Seamus Heaney was born in County Derry in 1939 and now divides his time between Dublin and Glanmore in
County Wicklow. He has published ten collections of poems, from Death of a Naturalist to Electric Light;
several translations, including Sweeney Astray, the Laments of Jan Kochanowski, and Beowulf;
four books of prose, including Finders, Keepers; and two plays, The Cure at Troy and The Burial
at Thebes.
He has been Oxford Professor of Poetry and for many years taught at Harvard University. His writings, lectures and
readings have made him one of the most popular and admired writers of our time.