East Donegal poet appointed as Seamus Heaney Fellow

The Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast has announced that a Donegal poet has been appointed as one of the latest Seamus Heaney Fellows for 2026-2027.

Poet Laoighseach Ní Choistealbha from Laggan is one of the newest additions to the Fellows. Laoighseach attended primary school at St. Patrick's School in Murlog, and attended the Royal and Prior Comprehensive School in Raphoe before moving to Galway for further education.

After ten years in Galway City, she now resides in Connemara. Barzaz published her first and second collections, Solas Geimhridh agus Dánta Eile (2023) and Mainistir na Feola (2025). She founded the literary magazine An Dearcán in 2025, and in 2026 took up the role of Irish-language writer-in-residence at Dublin City University (DCU). Her dual-language collection St Lucy and the Eye Doctor is forthcoming with Bloodaxe Books, and her third Irish-language collection, Éiric na Seirce, is due to be published in 2027.

Laoighseach said: “It gives me great pleasure, and it is a huge honour, to have the opportunity to be a Seamus Heaney Fellow in 2027. As an Ulster poet, first and foremost, Heaney has always had a significant influence on my work, and I am humbled to accept this fellowship which bears his name. I am looking forward to meeting with staff and students, exploring the Seamus Heaney Centre and the campus, and spending more time in Belfast - a hub of Irish-language culture and activity. Míle buíochas don Ionad as an deis iontach seo.”

Each year, the Seamus Heaney Centre announces three Fellows from the worlds of Poetry, Fiction, Music, Film and Television to explore creative writing in all its forms by working with students and contributing to the Centre’s activities within the University and the wider literary community.

Marie Jones and Ian McDonald were also appointed as Fellows.

Marie Jones OBE is a Belfast-based actor and playwright whose plays have toured extensively around the world. Her plays have been translated into 38 languages and include an adaptation of Gogol’s The Government Inspector, A Night in November, and Dancing Shoes, the story of George Best, and the Miami Show Band Story, the latter two plays co-written with Martin Lynch. Marie also wrote and starred in Women on the Verge of HRT.

Stones in His Pockets toured Ireland before culminating in a four-year run in London’s West End, gaining many awards including the Lawrence Oliver Award for Best New Comedy and the Evening Standard Award for Best New Play. Its Broadway debut gained three Tony nominations and won the American Drama Critics Award. Her Latest play, The Blind Fiddler, was presented by the Lyric Theatre in August 2026. A Night in November will have its 25th Anniversary production at the Irish Arts Centre, New York, next Spring.

Hollywood-based writer Ian McDonald has been a prominent figure in the literature of the imagination - mostly science fiction, fantasy, and horror - for five decades. His many accolades include the Hugo, Philip K. Dick, and John W. Campbell Memorial Awards, as well as the Gaylactic Award for 2015's Luna: New Moon. His work has been published in 13 languages. His most recent book, eco-horror The Wilding, was published in 2024, and his new novel, Once Upon a Time on the Moon, is due to be published in June 2027.

Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s, Professor Glenn Patterson said: “If I am allowed to say this about our own appointments, ow, wow! I admire each of the new Fellows in their own right, but the thought of the three of them working together, adding to the life of the Heaney Centre, the School of Arts, English and Languages, and the wider literary community, is something else again. I'm looking forward to welcoming them in the New Year.”

Last year’s Seamus Heaney Centre Fellows were Caoilinn Hughes, Mark McCambridge and Conor McPherson. Previous Fellows have included musicians Lisa O’Neill, Kae Tempest, Conor Mitchell, Iain Archer, Duke Special, and Tim Wheeler; novelists Jan Carson, David Park, Roddy Doyle, Marian Keyes, Anna Burns and Wendy Erskine; poets Fiona Benson, Vahni Capildeo, Doireann Ni Ghriofa and Denise Riley; and playwrights and screenwriters Declan Lawn & Adam Patterson, Stacey Gregg, Enda Walsh, Lisa McGee and Jed Mercurio.

The new Fellows will officially take up their posts in the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s in the new year.

For more information about the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s, please visit the centre’s website.