Did a short interview with Brendan Nolan last Friday (18th) for his radio programme on WDAR FM96. It goes out on air on Saturdays (‘Telling Tales’ 1.00-2.30pm) from Ballyfermot Community Civic Centre and is in the process of being archived on www.wdar.ie. We talked about poetry and my forthcoming book and I read ‘Is It Possible to be Elegant on a Bicycle in Traffic in the Rain’. Brendan himself is an accomplished storyteller and has a number of books out, the latest being ‘Barking Mad’ (Tales of Liars, Lovers, Loonies and Layabouts)’ published by Fresh Appeal, Dublin 2008, which (as the title suggests) is full of unforgettable characterisations and events.
Took time to walk around Ballyfermot for a while afterwards and revisited memories of the time I used to live there, just down the road from the Civic centre. There was no Civic centre there 40 years ago! and not much of anything else either: very few shops, a tiny one-room public library.Just a very resilient and hard-working people who overcame many obstacles to build up a strong, vibrant, inclusive community spirit.
Thanks also to David Spain, who did sound engineer, and also hosts his own show ‘Words and Music’ (Mondays 2.30-3.30). AND ALSO makes great coffee!
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