Hope you had a good holiday Derbhile! I can understand your dilemma when people ask about 'the writing'. Most people haven't a clue what it entails. However you could just brag about your writing related activities like the Speak Easy which sounds like good fun and of course your Substack.
As for your call out for memories of Jennifer Johnston or Pat Ingoldsby - I only heard him on radio a couple of times, however I met JJ and she was very kind to me and very encouraging. Circa 1983 I did a creative writing workshop in Yorkshire with JJ and Bernard MacLaverty. It was excellent and gave me a lot of confidence in my writing. They were both more than kind and encouraging.
Subsequently, when I was teaching on a Community University Project one of the books we discussed was The Railway Station Man and I invited JJ to come to speak to the group which she very graciously did. I was always a big fan of her novels. She always wrote about unorthodox relationships and was ahead of her time in tackling some topics (incest, coercive control) that are now widely written about. And of course sectarian tensions in modern Ireland. She deserves to be read more widely today. I very much hope she gets a biographer worthy of her.
Thanks for your comment, Aisling, and the wise advice to brag. This newsletter certainly is a weekly writing commitment. What wonderful memories to have of Jennifer Johnston too. You were very lucky to have attended a workshop with her. I myself attended a reading she gave over 20 years ago in Clonmel and found her kind and warm; she came for a drink afterwards too. That night I bought The Railway Station Man and had it signed by her, and it is my favourite novel of hers. Thanks for sharing those memories.
Hope you had a good holiday Derbhile! I can understand your dilemma when people ask about 'the writing'. Most people haven't a clue what it entails. However you could just brag about your writing related activities like the Speak Easy which sounds like good fun and of course your Substack.
As for your call out for memories of Jennifer Johnston or Pat Ingoldsby - I only heard him on radio a couple of times, however I met JJ and she was very kind to me and very encouraging. Circa 1983 I did a creative writing workshop in Yorkshire with JJ and Bernard MacLaverty. It was excellent and gave me a lot of confidence in my writing. They were both more than kind and encouraging.
Subsequently, when I was teaching on a Community University Project one of the books we discussed was The Railway Station Man and I invited JJ to come to speak to the group which she very graciously did. I was always a big fan of her novels. She always wrote about unorthodox relationships and was ahead of her time in tackling some topics (incest, coercive control) that are now widely written about. And of course sectarian tensions in modern Ireland. She deserves to be read more widely today. I very much hope she gets a biographer worthy of her.
Thanks for your comment, Aisling, and the wise advice to brag. This newsletter certainly is a weekly writing commitment. What wonderful memories to have of Jennifer Johnston too. You were very lucky to have attended a workshop with her. I myself attended a reading she gave over 20 years ago in Clonmel and found her kind and warm; she came for a drink afterwards too. That night I bought The Railway Station Man and had it signed by her, and it is my favourite novel of hers. Thanks for sharing those memories.