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...
Dec 16, 2009 | Latest
19th December. Finished reading ‘Changing Places’ by David Lodge, author of ‘The Art of Fiction’ and ‘The Practice of Writing’. 17th December. Last night was in the Ulster Bank, Donegal Square East, at the launch of the ‘Dictionary of Irish Biography’, a collaborative...
Dec 4, 2009 | Latest
28th November. As chair of Féile I introduce historian Dr Eamon Phoenix and Dr Jörg Rademacher who are speaking about the visit of James Joyce to Belfast exactly one hundred years ago. The event is co-sponsored by the ‘Belfast Telegraph’ and Féile an Phobail. 27th...
Nov 12, 2009 | Latest
10th November. The late Siobhan O’Hanlon, former IRA activist, Armagh prisoner, and latterly secretary to Gerry Adams MP, was in South Africa several times before and after the peace process proper. She and her partner, Pat Sheehan (one of the 1981 hunger strikers and...
Nov 3, 2009 | Latest
31st October. Greeted Noam Chomsky to West Belfast and Féile an Phobail before his address at St Mary’s University College, organised by our Discussion & Debate group. Later, we had dinner with him. He is very quietly spoken and draws upon a wealth of information...
