Books – Slugger O'Toole

A celebration of music journalism and Belfast’s musical legacy

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on November 8, 2025, 10:23 am

| Readers 947

On a memorable evening at The Deer’s Head, music journalist Stuart Bailie launched his new book chronicling 40 years in music journalism — The Song is Nearly Over. The event featured an intimate conversation with Tim Wheeler of Ash, followed by closing reflections and a performance by Terry Hooley, the legendary founder of Good Vibrations record label. The evening brought together three generations of Northern Irish music history, weaving together stories of punk, Britpop, and the transformative power of music journalism. …

Review: Constitutional change in Ireland will likely be slow, consensual and evolutionary, not quick, revolutionary or violent…

Mick Fealty on November 5, 2025, 6:39 am

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a roller coaster with a sign that says cyclone

Mick reviews two books which treat generously and intelligently the vexed subject of constitutional futures on the island of Ireland and concludes that the historical divergences between north and south mean that constitutional is likely only ever to come through the sort of slow, consensual change embodied in the Shared Island Initiative, if at all…

‘What is the peace?’ Rethinking Northern Irish photography from the Troubles and beyond

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on June 26, 2025, 10:53 pm

| Readers 1803

The latest series of talks at the Photo Museum Ireland featured an insightful lecture by Colin Graham, a professor of English and an accomplished author. The evening’s discussion centred around the intricate subject of Northern Irish photography, with a particular focus on its evolution from conflict to peace and the various artistic interpretations within that spectrum. Colin Graham’s background is rooted in literature and cultural studies, which provided a unique lens through which he examined Northern Irish photography. He noted, “I moved back to Belfast …

Previewing Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas & Politics – running from 24-30 March #imaginebelfast

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 9, 2025, 10:01 am

| Readers 597

screen grab of the Imagine Belfast festival website homepage - the background image features painted clown faces. The text says - Helping you make sense of a crazy world, Belfast's Festival of Ideas and Politics

Imagine! Festival of Ideas & Politics is back with a week-long programme to help you make sense of a crazy world. More than 90 events across seven days, with the festival organisers collaborating with lots of grassroots organisations and activists to bring small ‘p’ political issues to fore in accessible yet meaningful ways. Here’s my pick from some of the discussions, workshops, exhibitions, films, comedy, lectures, talks, music and theatre. Monday 24 March There’s an embarrassment of riches on the …

The impermanence of land and legacy

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on July 29, 2023, 7:12 am

| Readers 1317

Impermanence is a collection of essays by writers from or living in Northern Ireland. Its co-editor, Neil Hegarty led a discussion at a John Hewitt International Summer School event, with contributors Jan Carson, Susan McKay, and Nandi Jola, reflecting upon the book’s themes and suggesting ways of looking at our past, present, and future. Neil Hegarty provided context for the book. He was in Paris and witnessed the burning of Notre Dame, which made him think about the loss of …

Review: A People Under Siege by Aaron Edwards…

Ian Clarke on June 21, 2023, 9:34 am

| Readers 6606

This is an important book for a number of reasons. While genuine students of unionism and the pro-union community here will be familiar with the historical timelines that hold the narrative together, there is a level of honesty and an attempt to explain the unionist community from an empathetic, sometimes sympathetic, position that has been too rare for too long. Edwards – unlike far too many writers from what is now euphemistically termed “a unionist background” – does not set …

Art can transcend GFA ‘institutional sclerosis’: Paul Arthur

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on April 17, 2023, 1:23 am

| Readers 1773

Professor Paul Arthur (Ulster University) suggested that the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement could be interpreted as “the end of the beginning”, when we moved from a political life of zero-sum (if you’re winning, I must be losing), to one of agreeing to disagree (with an element of mutual respect). He elaborated on this during his talk at the Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre in Limavady, as part of a series of events co-hosted with his university and the Causeway Coast …

WATCH: book launch of Padraig O’Malley’s Perils and Prospects of a United Ireland #ImagineBelfast

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on March 23, 2023, 3:34 pm

| Readers 2038

Slugger live-streamed the book launch of Professor Padraig O’Malley latest work – Perils and Prospects of a United Ireland – part of the Imagine! Festival of Ideas and Politics. As part of the event, Belfast Telegraph journalist Sam McBride talked to O’Malley about his fourth book on the politics of Northern Ireland, with nearly 100 interviews with leaders and commentators reflecting on the social, economic, and political changes afoot in both parts of the island. You can stuill watch it …

Previewing the ninth annual Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics #imaginebelfast

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 2, 2023, 11:30 am

| Readers 449

Imagine festival 202

The Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics is seeking to provide ‘brain food’ to all and sundry over seven days in March. The packed programme is a veritable feast of ‘ideas for a better world’. Now in its ninth year, the festival has over 130 in-person and online events, and the majority are free. While politics is often to the fore, politicians themselves aren’t usually platformed at the non-partisan festival’s events. But this year, one event will be exploring …

Book review — Refugees and Forced Displacement in Northern Ireland’s Troubles (Niall GILMARTIN and Brendan Ciarán BROWNE)

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on February 20, 2023, 7:55 am

| Readers 1801

Among the imagery associated with the Troubles, occasionally you see one of a van or car overladen with house furniture and hastily assembled parcels of clothing and personal possessions. These people were given enough time to bring some things with them as they were either forced out or no longer felt safe remaining in their homes. These incidents usually get a brief mention in the analysis of the 30-year violent conflict in Northern Ireland, yet in a tone of an …

