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BBC Radio 4 Extra

Poetry Extra

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Weekly opportunity for listeners to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

A brand new poetry slot on Radio 4 Extra gives listeners a weekly opportunity to revisit the riches of the BBC radio poetry archive

Poetry Extra: Radio Heaney

10/04/2016

Radio Heaney

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Poetry Extra, Radio Heaney

Daljit Nagra introduces the County Derry poet Seamus Heaney and his love for the wireless.

4 Extra Debut. Daljit Nagra introduces the County Derry poet Seamus Heaney and his love for the wireless in 'Radio Heaney'. From January 2014.

BBC Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra revisits the BBC's radio poetry archive. 

'Radio Heaney' is a compilation of many of the poet's greatest radio moments.

In his acceptance speech as newly-anointed Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney recalled how vital a role the wireless had played in his early life growing up on a farm in Mossbawn Co. Derry. On the radio, he heard dispatches from the front line during the Second World War, was gripped by Dick Barton Special Agent and revelled in the musicality of the Shipping Forecast. 

As an up and coming published poet, Heaney wrote and presented many programmes for schools in Northern Ireland, exploring and celebrating fellow writers and the local landscape. He also made for a compelling contributor and interviewee to any discussion on the purpose of poetry and was ultimately crowned with the medium's greatest accolade, an invitation to Radio 4's Desert Island. 

Presented by John Toal.
Producer: Owen McFadden
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2014.

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