which Heaney

495-600: Is managed by Hong Kong International Literary Festival Ltd, a registered charity in Hong Kong that founded and manages the annual Hong Kong International Young Readers Festival since 2012. This Hong Kong education topic article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a literary festival is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney MRIA (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013)

550-521: Is popular with anglers and has managed stocks of salmon (but also has perch , eel , trout , bream and pike ). Dominating the horizon to the south-west of the village is a dramatic ráth . Famous natives have included: Castledawson railway station opened on 10 November 1856, closed for passenger traffic on 28 August 1950, and finally closed altogether on 1 October 1959. The main A6 Belfast to Derry road passed through Castledawson from 1971, when

605-473: Is secure." Heaney's poem "Fosterage", in the sequence "Singing School", from North (1975), is dedicated to him. In 1963 Heaney began lecturing at St Joseph's, and joined the Belfast Group , a poets' workshop organized by Philip Hobsbaum , then an English lecturer at Queen's University. Through this, Heaney met other Belfast poets, including Derek Mahon and Michael Longley . Heaney met Marie Devlin,

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660-567: The 2004 EU Enlargement . He read the poem at a ceremony for the 25 leaders of the enlarged European Union , arranged by the Irish EU presidency . In August 2006 Heaney had a stroke. Although he recovered and joked, "Blessed are the pacemakers" when fitted with a heart monitor, he cancelled all public engagements for several months. He was in County Donegal at the time of the 75th birthday of Anne Friel, wife of playwright Brian Friel . He read

715-427: The Belfast Group . In 2003, when asked if there was any figure in popular culture who aroused interest in poetry and lyrics, Heaney praised American rap artist Eminem from Detroit, saying, "He has created a sense of what is possible. He has sent a voltage around a generation. He has done this not just through his subversive attitude but also his verbal energy." Heaney wrote the poem " Beacons at Bealtaine " to mark

770-533: The Irish Republican Army shot dead an off-duty Special Constable while carrying out a bomb attack on the Moyola Bridge at Castledawson. In 1943, Nestlé built and opened a factory that made sweetened condensed milk. However, it was closed in the 1970s. Today it is the home of the award-winning Ditty's Bakery and Moyola Precision Engineering, a noted innovator of aerospace components. The River Moyola

825-624: The Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995 for "works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past". He was on holiday in Greece with his wife when the news broke. Neither journalists nor his own children could reach him until he arrived at Dublin Airport two days later, although an Irish television camera traced him to Kalamata . Asked how he felt to have his name added to

880-680: The University College Dublin (UCD) Law Society, in recognition of his remarkable role as a literary figure. Faber and Faber published Dennis O'Driscoll 's book Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney in 2008; this has been described as the nearest thing to an autobiography of Heaney. In 2009, Heaney was awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature. He recorded a spoken word album, over 12 hours long , of himself reading his poetry collections to commemorate his 70th birthday, which occurred on 13 April 2009. He spoke at

935-633: The West Belfast Festival in July 2010 in celebration of his mentor, the poet and novelist Michael McLaverty , who had helped Heaney to first publish his poetry. In September 2010 Faber published Human Chain , Heaney's twelfth collection. Human Chain was awarded the Forward Poetry Prize for Best Collection, one of the major poetry prizes Heaney had never previously won, despite having been twice shortlisted. The book, published 44 years after

990-575: The Whitbread Book of the Year Award ; he repeated the success in 1999 with Beowulf: A New Verse Translation . Heaney was elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy in 1996 and was admitted in 1997. In the same year, Heaney was elected Saoi of Aosdána . In 1998, Heaney was elected Honorary Fellow of Trinity College Dublin. In 2000 Heaney was awarded an honorary doctorate and delivered

1045-691: The Dark . Heaney taught as a visiting professor in English at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1970–1971 academic year. In 1972, he left his lectureship in Belfast, moved to Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland, and began writing on a full-time basis. That year, he published his third collection, Wintering Out . In 1975, Heaney's next volume, North , was published. A pamphlet of prose poems entitled Stations

1100-580: The Fordham commencement ceremony on 23 May 1982, Heaney delivered his address as a 46-stanza poem entitled "Verses for a Fordham Commencement." Born and educated in Northern Ireland, Heaney stressed that he was Irish and not British. Following the success of the Field Day Theatre Company 's production of Brian Friel 's Translations , the founders Brian Friel and Stephen Rea decided to make

