Digging at 60: Archives Conference

Marking the 60th anniversary of Death of a Naturalist, we are hosting a conference to explore aspects of Heaney’s early career.
About this Event

We are delighted to partner with the National Library of Ireland, Emory Rose Library, and Queen’s University’s Special Collections to host this two-day event Digging at 60: From the Archives.

In 1966, Seamus Heaney published Death of a Naturalist, the collection that would launch his career and establish him firmly in the public eye as a poet of place whose local accents and autobiographical bent marked a new direction in twentieth century Irish poetry. In the same year, Heaney accepted a lectureship at his alma mater, Queen’s University Belfast, and made his first appearance on Ireland’s Late Late show, reading Blackberry Picking and gaining a mass audience thanks to the power of broadcast media.

Few poets have received such close scholarly scrutiny during their lifetimes, and interest in Heaney’s work has not waned in the years since his passing. Many scholars interested in breaking new ground are now returning to archival sources to add context and glean further insight into his prolific career.

We encourage participants and attendees to visit our conference partner sites and sources as listed below.

• National Library of Ireland, Dublin (Seamus Heaney Literary Papers – including early drafts of all his poetry collections, and some of his prose writing). ContactCrónánÓ Doibhlin, [email protected].
• Emory University, Georgia, US (letters, poems, recordings of lectures, physical artefacts)
• Queen's University, Belfast - Seamus Heaney Centre (Broadcast archive of media appearances TV and Radio). Contact Patricia Malone, [email protected].
• Queen's University, Belfast - Special Collections (Beowulf Manuscript collections and student notebooks). Contact Laura Caskey, [email protected].

Day Schedules coming soon