Seamus Heaney
By:Rand Brandes In a 1989 interview on the British Desert Island Disc radio program, Seamus Heaney says that although he grew up in South County Derry as a member of the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland, he never personally felt the physical brunt of sectarianism. Aware of the cultural differences dividing the province, he felt his home was ‘‘secure’’ and devoid of what he calls ‘‘sectarian energy.’’ One source of this freedom was what he describes as the ‘‘aristocratic’’ demeanor of his farmer father, Patrick Heaney, who also dealt in cattle. Another source of security was the unusual attention his mother, Margaret, was able to give him and his eight younger brothers and sisters as a result of his live-in aunt Mary’s help with the farm. Seamus Justin Heaney was born on April 13, 1939; he spent his first twelve years growing up on the family farm, Mossbawn, situated near the Moyola River and the town of Castledawson, approximately thirty-five miles northwest of Belfast