21/12/2011

National Library Welcomes Heaney Archive

One of Ireland's foremost poets, Co Londonderry-born Seamus Heaney has today formally donated his personal literary archive to National Library of Ireland

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Arts Minister Jimmy Deenihan jointly officiated at the hand-over of the literary papers of Irish Nobel laureate Dr Seamus Heaney to the National Library of Ireland today.

Minister Deenihan said that this donation represents a thread of continuity between writers and the Library.

Dr Heaney comes from a family background in the farming community in Northern Ireland - but actually researched, worked and wrote many of his works in the auspicious library's reading room.

Acknowledging the generosity of Dr Heaney, Taoiseach Enda Kenny stated: "This fascinating literary archive, the working papers of Ireland's greatest living writer, is a fitting addition to the National Library's manuscript collections.

"To Seamus Heaney and to Marie Heaney, and to their children Michael, Christopher and Catherine, I say thank you on behalf of the nation for ensuring that these wonderful papers become part of the national collection in the care of the National Library of Ireland."

(BMcC)

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