Seamus Heaney was born on 13 April 1939 in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. He was an Irish poet, playwright, translator and lecturer. A Professor of Poetry at Oxford University from 1989 to 1994 he was awarded numerous awards including the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995.

American poet Robert Lowell described him as “the most important Irish poet since Yeats”, and many others, including the academic John Sutherland, have said that he was “the greatest poet of our age”. Upon his death on 30th August 2013, the British newspaper The Independent described him as “probably the best-known poet in the world”.

His twelfth and final poetry collection published in 2010 called "Human Chain" contains the poem on his Conway Stewart fountain pen. The poem describes his parents' gift of a pen the day before the poet left home for his secondary education at St Columb's College in Derry. The pen's first official task in Heaney's hands is to write a letter home.

Seamus Heaney remains as topical today as ever as the British press quoted his poem “Blackberry-Picking” in recognition to the relief from the drought that Britain has been enduring (August 2022)... as the clouds darkened and rain began to pour once again.

We have tried to make the Conway Stewart Series 58 Seamus Heaney as close to the one described in the “The Conway Stewart” poem with a lever -fill, the 3 gold bands on the cap, and you can even choose it with a "Medium 14-carat nib" for that true authenticity. 

Each pen has the Conway Stewart logo engraved on the barrel , the words "The Seamus Heaney Pen" and the edition number of the pen. Based on the Conway Stewart Series 58  in the iconic Classic Green colour with 9ct gold rings, this is a beautiful pen. It is slightly smaller than some modern pens, harking back to an era when a fine writing instrument was judged first and foremost on practicality. Like its predecessors, this Seamus Heaney Pen tucks neatly away in any pocket, but with the cap posted, still balances perfectly in the hand.  

Each pen is housed in a Conway Stewart black leather presentation box which also serves as a showcase pen stand for your desk.

Available with a 14ct Gold Medium Conway Stewart Nib as per the poem!

In admiration of Seamus Heaney a Conway Stewart follower (Suzanne Denise Miller) has written a poem about her Conway Stewart pen - read on below:

Though I am not Seamus by Suzanne Denise Miller

 

The pen I hold writes a poem each day

The Conway Stewart far from home

The marbled blue swirls tinged with grey

Have traveled to lands far away

 

The Conway Stewart far from home

Employed to write from mire and stink

Still slinkily glides across blank page

Sated simply, by a fill with ink

 

Employed to write from mire and stink

(Yet slinkily slides across blank page)

Sated. Simply fill with ink:

Recall some rhyme, set the stage

 

It slinkily slides across blank page;

The pen I hold? Writes a poem each day!

Recall some rhyme! Set the stage!

The marbled blue swirls tinged with grey….