Nobel Prize commemorates legendary Irish poet Seamus Heaney on his birth anniversary

CAIRO – 14 April 2022: The Nobel Prize commemorated the birth anniversary of the legendary Irish poet Seamus Heaney, who was born on April 13, 1939.

Heaney passed away on August 30, 2013, and was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Seamus Heaney was known for his versatility and creativity, as he was a poet, playwright and translator. One of his most famous works is “Death of a Naturalist" published in 1966, the first large volume to he ever published.

During his lifetime Heaney was considered one of the major contributors to poetry. The American poet Robert Lowell described him as "The most important Irish poet since Yeats”. Academic John Sutherland described Heaney as "The greatest poet of our time."

During his life Seamus Heaney worked as a professor at Harvard University from 1981 to 1997, its poet-in-residence from 1998 to 2006, and between 1989 and 1994 he was also Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.

In 1996, Seamus Heaney was awarded the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of the French Order of Arts and Letters, and in 1998 he was awarded an equal title by the Osdana Federation.

Other awards he received include the 1968 Joffrey Weber Memorial Award, the E. Forster Award in 1975, The Pen Award for Translation in 1985, The Golden Wreath Award in 2001, the T. S. Elliott 2006 and two Whitbread Book Awards in1996 and 1999.

In 2011, he was awarded the Griffin Poetry Prize. In 2012, he was awarded an Enduring Recognition Award by the Griffin Trust. His literary papers are kept in the National Library of Ireland.

After his death in 2013, Seamus Heaney was buried in St Mary's Church Cemetery, in Pelagia, Northern Ireland. Written on his tombstone is an epitaph, from one of his famous poems "The Gravel Walks" that reads: "Walk On Air Against Your Better Judgement."