50th anniversary of Seamus Heaney's landmark collection on Troubles to be marked

Irish Examiner

2 days ago

The 50th anniversary of the publication of Seamus Heaney's collection North, which saw the poet directly address the Northern Ireland Troubles for the first time, is to be marked.
A three-day conference at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University Belfast will bring together experts from around the world to discuss the significance of the Nobel laureate poet's landmark work.
The event, in partnership with Trinity College Dublin, takes place from June 5-7 and will also mark the first anniversary of the Belfast venue.
Poet Paul Muldoon will be among those taking part in the event at the Seamus Heaney Centre (Liam McBurney/PA)
Heaney, who died in 2013, was one of the world's best known modern poets.
Pulitzer prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon and Professor Edna Longley will be among authors, academics and poets discussing the significance of North 50 years on.
There will also be a family friendly traditional music session and a screening of the documentary Heaney in Limboland, made for TV in 1970 and featuring Heaney's views on the rapidly deteriorating political situation in Northern Ireland.
Upon publication in 1975, the American poet Robert Lowell said North represented 'a new kind of political poetry by the best Irish poet since WB Yeats' and the anthology went on to win awards including the Duff Cooper Memorial Prize and the WH Smith Memorial Prize.
There is no understanding poetry from these islands in the past half century, without North.
Heaney himself admitted the collection took a 'hammering' from other quarters, closer to home, for its representation of violence and gender politics.
Many academics consider it to be a key moment in the evolution of Heaney from a significant Irish poet to a poet of international standing, culminating in his winning of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995.
Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre, Professor Glenn Patterson said: 'Whichever way you come at it, in admiration, in awe or in search of an argument, there is no understanding poetry from these islands in the past half century, without North.
'There are not many books, of any kind, that merit an 'at 50' conference, but North seems only to grow in significance with every year that passes, and with every year that passes to attract new readers, and new critical thinking.'
The publication was such a seminal moment in my father's life and career
The poet's daughter Catherine Heaney, said: 'We are proud and honoured that the 50th anniversary of North is being marked with this conference, alongside Faber's reissue of the volume in its original jacket.
'The publication was such a seminal moment in my father's life and career and it is testament to its staying power that, five decades on, it continues to resonate with readers and inspire scholarly debate.'
Dr Stephen O'Neill from Trinity College Dublin said: 'Written under the strain of what Seamus Heaney called 'a very high pressure', North was a landmark in his writing career.
'It was and is also a landmark in criticism, as a subject for many of the leading critics of Irish literature then and now.
'Organised to coincide with Faber's anniversary republication of the volume, the conference is a chance to reflect upon the impact of Heaney's fourth collection and reassess its reception.'
All events will take place at the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's. Attendance is free but registration is required.