Mar 8, 2010 | Latest
‘The Art of War’ was written by Sun Tzu in China about 2,500 years ago. On Sunday (7th March) I was interviewed by the historian and broadcaster Julian Putkowski for the World Service of the BBC on the enduring nature of the advice given by Sun Tzu. I first read the...
Feb 7, 2010 | Latest
7th February. On Royal Avenue on a freezing day I met Tom Mathews and knew/ That a pint of stout he would want, a pint that I might later rue.So, we went to Madden’s Bar to literally discuss the state of the literary nation. He had been in a shop, trying to buy Martin...
Feb 5, 2010 | Latest
5th February. Spoke last night at the book launch of ‘The Badness of Ballydog’ by Garrett Carr in the No Alibis Bookstore on behalf of Féile an Phobail and as part of our Spring Festival, Féile an Earraigh. Other events over the next few days – besides lots of...
Jan 24, 2010 | Latest
Finished ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ by Kurt Vonnegut around Sunday lunchtime; then visited my mom and her friends, Mary and Sarah, in Grovetree House; came home and read a limited amount of Sunday Shit online by the anoraks led by the key Tralfamadorian, Mick Fealty, who...
Jan 21, 2010 | Latest
16th January. Finished what is probably the best book I have read in ten years, ‘Alone In Berlin’ by Hans Fallada. Finished it with tears streaming down my cheeks. 15th January. Went to the Black Box to hear Chris Mullin speak, part of the Cathedral Arts Quarter’s...
Jan 14, 2010 | Latest
13th January. Reviewed the French gangster film, ‘A Prophet’, for BBC’s Arts Extra, having watched the film earlier in the day at a special screening in the QFT with fellow reviewer, crime writer and Queens lecturer Andrew Pepper. I couldn’t rave about the film as...
