MUSICAL VOICES AND STORIES

Featuring a Novel, a Memoir and a Biography

This 3-part series of interviews in which the worlds of music and literature intersect has been specially produced for ICC Digital. The highly successful singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke will discuss his recent novel The Pawnbroker’s Reward which is set during the Famine;  the renowned fiddler Martin Hayes will discuss his memoir, Shared Notes: A Musical Journey;  Richard Balls will discuss his  biography of Shane McGowan, A Furious Devotion: The Life of Shane McGowan.

 Declan O’Rourke, The Pawnbroker’s Reward (Gill Books, 2021)

Declan O’Rourke is one of Ireland’ most popular and successful singer-songwriters.  His award-winning album, Chronicles of the Great Irish Famine, was released to critical acclaim in 2017. It illuminated an extraordinary series of eye-witness accounts, including the story of Pádraig and Cáit ua Buachalla.

Four years on, in Declan’s meticulously researched literary debut, the story of the ua Buachalla family is woven into a powerful, multi-layered work showing us the famine as it happened through the lens of a single town – Macroom, Co. Cork – and its environs. Local pawnbroker Cornelius Creed is at the juncture between the classes. Sensitive and empathetic, he is a voice on behalf of the poor, and his story is entwined with that of Pádraig ua Buachalla. Through these characters – utilising local history and documentary evidence – Declan creates a kaleidoscopic view of this defining moment in Ireland’s history.

Interviewer: Anne Flaherty

A journalist born in London and growing up in County Clare, Anne has worked for The Irish Press in Dublin and  The Irish Times in Belfast as well as reporting from  Africa and Asia.  She is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, and holds an MA in Anglo-Irish Writing from Queen’s University Belfast and an MA in Children’s Literature from the University of Surrey.