The Return of The Native

I returned to the Marketplace Theatre in Armagh to see a dramatisation of this Thomas Hardy novel by Hotbuckle, a touring theatre company from England. The Return of The Native was seen as controversial when published in 1878, given it’s central theme of the desire to go beyond the constraints of place, community, class and morality. For some characters these desires are achieved (by, for example, illicit sexual relationships) while for others they are thwarted. Over the course of the book, these desires lead to tragedy and two characters die. The four performers were skilled, changing costumes quickly on stage to become different characters and using a small number of props very effectively. They also played a series of instruments. I do love live theatre and have seen a wide range of productions over many years. This time, I came away feeling that the performance could have been better. To me there were two main flaws.

Hotbuckle’s adaptation of the novel seemed to contain too many scenes, and this led to the central theme being dramatised only patchily. This problem was exacerbated by the four actors making frequent changes of character as the scenes changed. I felt it would have been better to focus on the six main characters and omit many of the minor characters they portrayed.

At the centre of the drama are two young women and their relationships (neighbours, friends, lovers) with three men. While the character and motivations of the three men were rendered very well by the two actors portraying them, this was not successfully achieved by the actor portraying the two young women. There was little difference between her vocal and physical characterisations of the two women. I had to work hard to try and remember which character she was now seeking to be. For me, this undermined the drama significantly.

When you go to any live event, you don’t know what you are going to get. You hope it will be fantastic and memorable. But it might be awful, and you begin to wish you had stayed at home. Hotbuckle’s production of Return of the Native was very good at times, and not at others. Still, I’m glad I went.

Authors Fight Back

I’ve joined the frontline against huge technology companies, and it’s personal.

In the US District Court for California, three US authors alleged that Anthropic pirated 7 million books to train its Claude AI model. Anthropic contested the allegation of piracy but did admit to downloading half a million copyrighted books without permission. One of these was a book I co-authored while an academic, ‘Creativity and Innovation in the Cultural Economy’, published by Routledge in 2009. I was then contacted by the lawyers for the three US authors and invited to join them; I was happy to sign up. More than 100,000 authors have now joined the class action, making it one of the most significant in the history of copyright.

The case against Anthropic exposes the grubby underside of AI. Not only do the big technology companies need to build enormous data-centres which use as much water and power every day as a city of 100,000 people. They also need to train their large-language-models on huge amounts of information. To do this legally would be very expensive, hence they work with sites that offer pirated versions of copyrighted publications (such as LibGen).

Okay, you turn on your computer and up pops an AI assistant. Why should you care about protecting poor authors from the illegal exploitation of their work?

Because most authors are in fact poor, as writing is not well paid. I authored seven books and dozens of journal articles while an academic and have authored three books of poetry since. My total earnings from all these publications would probably not keep me alive for more than a couple of months. That’s why the majority of authors earn their crust from work other than writing, such as teaching or the day job. Richard Osman and JK Rowling are the exceptions, not the norm. Most authors are driven by imagination, not money: by the desire to create something new and different. That’s where the books, plays, films and TV programmes that people want to read and see come from. And that’s why creative work needs to be nurtured and protected.

Poetry at Elk Books

The sunlight was sparkling on the water, the funfair was in town and there were long queues for ice cream. But still a hardy group of poetry-lovers came to Elk Books in Warrenpoint yesterday to hear me reading from my new poetry collection, ‘True’. Helene’s independent bookshop is a lovely, intimate space. My reading flowed really well and the Q & A afterwards was filled with pithy questions about writing and authenticity – for most of the group were writers themselves. 

I’ve performed my poetry in great theatres and at the biggest arts festival in the world, and I felt the reading at Elk Books was one of the most satisfying I’ve ever done. So thank you Helene and Seamus for being the perfect hosts. And thank you to all the poetry lovers who listened so intently and asked such good writerly questions. I’ll certainly be back. But for now I have to carry on to the next event in my Knapsack Tour of independent bookshops – The Secret Bookshelf in Carrickfergus on 30 April. Hope to see you there.

