Heaney HomePlace celebrates 1st anniversary

Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy, Northern Ireland, which was set up to honour the Nobel laureate, will mark its first anniversary in September with a special programme of events curated by one of the world’s greatest living poets.
 
Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Muldoon will explore Heaney’s final collection, Human Chain, through a weekend of music, poetry, film, food, discussion and dance.
 
The programme, running from 8–10 September, will feature a host of renowned professionals, including Jean Butler, principal dancer and co-choreographer on Riverdance; Horslips musicians Barry Devlin and Jim Lockhart; and Terence Brown, one of Ireland's foremost literary and cultural historians.
 
Several poets who, like Muldoon, were taught by Heaney at Queen’s University in Belfast, will perform readings, while a top geneticist will discuss DNA and the ‘human chain’ of Irish ancestry.
 
Each month throughout the centre’s first year, HomePlace has presented multi-disciplinary events which have explored Heaney’s collections of poems and their legacy.
 
These, as well as the award-winning exhibition space, have established HomePlace as a premier arts, literary and education centre.  

Thousands of visitors, including British royalty, have already visited HomePlace to journey through the Nobel laureate’s life and experiences, and discover the people and places that inspired his poetry.
 
Artefacts on view include a recreation of the poet’s attic study in Dublin as well as dozens of Heaney family photographs, stories, personal items and objects, which reveal aspects of the poet’s personal life.
 
Video recordings from friends, neighbours and celebrities such as U2’s Bono, former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson and writer and TV personality, Stephen Fry, speak of the genius of the poet and the humanity of the man.
 
And there are also recordings of Heaney reading his own words.
 
The poet’s grave is just down the road from the HomePlace in St Mary’s Church, and nearby the ‘Turf Man’ sculpture interprets ‘Digging’, one of Heaney’s most famous poems.
 
A visit to HomePlace, whether for a special event or just to see and hear the great poet’s work, is an unmissable chance to be inspired by Heaney, and, as he said himself, “Time to be dazzled and the heart to lighten". 
 
www.ireland.com
www.seamusheaneyhome.com