Developed by Mid Ulster District Council, Seamus Heaney HomePlace is a purpose-built arts and literary centre, situated in the village of Bellaghy, in the heart of the area were Seamus Heaney was born, lived and is now buried. HomePlace celebrates the life and work of the late poet and Nobel Laureate, and is a home for inspiration, echoing the life, literature and legacy of Seamus Heaney.
‘Me in the Place’ – A Virtual Introduction to Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Bellaghy
Join Venue Manager Brian McCormick and Arts Programmer Cathy Brown to find out more about the background to the Centre, how HomePlace promotes Seamus Heaney’s work across the wider community and how HomePlace is rooted in Seamus Heaney’s home ground, keeping his poetry at the heart of their work.
Brian and Cathy will be joined by Northern Ireland based academic Dr Alison Garden, who will explore the themes of the conference through her current research which explores ‘Love across the Divide’ in literature and culture from the north of Ireland from 1968-present.
‘Politics, Poetics and Ireland’s star crossed lovers’
When Heaney advises us to ‘walk on air against our better judgement’, our thoughts might turn to love: a euphoric emotion that may well lead us to make unwise or rash decisions. Most of us associate poetry with love but in this paper I’ll discuss the politics of love and what it means to love someone against your better judgement in Ireland. Focusing on Joan Lingard’s Across the Barricades series for young adults, I’ll explore the redemptive possibilities of loving someone you shouldn’t and what this might mean for Irish literature.
Alison Garden
Queen’s University Belfast
Dr. Alison Garden is a UKRI Future Leaders Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast, where she was previously a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow (2018-2020). Alison’s first book, The Literary Afterlives of Roger Casement, 1899-2016, was published by Liverpool University Press in 2020. She has published widely on modern and contemporary literature and culture, with a particular focus on Ireland. She has also written for the Irish Times, the Guardian and RTÉ, as well as working with the BBC to produce a series based on her research, creating four programmes about novels of love and danger in Northern Ireland.
‘Politics, Poetics and Ireland’s star crossed lovers’
When Heaney advises us to ‘walk on air against our better judgement’, our thoughts might turn to love: a euphoric emotion that may well lead us to make unwise or rash decisions. Most of us associate poetry with love but in this paper I’ll discuss the politics of love and what it means to love someone against your better judgement in Ireland. Focusing on Joan Lingard’s Across the Barricades series for young adults, I’ll explore the redemptive possibilities of loving someone you shouldn’t and what this might mean for Irish literature.
Ian McElhinny
Ian McElhinney is a world-renowned Irish actor who has appeared on stage, film and in many television series in a career spanning more than thirty years and is best known for his work on The Tudors, Derry Girls and Game of Thrones.