Celebrating Seamus Heaney 

On Home Ground 

September 11-14 

     As the first anniversary of the death of Seamus Heaney approaches, the Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) have kindly supplied us with some of the ways people can celebrate the life and works of Seamus Heaney.
    Clare McCoy, NITB’s south of the border PR Officer, says: “Northern Ireland has a world-renowned reputation in poetry and prose,which in addition to Heaney also includes CS Lewis and Samuel Beckett, and if you enjoy reading and losing yourself in a good book, writing poetry or experiencing the magic of where some of the world’s finest stories, and poetry comes from, then look no further than Northern Ireland.”

Plans for a Seamus Heaney Interpretive Centre
    There are exciting plans to preserve the legacy Seamus Heaney left behind including a new centre to commemorate him in his native Bellaghy. The Seamus Heaney Interpretive Centre will include exhibition areas, library, arts studio and an amphitheatre.

Laurel Villa Guest House (Seamus Heaney Exhibition)

Laurel Villa Tours of Seamus Heaney Country
     The tour begins at Laurel Villa Townhouse in Magherafelt, (www.laurel-villa.com/) Ireland’s only poetry guesthouse, where there is an exhibition with rare Heaney memorabilia  and special editions of his work. The Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) have rated this five-star experience under a new NITB quality grading scheme, visitors have the opportunity to see his birthplace at Mossbawn and retrace the footsteps of the young Seamus Heaney on his way to school in the 1940s.
      The tour will bring people to places synonymous with Seamus Heaney, including the villages of Castledawson, Toome and his final resting place in Bellaghy. Along the way there is the chance to visit The Turf Man, a life-size representation of Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney's most famous poem Digging as well as a number of key places from the poet's 'first world' that were to provide the inspiration for much of his work.

Seamus Heaney On Home Ground, September 11-14
     Celebrating Seamus Heaney On Home Ground, from September 11 – 14, will include poetry readings, children's workshops, a selection of films by the BBC (originally presented by Seamus Heaney) and coach tours of the Heaney country.

A Horticulturally Inspired Trail
On Thursday September 11 at Laurel Villa, Magherafelt (daily from 10am) the festival opens with a horticulturally inspired trail by Jean Bleakney entitled, Poetry Trail - From Boortree To Anemone.  Take a stroll in the garden of Laurel Villa and you will find a trail of poems placed alongside plants to which they are linked by name or association.

Creative Writing Workshops
Also on Thursday September 11 at Laurel Villa, Magherafelt, The Verbal Arts Centre, together with a team of creative writers, will host creative writing workshops aimed at various ages.  The workshops will encourage participants to gain a greater understanding of how to structure and develop their own poetry.

The dining room at Laurel Villa Guest House

Once Upon A Place  - for children and teens
On Friday September 12 at Laurel Villa, Magherafelt at 10.30am, Eoin Colfer the laureate Na nÓG and best-selling author of books for children and teens, including the Artemis Fowl series, Half Moon Investigations and the Wish List, launches Once Upon A Place.  Once Upon A Place will be a memorable storytelling event that will spark children's imaginations and bring the magic of story and of books to young people in an experiential way. Later that day Eoin will be in conversation with celebrated children’s author and artist Oliver Jeffers

My Heaney
My Heaney on Saturday September 13 at Laurel Villa, Magherafelt at 1pm will include a  series of well known journalists, writers and musicians (including Seamus McKee, travel writer Christopher Somerville and  Belfast Telegraph political Editor Liam Clarke) all of whom  will personally select their favourite Heaney poems and reveal how Heaney’s work helped to shape them.

Earth to Alice - Stand-up Poetry 
Alice McCullough will be at Laurel Villa on Saturday September 13 at 12 noon, admission £5.  Join Alice and experience this captivating new voice that has been delighting audiences as she plays with the boundaries between spoken word, stand-up, storytelling and theatre in her one-woman show 'Earth To Alice'.

Heaney and the Eaten Word - A cookery demonstration
On Sunday September 14 at Laurel Villa, Magherafelt at 2pm, admission £10, popular chef, teacher and broadcaster Paula McIntyre brings her culinary skills to Seamus Heaney's poetry in a bespoke cookery demonstration.  Heaney and the Eaten Word - A cookery demonstration with Paula McIntyre will feature everything from sloe gin, blackberries & buttermilk to perch, salmon & oysters.

For information on literary experiences 

or great places to enjoy a short break in Co Derry~Londonderry  

contact the Northern Ireland Tourist Board on Callsave 1850 230 230 or view on www.discovernorthernireland.com/literature

UPDATE OFFER

September 2014

NORTHERN IRELAND TOURIST BOARD 

OFFER OF THE WEEK

CELEBRATING SEAMUS HEANEY 

ON HOME GROUND

2 nights B&B in the Greenvale Hotel, 

Cookstown, Co Tyrone from £90 per person

     Why not turn this into a short break and avail of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board’s (NITB) special accommodation offer at the Greenvale Hotel, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone which includes 2 nights B&B from only £90 per person. (subject to availability)

For further information 

contact the Northern Ireland Tourist Board 

on Callsave 1850 230 230 

or view on www.discovernorthernireland.com.