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Author Gerard Taylor is set to return to his mother’s birthplace, Lismore, to host a talk on his book ‘But For Ireland I’d Not Tell Her Name’, at the Immrama Festival of Travel Writing this June.

Author Gerard Taylor is set to return to his mother’s birthplace in Lismore to host a talk on his book ‘But For Ireland I’d Not Tell Her Name’, at the Immrama Festival of Travel Writing next month.

Gerard Taylor was born in London in 1951, his father was South African and his mother was from Lismore in West waterford. His career started in the Merchant Navy, after which he was a gardener for 12 years, and later became a mural artist in 1981. As a great part of the author’s career has been as a mural artist, this book is lavishly illustrated with 48 fine-art reproductions of his paintings and drawings.
 
‘But For Ireland I’d Not Tell Her Name’ begins in 1982 when Gerard photographed and recorded the voice of his great uncle, Joe Collins in London, just before he died. In that interview, he told about his life and his part in the War of Independence. Joe joined the IRA in 1917 and remained with the IRA throughout the civil war. He told of a particular incident in which he was nearly shot when he set fire to the Lismore courthouse.

After Joe died, Gerard went to Lismore to record his great aunt, Lissie Collins, talking about her life and the 'troubles'; she was 99 years old. Lizzie was a dispatch rider in the Cumann na mBan and her husband Maurice was also in the IRA. She was very lucid as she recited poems, songs and stories. In this book Gerard transcribes their words, as well as other conversations with the older people in Lismore whom knew Joe.
 
Speaking of his journey to Lismore, Gerard said: “In my life I have travelled around the world, but nothing compares to the journey I made to Lismore in order to discover the history of my family from Botany. The people I met in Lismore and my visit to Bay Lough were all truly inspirational. It felt like I had come home.”
  
For full details see www.lismoreimmrama.com or call (058) 53803.

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