The Charles A. Heimbold, Jr. Chair of Irish Studies is held in the Spring
semester of each academic year by a distinguished Irish writer. Inaugurated in
2000, it has become one of the most prestigious Irish Studies positions in the
United States.
The first Heimbold Professor was poet and editor Peter Fallon. To help
celebrate the inaugural of the Chair, Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney joined Peter
Fallon for a joint reading. Since then, the Heimbold Chair has been held by an
honor roll of Irish writers.
Normally, the Heimbold Professor teaches two undergraduate seminar courses,
on in Creative Writing and one in Irish Literature, allowing Irish Studies
students to have the enriching experience of a close classroom experience with
Ireland's finest voices.
Past Heimbold Chairs
- Peter Fallon
- Nuala NiDhomhnaill
- Eamon Greenan
- Marina Carr
- Vona Groarke
- Conor O'Callaghan
- Michael Coady
- Sebastian Barry
- Justin Quinn
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Current Heimbold Chair
Claire Keegan is an
Irish short stories writer. She was born in
Co Wicklow in 1968, the youngest of a large
Roman Catholic family. She travelled to
New Orleans, Louisiana when she was seventeen and studied English
and Political Science at
Loyola University. She returned to
Ireland in 1992 and lived for a year in
Cardiff, Wales, where she undertook an MA in creative writing and
taught undergraduates at the
University of Wales. Her first collection of short stories was
Antarctica (1998). Her another collections of stories are Arrows
in Flight (2002) and Walk the Blue Fields (2007). She won the
William Trevor Prize, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature and the
Olive Cook Award.
Keegan lives in rural Ireland. |
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