When Seamus Heaney left us ten years ago, he left behind poetry, plays, essays, and as near as we'll get to an autobiography in Stepping Stones, a beautiful book of conversations with Dennis O’Driscoll.
Now Faber has produced a new book, The Letters of Seamus Heaney, edited by Christopher Reid, his friend and peer, a Faber poet and editor himself. He talks to RTÉ Arena above.
It begins in 1964, with a letter to Seamus Deane, announcing, among other news, that he has just got engaged to Marie Devlin, hoping to get married the following year.
It ends poignantly with that text message he sent to Marie 'Noli timere’ the morning he died.
In between, there are 50 years’ worth of letters to friends and acquaintances including Ted Hughes, Barrie Cooke, and Brian Friel.
The Letters of Seamus Heaney is published by Faber. Listen to more from RTÉ Arena here.