1155-560: The Irish Nobel pantheon of W. B. Yeats , George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett , Heaney responded: "It's like being a little foothill at the bottom of a mountain range. You hope you just live up to it. It's extraordinary." He and his wife Marie were immediately taken from the airport to Áras an Uachtaráin for champagne with President Mary Robinson . He would refer to the prize discreetly as "the N thing" in personal exchanges with others. Heaney's 1996 collection The Spirit Level won

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1210-524: The Nobel Prize for Literature. Castledawson Castledawson is a village in County Londonderry , Northern Ireland . It is mostly within the townland of Shanemullagh (from Irish an Seanmhullach  'the old hilltop', IPA:[ˈanˠˈʃanˠˌwʊl̪ˠəx]), about four miles from the north-western shore of Lough Neagh , and near the market town of Magherafelt . In the 2011 Census, it had

1265-514: The Pennsylvania college to deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary degree. He was scheduled to return to Dickinson again to receive the Harold and Ethel L. Stellfox Award—for a major literary figure—at the time of his death in 2013. Irish poet Paul Muldoon was named recipient of the award that year, partly in recognition of the close connection between the two poets. Heaney was awarded

1320-674: The United States from 1981 to 2006. He was a professor at Harvard from 1981 to 1997, and their Poet in Residence from 1988 to 2006. From 1989 to 1994, he was also the Professor of Poetry at Oxford . In 1996 he was made a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and in 1998 was bestowed the title Saoi of Aosdána . He received numerous prestigious awards. Heaney is buried at St. Mary's Church, Bellaghy , Northern Ireland. The headstone bears

1375-441: The United States. He also continued to give public readings. These events were so well attended and keenly anticipated that those who queued for tickets with such enthusiasm were sometimes dubbed "Heaneyboppers", suggesting an almost teenybopper fan base. In 1990 The Cure at Troy , a play based on Sophocles 's Philoctetes , was published. The next year, he published another volume of poetry, Seeing Things (1991). Heaney

1430-552: The blame for the incident on alcohol and "the mad Orangemen of the locality," who he believed may have set up the incident. The response to this incident saw rioting in Belfast that resulted in roughly 2,000 Catholic shipyard workers and 500 Protestant Home Rulers being violently driven from their jobs at the Workman and Clarke shipyard. In March 1922, during the Irish War of Independence ,

1485-622: The boxes of notes and drafts and, accompanied by his son Michael, delivered them to the National Library. In June 2012 Heaney accepted the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry's Lifetime Recognition Award and gave a speech in honour of the award. Heaney was compiling a collection of his work in anticipation of Selected Poems 1988–2013 at the time of his death. The selection includes poems and writings from Seeing Things , The Spirit Level ,

1540-402: The club. My grandfather cut more turf in a day Than any other man on Toner's bog. Once I carried him milk in a bottle Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up To drink it, then fell to right away Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods Over his shoulder, going down and down For the good turf. Digging. The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap Of soggy peat,

1595-594: The commencement address at the University of Pennsylvania . In 2002, Heaney was awarded an honorary doctorate from Rhodes University and delivered a public lecture on "The Guttural Muse". In 2003 the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry was opened at Queen's University Belfast . It houses the Heaney Media Archive, a record of Heaney's entire oeuvre, along with a full catalogue of his radio and television presentations. That same year, Heaney decided to lodge

1650-628: The company a permanent group. Heaney joined the company's expanded Board of Directors in 1981. In autumn 1984, his mother, Margaret, died. Heaney became a tenured faculty member at Harvard, as the Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory (formerly visiting professor) 1985–1997, and the Ralph Waldo Emerson Poet in Residence at Harvard 1998–2006. In 1986, Heaney received a Litt.D. from Bates College . His father, Patrick, died in October

1705-502: The curatorial process of the exhibition. Though the exhibit's original vision to celebrate Heaney's life and work remains at the forefront, there is a small section commemorating his death and its influence. In September 2015 it was announced that Heaney's family would posthumously publish his translation of Book VI of The Aeneid in 2016. Seamus Heaney died in the Blackrock Clinic in Dublin on 30 August 2013, aged 74, following

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1760-429: The curt cuts of an edge Through living roots awaken in my head. But I've no spade to follow men like them. Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests. I'll dig with it. Heaney studied English Language and Literature at Queen's University Belfast starting in 1957. While there, he found a copy of Ted Hughes 's Lupercal, which spurred him to write poetry. "Suddenly, the matter of contemporary poetry

