Renowned broadcaster and historian Professor Sir Simon Schama visited the University of Liverpool to deliver the 2025 Annual Seamus Heaney Lecture earlier this month (November 2025).
The Heaney Lecture, now in its 6th year, has become one of the highlights of the University’s cultural calendar and has gained a reputation for showcasing high profile speakers and performing artists.
This year’s lecture saw broadcaster and historian Sir Simon Schama speak on the topic of ‘Politics and the Poet’, with readings of Seamus Heaney’s poems by Liverpool born actor Leanne Best (Cold Feet, Ted Lasso and Star Wars). The evening at the Yoko Ono Lennon Centre concluded with a reception and book signing attended by Sir Simon and members of the Heaney family.
Named in memory of the world-renowned poet, playwright, translator and Nobel Laureate, the annual Seamus Heaney Lecture aims to reflect Heaney’s values, and his ability to communicate and connect with a wide audience. It provides a space to contemplate Heaney’s work and the ideas that engaged him.
Heaney, who was born in Northern Ireland but lived in Dublin for many years, died in 2013.
Speaking after the lecture Sir Simon Schama said “I wanted to address a subject that Seamus Heaney wrestled with throughout his career – the tug of war between preserving the independence of poetry and the recognition that sometimes, in troubled times, the poet had to find ways for his work to be “adequate” to the gravity of the moment. No one dealt with this conflict more honourably, honestly and resourcefully, than Heaney. But others had faced a similar predicament before him – Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth and Whitman (to name but some) so I looked at how they tackled that question and wondered out loud what Seamus today would have said to them about it. “
Professor Peter Shirlow, Director of the Institute of Irish Studies added: “The Institute of Irish Studies and University of Liverpool deeply value the partnership with the Heaney family and Estate enshrined in the Annual Seamus Heaney Lecture, and we were particularly delighted to welcome our largest audience to date for Sir Simon’s lecture.
In relation to conflict transformation in Northern Ireland, Heaney taught us that identity is not as deeply rooted as we might think, but that it can be plural. Through his poetry he took people away from the sterile terrain of side taking towards a place of understanding and reconciliation.”