Seamus Heaney, one of Ireland’s greatest writers and among the world’s most popular poets today, will read from his work at U.Va. on April 19.

Winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature, Heaney will read at 8 p.m. in Culbreth Theatre. The free public reading, sponsored by the English Department’s Peters Rushton Lecture Series, will be followed by a question-and-answer period.

A native of Northern Ireland who lives in Dublin and teaches part of each year at Harvard University, Heaney is also known for his influential books of literary criticism and essays and his translations of ancient works. His 1999 translation of the old English epic “Beowulf” was widely acclaimed and won Britains’ Whitbread Award as best book of the year.

Heaney’s poetry collections include “Opened Ground” (1999), “The Spirit Level” (1996), “Selected Poems” (1990), “Field Work” (1979) and “Death of A Naturalist” (1966), which launched his reputation as a poet. The rural landscape of his Irish childhood in a farming family forms the backdrop of many of his poems, noted for their conversational tone and music of language.