The motto of Belfast on the carpeted floor of the City Hall: For so much received what return can we make? I’m looking forward to returning to Northern Ireland for my third research trip for my novel from 3rd to 19th March.
I hope to be mainly outside the capital this time but here are two of my favourite Belfast buildings: the Art-Deco former Bank of Ireland…
Research Trip 2 for my novel, from 21st January to 2nd February in Northern Ireland, gave me access to generously shared experience and expertise from writers, sociologists, historians, academics, journalists, teachers and an educationalist, former civil servants, librarians, language activists, clergy, lawyers, a farmer, a statistician, a youth worker and many who shared from the cutting edge of their painfully gained experience.
I was struck too by the kindness with which I was treated.
I cannot do justice to the events and individuals who gave me their time. I will, however, single out, among the public events I attended, the conference organised by the Ulster University Faculty of Health and Life Sciences: Addressing the Transgenerational Transmission of Trauma and Mental Illness in Northern Ireland.
I had noticed something of a narrative about Northern Ireland along the lines of: the effect of the Troubles is exaggerated; it’s all behind us now and I wanted to get beyond personal opinion to some facts about ‘legacy’ and ‘impact’.
Rhyme and Reason: Reflections on a Changing UK
I was commissioned to write 2 poems on the theme of the Scottish referendum for performance at the Wales Millennium Centre along with the following poets:
Shortlisted for Arachne Press SOLSTICE SHORTS Short Story Competition, November 2014
Adjudicator: Grahame Davies: “A mature and wise piece of work that gives us what we want from our writers: in the face of failure and sense of loss, a sense of meaning, understanding and hope.”
Art work: Iwan Bala
Martyrdom on Television – St John Roberts and the Small Screen
Based on the 60′ documentary Merthyr Meirionnydd, presented by Guto Harri, produced by me for S4C.
Article for Welsh Journal of Religious History (Bangor University, Centre for the Advanced Study of Religion in Wales).
I received a bursary from Literature Wales Writer’s Bursary 2013 – Short Story Collection
Literature Wales Bursaries 2013