Fri 11 - Sat 12 Sep 2026
The Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's

Call for Papers deadline - Mon 27 Apr 2026
Currently open - find out more

In 1966, Seamus Heaney published Death of a Naturalist, the collection that would launch his career and establish him firmly in the public eye as a poet of place whose local accents and autobiographical bent marked a new direction in twentieth century Irish poetry. In the same year, Heaney accepted a lectureship at his alma mater, Queen’s University Belfast, and made his first appearance on Ireland’s Late Late show, reading Blackberry Picking and gaining a mass audience thanks to the power of broadcast media. 

Few poets have received such close scholarly scrutiny during their lifetimes, and interest in Heaney’s work has not waned in the years since his passing. Many scholars interested in breaking new ground are now returning to archival sources to add context and glean further insight into his prolific career. 

To mark this anniversary the Seamus Heaney Centre, in partnership with the National Library of Ireland, Emory Rose Library, and Queen’s University’s Special Collections, invites papers from archivists and academics interested in Heaney’s early career, first collection, and broadcast paratexts.

We are particularly interested in papers that draw on archival resources and encourage participants to visit our conference partner sites and sources as listed below. 

• National Library of Ireland, Dublin (Seamus Heaney Literary Papers – including early drafts of all his poetry collections, and some of his prose writing). ContactCrónánÓ Doibhlin, codoibhlin@nli.ie. 
• Emory University, Georgia, US (letters, poems, recordings of lectures, physical artefacts)
• Queen's University, Belfast - Seamus Heaney Centre (Broadcast archive of media appearances TV and Radio). Contact Patricia Malone, p.malone@qub.ac.uk.
• Queen's University, Belfast - Special Collections (Beowulf Manuscript collections and student notebooks). Contact Laura Caskey, l.caskey@qub.ac.uk.