Ambassador Haughey visits Kraków, as first Heaney–Miłosz Residency concludes
News
23 November 2023
Wojciech Bonowicz and Alice Lyons
Ambassador Haughey and Consul Rob Enright travelled to Kraków on 22 November to mark the successful conclusion of the first Seamus Heaney – Czesław Miłosz Residency.
The Heaney–Miłosz Residency celebrates the friendship of two Nobel Laureates, Seamus Heaney and Czesław Miłosz, and is a collaboration between The Estate of Seamus Heaney, Kraków Festival Office (KBF), and the Irish Embassy in Poland. The Residency aims to support writers, resident in Ireland, who are at the early to mid-stages of their careers.
In the intimate surroundings of Kraków bookstore Spółdzielnia Ogniwo, guests enjoyed a conversation between poets Alice Lyons and Wojciech Bonowicz.
The pair discussed their life experiences, and the influences these had impressed upon their work. The pair then exchanged readings, through Polish and English, of works with particular meaning to them.
Among these was Heaney’s ‘I Am Raferty’, a work that hangs in the former study of his friend Czesław Miłosz, and which Alice Lyons had encountered earlier that day on a visit to his old apartment.
Irish Studies
During his visit to Kraków, the Ambassador and Rob Enright also took the opportunity to meet with Professor Katarzyna Bazarnik, Chairperson of the Polish Association of Irish Studies.
The Ambassador was pleased to hear of the Association's plans for the coming year in promoting Irish literature and history.