1815-401: The epitaph "Walk on air against your better judgement", from his poem "The Gravel Walks". Wearing a poppy bruise on the left temple, He lay in the four-foot box as in his cot. No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear. A four-foot box, a foot for every year. Heaney was born on 13 April 1939 at the family farmhouse called Mossbawn, between Castledawson and Toomebridge ; he was

1870-444: The first of nine children. In 1953, his family moved to Bellaghy , a few miles away, which is now the family home. His father was Patrick Heaney (d. October 1986), a farmer and cattle dealer, and the eighth child of ten born to James and Sarah Heaney. Patrick was introduced to cattle dealing by his uncles, who raised him after his parents' early deaths. Heaney's mother was Margaret Kathleen McCann (1911–1984), whose relatives worked at

1925-758: The funeral mass that his father texted his final words, " Noli timere " (Latin: "Be not afraid"), to his wife, Marie, minutes before he died. His funeral was broadcast live the following day on RTÉ television and radio and was streamed internationally at RTÉ's website. RTÉ Radio 1 Extra transmitted a continuous broadcast, from 8 a.m. to 9:15 p.m. on the day of the funeral, of his Collected Poems album, recorded by Heaney in 2009. His poetry collections sold out rapidly in Irish bookshops immediately following his death. Many tributes were paid to Heaney. President Michael D. Higgins said: ...we in Ireland will once again get

1980-582: The gift of the story-teller." Upon his death in 2013, The Independent described him as "probably the best-known poet in the world". Heaney was born in the townland of Tamniaran between Castledawson and Toomebridge , Northern Ireland. His family moved to nearby Bellaghy when he was a boy. He became a lecturer at St. Joseph's College in Belfast in the early 1960s, after attending Queen's University and began to publish poetry. He lived in Sandymount , Dublin, from 1976 until his death. He lived part-time in

2035-459: The nearby Castledawson roundabout was built, in anticipation of the completion of the M22, which was never forthcoming, until 1992, when it was finally bypassed by a single-carriageway A6 upgrade. This section is currently being dualled, marking the end of a 47-year wait for the high-quality bypass it was promised, all those decades ago. Castledawson is home to the association football club Moyola Park ,

2090-600: The original townland name. The Dawson family also founded Christ Church, on the edge of that estate, in the early 18th century. On 29 June 1912, a large group of Ancient Order of Hibernians members, allegedly drunk after having held a parade, clashed with a party of Presbyterian Sunday School children in Castledawson, who were returning from their annual excursion, in what became known as the Castledawson Incident. The prominent Presbyterian reverend James Armour laid

2145-425: The poet's first, was inspired in part by Heaney's stroke in 2006, which left him "babyish" and "on the brink". Poet and Forward judge Ruth Padel described the work as "a collection of painful, honest and delicately weighted poems ... a wonderful and humane achievement." Writer Colm Tóibín described Human Chain as "his best single volume for many years, and one that contains some of the best poems he has written...

2200-428: The poetry of Patrick Kavanagh . With McLaverty's mentorship, Heaney first started to publish poetry in 1962. Sophia Hillan describes how McLaverty was like a foster father to the younger Belfast poet. In the introduction to McLaverty's Collected Works, Heaney summarised the poet's contribution and influence: "His voice was modestly pitched, he never sought the limelight, yet for all that, his place in our literature

2255-671: The rest of his life. This collection was met with much critical acclaim and won several awards, including the Gregory Award for Young Writers and the Geoffrey Faber Prize. The same year, he was appointed as a lecturer in Modern English Literature at Queen's University Belfast . In 1968, Heaney and Michael Longley undertook a reading tour called Room to Rhyme , which increased awareness of the poet's work. The following year, he published his second major volume, Door into

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2310-503: The rhythms of ordinary lives and a powerful voice for peace...His wonderful work, like that of his fellow Irish Nobel Prize winners Shaw, Yeats, and Beckett, will be a lasting gift for all the world. José Manuel Barroso , European Commission president, said: I am greatly saddened today to learn of the death of Seamus Heaney, one of the great European poets of our lifetime. ... The strength, beauty and character of his words will endure for generations to come and were rightly recognised with

2365-466: The same year. The loss of both parents within two years affected Heaney deeply, and he expressed his grief in poems. In 1988, a collection of his critical essays, The Government of the Tongue , was published. In 1985 Heaney wrote the poem "From the Republic of Conscience" at the request of Amnesty International Ireland. He wanted to "celebrate United Nations Day and the work of Amnesty". The poem inspired

