Our guests...
Catherine Heaney is a freelance writer and editor, and manager of her father's literary estate.
Catherine is a member of the Seamus Heaney Centre's valued Advisory Board. Other members include Edna Longley, Gerald Dawe, Peter Spratt, Cathy Brown (Heaney HomePlace), Emily DeDakis (Fighting Words NI), Professor Kurt Taroff and Professor Richard English.
Nick Laird is a poet, novelist, screenwriter and former lawyer. His latest books are the poetry collection Feel Free, and the novel Modern Gods. Awards for his writing include the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, a Somerset Maugham Award, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and a Writer-in-Residence at New York University. Nick and his wife Zadie Smith recently published their first book for children, Weirdo.
Nick Laird is the Seamus Heaney Professor of Poetry at Queen's, where he leads the annual Poetry Summer School, and judges the annual Seamus Heaney First Collection Prize.
Marian Keyes is the bestselling author of fourteen novels including Watermelon, Rachel's Holiday, Sushi for Beginners, This Charming Man, and The Break. With a conversational style and whimsical Irish humour, but themes including addiction, depression, cancer, bereavement, and domestic violence her novels have sold over 40 million copies worldwide and been translated into 36 languages. Her latest novel, Grown Ups, was published in Feb 2020. Marian currently lives in Dún Laoghaire with her husband, after returning from London in 1997.
Marian is one of the SHC Fellows for 2021, along with Enda Walsh and Oliver Jeffers.
Tim Wheeler is a musician and songwriter from Northern Ireland, best known as the frontman of alternative rock band Ash. Tim has written nearly all of Ash's notable works, such as Oh Yeah, Girl From Mars, Kung Fu, Goldfinger, and Shining Light, which won the Ivor Novello Award for best pop song in 2001. In November 2014, he released his debut solo album Lost Domain, a heartfelt and emotional response to the loss of his father George to dementia. A portion of the album's proceeds were donated to The Alzheimer's Society.
Tim's lyric from Shining Light - 'we made a connection / a full on chemical reaction' - was an inspiration for us as we planned this event.
Professor Ian Greer has been President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast since August 2018. Ian is a strong advocate for University social responsibility including widening participation. He leads the innovation pillar of the Belfast Region City Deal, driving innovation in key sectors for the local economy - creative industries, health innovation, data science & analytics, and advanced manufacturing. He is currently President of Universities Ireland, promoting collaboration across the island.
We're delighted to have Ian at the helm as we develop plans for the new Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's. Find out more about Ian's background here.
Nathalie Trott was appointed Director of Development and Alumni Relations at Queen's in 2019. She came to us from Dublin City University Educational Trust where she was Chief Executive Officer. A History and Management and MBA graduate of the University of Cambridge, Nathalie has worked for the Cambridge Judge Business School as Director of External Affairs and Head of Alumni Relations for the University of Cambridge, as well as alumni engagement roles with Said and Warwick Business Schools.
Professor Glenn Patterson has been the Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's since 2017. Glenn has written four works of non-fiction including Backstop Land (2019) and its forthcoming follow up, and ten novels, most recently Where Are We Now? (2020). With Colin Carberrry, he co-wrote the film Good Vibrations, for which the pair were nominated for Outstanding Debut at the 2014 BAFTA Film awards. He has written plays for Radio 3 and Radio 4, and with composer Neil Martin, he wrote Long Story Short: The Belfast Opera in 2016.