Heaney shares his lifetime’s library with the nation

THE literary papers of Nobel laureate Seámus Heaney have been given to the National Library of Ireland.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny received the archive on behalf of the nation at a ceremony honouring the man he called “a visionary” and “a patriot”.

Mr Kenny described the writer as “one of the world’s foremost word sculptors” as the collection, including early drafts of his most famous works, manuscripts, rewrites and 16 bound notebooks, was opened to the public.