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  Heaney & Friends by Tom Byrne

             Seamus Heaney

   Toru Sato and Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney, Irish Poet : Exhibition & Tours

  Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney Gives Special Reading at Laurel Villa

Owners Gerardine and Eugene Kielt with Seamus Heaney at Laurel Villa

In June 2009 Seamus Heaney - in constant demand the world over - gave a memorable reading as a guest poet at Laurel Villa. The occasion was the 40th. Anniversary of the publication of the poet’s second collection Door Into The Dark which first appeared in June 1969.

To read a review of Laurel Villa go to The Observer the world's oldest and still one of the very best Sunday newspapers

The locally-born poet read a number of poems from the featured collection, including Thatcher, Relic of Memory and A Lough Neagh Sequence, as well as the poem which gave the collection its title, The Forge.  The packed audience were also treated to some of his more recent poems such as A Clip and Anahorish 1944 both of which were set in the locality around Mossbawn, Seamus Heaney’s birthplace near Castledawson. In characteristic Heaney fashion the poetry was peppered with plenty of amusing and illuminating anecdotes which made for a highly entertaining evening. During the coarse of the evening, the Nobel laureate paid tribute to Laurel Villa for the warm welcome and service it provides to so many visitors from around the world and for its committment to poets and poetry in general. He also revealed that he was working on a new collection of poems which, like previous Heaney collections, is sure to be a best-seller.

Laurel Villa: Ireland's Only Poetry/Guest House

"The standing army of Irish poets never falls below 20,000! "

proclaimed Patrick Kavanagh. You will come across the work of some of these, past and present, at Laurel Villa, including one of the world's leading poets, Seamus Heaney. If you are a Heaney enthusiast or someone who is just interested in finding out a little bit more about him and the area he came from … then Laurel Villa Guest House is the place to stay. Our guest bedrooms are dedicated to the great Ulster poets MacNeice, Kavanagh, Longley and Heaney.

Seamus Heaney Biography

Seamus Heaney was born in 1939 at Mossbawn, a farmhouse outside Castledawson, just three miles from Laurel Villa. He is a poet of international standing and his work has won numerous awards including the Noble Prize for Literature, the Whitbread Award and more recently the T.S.Elliot Award. He has written twelve collections of poetry, the most recent of which is District and Circle. He is also a respected and prize-winning critic and essayist and he has published his own versions of Greek plays and the Middle English poem Beowulf. His work has been translated into a number of languages and he himself has provided translations for a number of other writers, including the Gaelic language poet Cathal O Searcaigh. From his very earliest poems, Seamus Heaney has displayed a great feeling for and pride in his homeland and his poems record many lovely childhood memories of it.

To find out more about Seamus Heaney visit www.seamusheaneypoems.com - a website dedicated to Seamus Heaney, his life, his work and his close association with this beautiful part of Northern Ireland.

Seamus Heaney Exhibition and Poems

At Laurel Villa we have a unique Seamus Heaney Exhibition which guests can avail of FREE. You will be inspired by the rare collection of Heaney First Editions, Heaney Broadsides and Heaney ephemera. This guesthouse is a must for anyone who likes Seamus Heaney and his poems.

Seamus Heaney Tours

These are available on request and are led by Eugene who is a fully qualified Blue Badge guide. The tours are tailored to meet the requirements of the individual or group. While most are conducted for overnight guests at Laurel Villa we also consider requests from non-resident individuals and groups. Our guided tours take groups to places which have an association with Seamus Heaney’s life and works. Among the recent groups who have benefited from this experience is a group from Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan. Student Asami Oka described it as an unforgettable experience and said that it provided her with a really deep understanding of Heaney’s writings and indeed Heaney country.

Tours of Heaney Country start at £60             Please CONTACT US for a quote

Other Guided Tours can be provided upon request. Again these are bespoke tours so each tour is tailored to meet the requirements of you, the customer. We will be happy to provide a price quotation for you.

There are many places of interest in the Magherafelt and Mid Ulster area. Among them are Ardboe High Cross, Springhill House, Antrim Round Tower, Bellaghy Bawn, Tirkane Sweathouse, Tirnony Dolmen, Beaghmore Stone Circles and Church Island.

Slieve Gallen to the west is another place of interest, as it has commanding views over the whole area and it is reputed to be the burial place of Colla, an early King of Ireland. It has been immortalised in the popular local balled Slieve Gallen’s Brae. Seamus Heaney has referred to it as one of the dream boundaries of his imagination.