Liverpool to stage annual tribute to Seamus Heaney

The first annual Seamus Heaney Lecture will be held in Liverpool next month, including poetry read by Line of Duty star Adrian Dunbar.

The Northern Irish actor will take part in the free event on October 17 which is being organised by the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies.

Professor Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, will give the lecture – titled Airs and Graces - which will also be attended by Heaney’s widow Marie and children Catherine, Christopher and Michael.

The Nobel Prize-winning poet, playwright and translator was born in Northern Ireland and passed away in 2013. This year would have been his 80th birthday.

Organisers say the annual lecture will “seek to reflect the values of the man, and his ability to communicate with a wide audience.”

Institute of Irish Studies’ Professor Peter Shirlow added: “Seamus Heaney was a person who was prominent within so many of our lives. Many of us came to appreciate poetry and wider cultural imaginings and understanding of place and identity through his prose, wit and care.

“He was not only an immense talent but a person who could be so self-effacing and humble. He was a man who delicately healed many of the wounds within Ireland in a manner that was thought provoking and graceful.”

The Seamus Heaney Lecture takes place at the Victoria Gallery & Museum on October 17 at 6pm. Tickets HERE