A Trinity College Professorship, named in honour of one of Ireland’s greatest poets, was unveiled this morning.
College Provost Dr Patrick Prendergast said the announcement of the Seamus Heaney professorship in Irish writing was "a significant event in writing in Ireland and internationally".
Mr Heaney, an honorary fellow of Trinity since 1998, said he felt honoured by his association with the new post.
"The gratitude I feel is all the greater because of my high regard for the work being done in Trinity's School of English, and my friendship over the years with the writers and scholars who have contributed to the study and practice of Irish writing."
The new chair has been endowed to the college and will start next September.
The appointee is expected to be a major scholar with an international profile.
He or she will teach at all levels in the college's school of English and play a leadership role in the school's Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing.
The head of Trinity’s school of English, Associate Professor Eve Patten said “the post will bring major benefits for teaching and research interests at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and is hugely encouraging for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences as a whole. “