About this video

The Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool is delighted to announce ‘Human Chain: Poets on the Poetry of Seamus Heaney’, an online event dedicated to the life and work of the Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney.

This event by the Institute of Irish Studies is supported by the Estate of Seamus Heaney who kindly endorsed the Institute’s Annual Seamus Heaney Lecture. Last year’s inaugural lecture was delivered by Professor Louise Richardson, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford. As public events are currently not possible the Institute of Irish Studies will instead publish a video of readings and reflections on Seamus Heaney by established poets and writers with a reading by the actress Bríd Brennan.

Please find below a list of content and approximate timings.
Welcome by Professor Peter Shirlow -- 0:04
Welcome by Catherine Heaney -- 4:57
Bríd Brennan / Massbawn: I, Sunlight -- 8:40
Bernard O’Donoghue / ‘A Call’ -- 9:50
Dr Gail McConnell / ‘Fodder’ -- 17:40
Bríd Brennan / The Strand at Lough Beg -- 22:00
Dr Seán Hewitt / ‘The Riverbank Field’ -- 25:12
Dr Tara Bergin: ‘Feeling into Words’ -- 29:33
Bríd Brennan / The Otter -- 32:47
Yousif M. Qasmiyeh / ‘The Backward Look’ and ‘Nesting Grounds’ -- 34:19
Dr Eleanor Lybeck / A Response and Vote of Thanks -- 52:30