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      • Fulbright Scholars
      • Children's Writing Fellow
      • Visiting International Poetry Fellows
      • Ireland Chair of Poetry
    • Study
      • The Poetry Summer School
      • Student Showcases and Opportunities
      • Writing Groups
      • New Students...
      • SHC X Fighting Words
      • Hear from Alumni
    • First Collection Poetry Prize
      • Poetry Prize 2025
      • Poetry Prize 2024
      • Poetry Prize 2023
      • Poetry Prize 2022
      • Poetry Prize 2021
      • Poetry Prize 2020
    • Resources
      • The SHC Podcast
      • SHC Publications
      • Criticism & Ideas on Writing
      • Films & Virtual Events
      • Writers' Interviews
      • Tiny Masterclasses
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      • Reading Seamus Heaney
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    • Poetry Jukebox: Ciaran Carson Edition
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    • Ciaran Carson Conference 2023

    Ciaran Carson Conference 2023

    Register Now
    Registration
    Conference Schedule
    LNF Conference Schedule

    This conference and commemoration will celebrate the work of Ciaran Carson, esteemed poet, writer and musician, Professor and founding Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s, whose high standards of excellence, and high-spirited blend of local rootedness and global openness (in poet Alan Gillis’s words) he personified.  The conference will provide an opportunity for an extended discussion of his contributions to literature, and of his legacy for future generations of poets, critics and general readers.

    The conference will deal with all aspects of Carson’s writing, most obviously his poetry, but also his translations, criticism, fiction and non-fiction, on subjects as diverse as music, food, the city, history, memory and violence.

    Carson as poet | Carson as critic | Carson and translation | Carson and fiction | Carson and the archive | Carson and the visual arts | Carson and Belfast | Carson and the city | Carson and the dictionary | Carson and music

    Prof Alan Gillis

    Keynote One: The long and the short of it: Ciaran Carson on the line
    Wed 13 Sep

    Prof Sinéad Morrissey

    Keynote Two: An Asterisk on the Map
    Thu 14 Sep

    Prof Paul Muldoon

    Keynote Three: The Triumph of Ciaran Carson
    Fri 15 Sep

    Open to the public without conference registration
    Ciaran Carson Collected Poems: Book Launch

    Launching the new Collected Poems, with Gallery Press
    Thu 14 Sep, Crescent Arts Centre

    It Goes As Follies

    with music and readings from Harry Bradley, Ciara Maguire, and Xander Duffy
    Thu 14 Sep, Crescent Arts Centre

    Owenvarragh: A Belfast Circus On The Star Factory

    with Úna Monaghan, Martin Dowling, and Liam Carson
    Sat 16 Sep, Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen's

    Last's Night's Fun: Civic Reception

    with music from Deirdre Carson, Bernie Stocks, Dermot McAteer, and Len Graham
    Wed 13 Sep, Belfast City Hall

    Poetry Jukebox: Ciaran Carson Edition

    from Wed 13 Sep
    Crescent Arts Centre

    Star Factory: an exhibition by Jonathan Brennan

    from Wed 13 Sep
    Crescent Arts Centre

    Travel and Accommodation

    Travelling to Belfast

    Find out more about staying in the city. 

    Group of three students talking in the Quad
    Queen's University

    Find out more about our beautiful campus. 

    UsFolk

    We are pleased to have worked with Mel Carroll at UsFolk who produced illustrations for our conference print materials. These are inspired by one the opening of Ciaran Carson's most revered poems 'Belfast Confetti'. 

    "Suddenly as the riot squad moved in, it was raining exclamation marks,
    Nuts, bolts, nails, car-keys. A fount of broken type. And the explosion
    Itself—an asterisk on the map. "


    Conference Travel Bursaries

    Delegates have discounted rates at the Holiday Inn (if booked by 16 Aug). Information will be sent to all who register for the conference.

    A small number of bursaries are available to those who would otherwise be unable to attend the conference, supporting travel and accommodation for the four days. These are generously supported by British Council International Collaboration Grants. To find out more contact shc@qub.ac.uk


    Seamus Heaney Centre Entrance
    Conference Organising Committee

    The Conference is hosted by the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University, and organised by a working group made up of faculty members from across the School of Arts, English and Languages. 


    Ciaran Carson Conference 2023
    • Conferences
    • Poetry Jukebox: Ciaran Carson Edition
    • Conference Schedule
    • Star Factory: conference exhibition
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