The Knapsack Tour

Daffodils, catkins and longer evenings mean that Spring has arrived. To celebrate, I’ve set out on a reading tour with my new collection, ‘True’, in my knapsack. The book, published by Black Spring Press, brings together poems which were inspired by true stories from real lives.

The tour began in late January with a well-attended reading in Banbridge Library, which featured bagpipes and haggis.

On World Poetry Day, this Saturday, I will be at Elk Books in Warrenpoint. Helene, the owner, is a writer and a relative of Seamus Heaney. This independent bookshop is in a lovely location, just a few yards from the Irish Sea, so I’ll be including some poems with a seafaring theme. You could even bring your cossie and head in for a dip.

In April I will wend my way to The Secret Bookshelf in Carrickfergus. The bookshop is run by Jo, a science-fiction author, and Chris. It has just been voted the Best Independent Bookshop on the island of Ireland. So now the secret is out. Congratulations Jo and Chris on this well-deserved accolade.

I hope to add further dates to my knapsack tour. In the meantime, here are the details:

March 21^st   Elk Books, Warrenpoint. 4-5pm.  Advance booking required via Eventbrite.

April 30^th   The Secret Bookshelf, Carrickfergus. 4-5pm.

Both of these events are free. Each will feature a reading, followed by a Q & A. And I’d be delighted to sign my new book for you.

So please join me in Warrenpoint or Carrickfergus for some live poetry. I’d love to see you there.

In Praise of Wool

For decades I slept under a duck feather and down duvet. It was warm and somewhat prickly, but much better than than the man-made fibre alternatives. Though I would regularly wake up bathed in sweat. Just a bad dream, I thought. So I shook the feathers down and tried to get back to sleep. During my years of cancer treatment these night sweats increased in frequency. Digestion, I thought. I must be eating too much too late. I tried changing what and when I ate, but this made little difference. Finally, I thought it was due to anxiety. But I couldn’t alter that: I had stage four cancer and wasn’t expected to live too long. But somehow I found myself among the lucky 10% that did survive. Yet still my night sweats continued. Then I was given a wool duvet for my birthday by my dearest T.

For the past two weeks I’ve not overheated at night. The duvet is cosy, light and very breathable. The wooI is about an inch thick and encased in undyed cotton. It feels both warm and airy. I’m now sleeping more soundly and waking up in the night much less often. It’s made a huge difference, I rise feeling refreshed. Unfortunately the new duvet can do nothing for my benign enlarged prostate, which still wakes me every couple of hours to pee.

Birthday Boy

Many thanks to my friends and family for their good wishes on my becoming an even older git than I was previously. My dearest T spoilt me with presents and took me on a mystery tour. We ended up in Armagh at the planetarium. It was brilliant. And because of the wet and windy day, there were very few there, so it felt like the show was just for us. I hadn’t been to a planetarium since I was a child, when my parents took me to the one near Madame Tussauds in London. After the sky show we visited the Armagh Observatory, founded by Archbishop Robinson in 1790, and saw the old telescopes. This was the same man who founded the magnificent library where my new book of poems, ‘True’, was recently launched. We wandered through the grounds then went for a slap-up meal. It was a great day out. And during it, I did reflect on ageing and how far I’d come.

Despite the inevitable drawbacks, it is good to become old. Many people do not. My first wife, Gill, and my younger brother, Robert, were both taken well before their time. I also thought of family members and friends who are currently struggling with serious medical conditions. I’ve come through advanced cancer and I’m still well enough to enjoy an active life. That is a great blessing. This old git will continue to do his best to make the most of every day.

Burns Night

My next event will be a cross-community Burns Night in Banbridge Library on 20 January. I’ll be reading a selection of my Scottish poems and a couple of Rabbie’s. So please come along and hear about hermits, Viking graffiti, Orkney’s Italian Chapel, Robert Louis Stevenson in Shetland, linen lappers, a fruit cake in Antarctica and why my last gold band got thrown into the North Channel. You’ll get some haggis, neeps and tatties too. Along with tunes from piper David Hanna. And it’s free. What more could anyone want?