A review of How Civil Wars Start by Dr Barbara Walters…

Soapbox on December 31, 2022, 4:40 pm

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Arnold Carton is a former teacher, is a moderate unionist who has had a lifelong interest in politics. Too often political discussion within NI politics becomes a repetitive battle over competing identities and about who is to blame for the conflict. Our people are bored with the lack of progress. Sometimes it can be useful and refreshing to put aside our narcissistic tendency to assume that our conflict is historically unique and see if we can learn from the experience of …

Review of ‘The Ghost Limb’ by Claire Mitchell: Finding the Spirit of 1798

Gladys Ganiel on December 15, 2022, 7:50 am

| Readers 6104

The Ghost Limb: Alternative Protestants and the Spirit of 1798, is a meditation on the journey of its author, Claire Mitchell, through what she calls the ‘1798 dreamtime.’ Mitchell, who was born into Northern Ireland’s Protestant community, relates how she began to feel like Irish aspects of her identity and heritage had been cut off. For Mitchell, this loss manifested itself like a ghost limb, experienced as an existential ache for Irish language, landscape, and culture. Perhaps it goes without …

Review of ‘Beauty through Broken Windows’ on the World Day of the Poor

Gladys Ganiel on November 13, 2022, 8:05 am

| Readers 873

Today is the ‘World Day of the Poor’, observed in the Catholic Church since 2017 when it was established by Pope Francis. It’s a day to remind Christians of their obligations to follow Christ’s example to pursue justice for the poor. A new book, Beauty through Broken Windows: Empowering Edmund Rice’s Vision Today, edited by Aidan Donaldson and Denis Gleeson, is an excellent resource for learning more about how Christians around the world are living out such a vision. The …

Review of Triangle: Three Novellas of Ireland by Pól Ó Muirí

Gladys Ganiel on November 6, 2022, 8:05 am

| Readers 892

What happens in a society when previously dominant traditions of religion, spirituality, and morality crumble and then proceed to disintegrate at break-neck speed? The island of Ireland could be considered something of a sociological case study in this regard. The ‘holy Catholic Ireland’ of the Republic has been discredited and denigrated. The often oppositional Christian traditions of Northern Ireland also seem destined for inexorable decline. Analysis of the rise of those who claim they have ‘no religion’ can only be …

And No Religion, Too: Who are the ‘Nones’?

Gladys Ganiel on October 30, 2022, 8:05 am

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Who are the people who choose the ‘no religion’ or ‘none of the above’ categories on a Census or other survey? As discussed in my post last week, for Northern Ireland’s 2021 Census we cannot say that with confidence, because all the data has not yet been released. But we can probably assume that they are more likely to be from Protestant backgrounds, to live in a Protestant majority area, and to be young (under 35). If Northern Ireland’s trends …

REVIEW – Breaking: Trauma in the Newsroom // Living With Ghosts: the Inside Story from a ‘Troubles’ Mind

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 19, 2022, 7:01 am

| Readers 1849

Reviewing two recent publications written by Northern Ireland journalists – Breaking: Trauma in the Newsroom (edited by Leona O’Neill and Chris Lindsay) and Living With Ghosts: the Inside Story from a ‘Troubles’ Mind by Brian Rowan.

Book Review: ‘Unholy Catholic Ireland’ by Hugh Turpin

Gladys Ganiel on September 18, 2022, 7:59 am

| Readers 4217

Unholy Catholic Ireland: Religious Hypocrisy, Secular Morality, and Irish Irreligion by Hugh Turpin (published this week by Stanford University Press) is a must-read book for anyone interested in the changing role of religion in Ireland. Unholy Catholic Ireland responds to longstanding gaps in our knowledge about the ‘irreligious’ in Ireland, to echo the term from the book’s subtitle. In scholarly literature, this rather disparate group is often referred to as those with ‘no religion’ or the ‘nones’. (In the text, …

‘Just drawing support’ — Bill Rolston’s latest catch of mural hunting

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on August 15, 2022, 8:56 am

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Bill Rolston published the first volume of Drawing Support in 1992, which contained images of 100 murals from the previous decade. Thirty years later, the fifth volume has just been published, and at a Feile an Phobail event Rolston spoke about his never-ending “mural hunting”, accompanied by recollections of muralist Danny Devenny. Claire Hackett welcomed and informed the audience that in addition to the latest and previous volumes of Drawing Support available for sale here, Rolson, with Robbie McVeigh, are …

Parliamentarians behaving badly? Hannah White at #ImagineBelfast on Tuesday 22 March

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 15, 2022, 11:05 am

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Lockdown parties, payments for lobbying, overseas jaunts. Hannah White reckons that MPs undermine their own credibility by acting as if the rules they set for others should not apply to them. The reputation of the House Commons is in decline. And to top if all, the Government frequently sidelines the legislature. Held in Contempt: What’s wrong with the House of Commons? is title of Hannah White’s new book. It’s also the title of her talk at this year’s Imagine! festival …

On the steps, or ‘my’ Belfast: the city as I knew it growing up in the 1950s and 1960s…

Gerald Dawe on February 22, 2022, 7:21 am

| Readers 3023

A short address in the Linen Hall Library last Friday, published with Poems included from my collections Sunday School (1991) and Lake Geneva (2003) with the permission of The Gallery Press. There are three ‘sets’ of steps that concern me here today – two which belong to libraries, including in particular the Linen Hall. The third set belongs to no illustrious library, or indeed, so far as I know, to any ‘place’ whatsoever other than a doorway. They all mattered, in their …