Late Heaney follows Seamus Heaney through the landscapes, friendships and events that shaped his last four collections, The Spirit Level, Electric Light, District and Circle, and Human Chain, all set in conversation with his work at large. Heaney's later life was a time of transformative change and achievement. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, after which he became a writer of global standing. This book grounds that experience in the history and geography of the places he wrote about, with an eye to the artists who influenced him and the people he knew.

Late Heaney draws a line from the waterlands of Lough Neagh to the olive groves of Greece, inviting the reader to think about time and belonging in context of art and memory. Later, Heaney began to imagine himself as a witness at the riverbank between life and death, an image that features powerfully in his final poems. Late Heaney follows the poet there, finding light in the dark, and company among the shades.