Marian Finucane Show
RTÉ Radio 1, 11.00 - 1.00pm on Saturday 11th April
On Easter Saturday 11th April Marian will be talking to world-renowned poet Seamus Heaney live in studio about his life and work. The Marian Finucane Show is the highest-rating weekend radio show in Ireland and, according to the latest JNLR listenership figures; it is the third most popular radio show in Ireland.
Bowman Sunday Morning
RTÉ Radio 1, 8.10am on Sunday 12th April
John Bowman takes a look back through the RTÉ Radio archives to illustrate Seamus Heaney's life, including his years teaching at Harvard and the award in 1995 of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Collected Poems on LW and DAB
RTÉ Radio 1 LW252/RTÉ Radio 1 Extra on DAB, from 9am on Monday 13th April
From 9am on the morning of Seamus Heaney's birthday, RTÉ Radio 1 on long wave and the digital channel RTÉ Radio 1 Extra will broadcast his entire Collected Poems, recorded by the poet himself for the CD box-set which RTÉ Radio, supported by The Lannan Foundation, is releasing to mark the occasion.
Tubridy Show
RTÉ Radio 1, 9.00 - 11.00am on Monday 13th April
The Tubridy Show gathers a panel of poetry fanatics to discuss the influence of Seamus Heaney on the readers of Ireland in a two hour special programme this Easter Monday.
Words on a Wire
RTÉ Radio 1, 1.30 - 2.00pm on Monday 13th April
Luke Clancy explores the art of the wordsmith from poem to pop song. In this programme Melissa Murray describes the lot of the ancient bard; poet Paul Muldoon reads his recent lyrics for the rock band, Rackett; and Mercury-nominated folk singer, Rachel Unthank, interprets the folk songs, both old and new, of her native Northumberland.
Arts Show Special
RTÉ Radio 1, 2.00 - 3.00pm on Monday 13th April
Vincent Woods chairs a discussion with Dennis O'Driscoll poet and author of Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney, Helen Vendler, Kingsley Porter University of Professor of English and American Literature Harvard University and Peter Sirr, poet and former director of the Irish Writers' Centre and a former editor of Poetry Ireland Review.
Classic Drive
RTÉ lyric fm (96-99fm), 5.00pm on Monday 13th April
On Easter Monday, 13th April, Classic Drive marks the occasion of Seamus Heaney's 70th birthday when, at 5.00pm, Niall Carroll hands over to The Baroque Chapel of The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham where John Kelly presents the premiere of three new pieces, composed in response to poetry by Heaney, performed by the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet, with the participation of Seamus Heaney himself.
Arts Show Special
RTÉ Radio 1, 6.00 - 7.00pm on Monday 13th April
Sean Rocks, with reporter Kay Sheehy, presents a live Arts Show from the broadcast celebration co-hosted by RTÉ and the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham with the support of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. Sean and Kay talk to some of the invited guests as well as to the poet himself, whose birthday speech will be the high point of the occasion.
Public Interview from the Abbey Theatre
RTÉ Radio 1, 7.00 - 8.00pm on Monday 13th April
In November 2008 fellow poet and friend of Heaney, Dennis O'Driscoll, published Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney. To mark the publication of the book, The Arts Show conducted a public interview with Seamus Heaney and Dennis O'Driscoll at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. This is another opportunity to hear the programme, presented by Vincent Woods.
Seamus Heaney - The Real and the Imaginary
RTÉ lyric fm (96-99fm), 10.00 - 10.30pm on Sunday 19th April
As part of the Sunday Sequence series, Seamus Heaney - The Real and the Imaginary, produced and presented by Eoin O'Kelly, examines the work of Seamus Heaney in the light of his own public statements on the relationship between poetry and reality.
