The Seamus Heaney HomePlace museum will feature its YouTube series finale next week, with a special reading by Hugh Heaney, the poet’s brother.
The final episode will be available at 7pm Wednesday 3 June on the centre’s YouTube channel.
Hugh will read an introduction, as well as the first and last stanzas of ‘Keeping Going’, the poem Seamus dedicated to him.
The same name is the title for the online series of readings and performances, which the Bellaghy-based literary centre launched in April.
Acclaimed author Glen Patterson will be back for the finale to read a section from Heaney’s epic poem, ‘Station Island’ and also the poem, ‘The Given Note’.
The Ulster Orchestra will also perform a work by Neil Martin which is based on ‘Station Island’.
Martin said of his 2016 musical creation: “As I delved into the poem in search of a springboard to launch me into composing something on it, Sequence XII grabbed me. In the imagined encounter of this section, the poet, self-doubting, meets James Joyce on the jetty at Lough Derg.
“Joyce emboldens the poet, telling him not to worry about what others think, but to have confidence in his own writing and to continue to write and to do so from the heart.
“Seamus himself was a solid encourager to me, from when we first collaborated on a Field Day stage in 1988 through to his very last years. Always supportive and sensitive in his generous suggestions, his hand often helped me off choppy waters and onto the jetty. And continues to do so to this very day.”
For the past five weeks the doors of Seamus Heaney HomePlace have been closed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the award-winning facility has continued to find ways to bring Northern Ireland’s writers, poets and performers into homes across the world via YouTube.
Councillor Martin Kearney, Chair of Mid Ulster District Council which owns and operates HomePlace said: “This final feature will bring extra special closure to a truly memorable series of events delivered by Seamus Heaney HomePlace, providing a wonderful testament both reflecting current times and offering the light of inspiration through the arts.”