2420-496: The solidarity he gave to the struggles within the republic of conscience. President Higgins also appeared live from Áras an Uachtaráin on the Nine O'Clock News in a five-minute segment in which he paid tribute to Seamus Heaney. Bill Clinton , former President of the United States, said: Both his stunning work and his life were a gift to the world. His mind, heart, and his uniquely Irish gift for language made him our finest poet of

2475-681: The title of Amnesty International's highest honour, the Ambassador of Conscience Award . In 1988 Heaney donated his lecture notes to the Rare Book Library of Emory University in Atlanta , Georgia, after giving the notable Ellmann Lectures there. In 1989 Heaney was elected Oxford Professor of Poetry , which he held for a five-year term to 1994. The chair does not require residence in Oxford. Throughout this period, he divided his time between Ireland and

2530-501: The translation of Beowulf , Electric Light , District and Circle , and Human Chain (fall 2014). In February 2014 Emory University premiered Seamus Heaney: The Music of What Happens , the first major exhibition to celebrate the life and work of Seamus Heaney since his death. The exhibit holds a display of the surface of Heaney's personal writing desk that he used in the 1980s as well as old photographs and personal correspondence with other writers. Heaney died in August 2013 during

2585-402: The works of Henning Mankell , Donna Leon and Robert Harris while in hospital. Among his visitors was former President Bill Clinton . Heaney's District and Circle won the 2006 T. S. Eliot Prize . In 2008, he became artist of honour in Østermarie , Denmark, and Seamus Heaney Stræde (street) was named after him. In 2009, Heaney was presented with an Honorary-Life Membership award from

2640-456: Was among those elected into its first group. (He was subsequently elected a Saoi , one of its five elders and its highest honour, in 1997). Also in 1981, Heaney travelled to the United States as a visiting professor at Harvard, where he was affiliated with Adams House . He was awarded two honorary doctorates, from Queen's University and from Fordham University in New York City (1982). At

2695-487: Was an Irish poet , playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature . Among his best-known works is Death of a Naturalist (1966), his first major published volume. American poet Robert Lowell described him as "the most important Irish poet since Yeats ", and many others, including the academic John Sutherland , have said that he was "the greatest poet of our age". Robert Pinsky has stated that "with his wonderful gift of eye and ear Heaney has

2750-402: Was born. He earned a living at the time by writing for The Irish Times , often on the subject of radio. A second son, Christopher, was born in 1968. Heaney initially sought publication with Dolmen Press in Dublin for his first volume of work. While waiting to hear back, he was signed with Faber and Faber and published Death of a Naturalist in 1966, and Faber remained his publisher for

2805-541: Was killed in February 1953 at the age of four in a road accident. The poems " Mid-Term Break " and " The Blackbird of Glanmore " are related to his brother's death. Heaney played Gaelic football for Castledawson GAC , the club in the area of his birth, as a boy, and did not change to Bellaghy when his family moved there. However, he has remarked that he became involved culturally with Bellaghy GAA Club in his late teens, acting in amateur plays and composing treasure hunts for

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2860-667: Was named an Honorary Patron of the University Philosophical Society , Trinity College Dublin , and was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (1991). In 1993 Heaney guest-edited The Mays Anthology , a collection of new writing from students at the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge . That same year, he was awarded the Dickinson College Arts Award and returned to

2915-603: Was one. That same year, he contributed translations of Old Irish marginalia for Songs of the Scribe , an album by Traditional Singer in Residence of the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin . In December 2011 Heaney donated his personal literary notes to the National Library of Ireland . Even though he admitted he would likely have earned a fortune by auctioning them, Heaney personally packed up

2970-409: Was published the same year. In 1976 Heaney was appointed Head of English at Carysfort College in Dublin and moved with his family to the suburb of Sandymount . His next collection, Field Work , was published in 1979. Selected Poems 1965-1975 and Preoccupations: Selected Prose 1968–1978 were published in 1980. When Aosdána , the national Irish Arts Council, was established in 1981, Heaney

3025-505: Was the material of my own life," he said. He graduated in 1961 with a First Class Honours degree. Heaney studied for a teacher certification at St Joseph's Teacher Training College in Belfast (now merged with St Mary's, University College ), and began teaching at St Thomas' Secondary Intermediate School in Ballymurphy, Belfast . The headmaster of this school was the writer Michael McLaverty from County Monaghan , who introduced Heaney to

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