When a young Dermot Healy sent some poems to Seamus Heaney, he soon received a phone call in reply. ‘Do you know how good you are?’ Heaney asked, before publishing them all. Over the next thirty years, Healy amassed an astonishing body of work celebrated for its unique voice and style: thirteen plays, five collections of poetry, an acclaimed memoir, The Bend for Home, and five novels, including A Goat’s Song, often cited as “one of the great Irish novels of recent times” (The Guardian). Dermot Healy died in June of last year, aged sixty-six. 

In this special tribute, Timothy O’Grady, in collaboration with ILF Dublin, gathers leading artists including Kevin Barry, Anthony Cronin, Roddy Doyle, Anne Haverty, Martin Hayes, Jennifer Johnston, Neil Jordan, Patrick McCabe and Timothy O’Grady to reflect on one of the most original voices in Irish writing. Featuring music from Martin Hayes and friends, Only Himself is a unique celebration of the writer’s life and work.

Presented in association with Bealtaine and Poetry Ireland.