Nov 22, 2010 | Features
Read ‘A Walk On The Wild Side’ by Nelson Algren. The main character, Dove Findhorn, Texas son of an alcoholic preacher, is initially a bit of a greenhorn and too honest for his own good. “My pappy was a preacher of sorts,” he says. “The sort to make you throw your...
Nov 19, 2010 | Latest
Heard the sad news that publisher Steve McDonogh died a few days after suffering a massive brain haemorrhage. I had worked with Steve on the essay book on the hunger strike, published in 2006, and first met him about 1982. Presented prizes at Belfast Royal Academy...
Nov 11, 2010 | Latest
Interviewed on BBC’s ‘Talkback’ and UTV television re the non-wearing of the poppy by nationalists though SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie has now sprouted one, fully-formed. Wednesday 10th November. Along with others as guests I represented Féile an Phobail at East...
Oct 15, 2010 | Features
Read ‘Falconer’ by John Cheever, the great writer who died in 1982. Read his ‘Journals’ two years ago, though have yet to transcribe my notes. Falconer is the name of the prison where Farragut, a war veteran and drug addict, is incarcerated for murdering his brother....
Oct 12, 2010 | Latest
We were in Bath last weekend for the wedding of my niece Sharon to Chris. Had time to do some touring in the city and surrounding Somerset, including visiting the Roman Baths, Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral (across the road from which is the late Ted Heath’s...
