Fanny Garrison...Irish Writer

As I Heard About It

Last week a friend whom no one has heard of so shall remain nameless rang me up. He had recently seen the movie Harry Potter. As my kids are beyond Harry Potter age I have been spared much of the hype. However I am one to follow trends and so listened to my friend tell me about the movie and book for a few minutes.

This reminds me of another book I have not read and have no intention of reading, about my friend Martin McGuinness. I have heard about it from a number of friends who I will not mention because they are also friends of Martin and don't want him to know they have read the book. Luckily I have only heard about the book and have not read it myself; I have heard enough about it to be able to write this column however.

I am working on my new book at the moment and besides the fact that Martin's book is horrible, it also has a title very similar to the working title of my as yet un-named book, which I am currently writing. Another novel based in Belfast, I was calling it "From Guns to Authorship," but now am working hard on the re-write. Absolutely none of it is autobiographical but I am enjoying writing it.

Speaking of non-autobiographical books, I have been imagining some of the quotes in Martin's book. I have been told there are claims that Martin was in the IRA. The reality is as we all know Martin has always been the Minister for Education in one form or another. That's just the kind of guy Martin is. He is good at keeping people in line and telling them what to think, always has been.

That does not mean, despite court admissions to the contrary, that he was ever in the IRA. I myself was once a proud and active member of the Republican Movement, but am not currently a member of Sinn Fein.

I know many people who were in the IRA but none of the people I know who were in the IRA are currently in government, although many of the people I know who are in government are proud of the time they have spent being active members of the Republican Movement. But there is a distinct difference between the IRA and Sinn Fein. This difference will become even more distinct as time goes on and we rewrite more of our shared history.

From what I have been told there is also a difference between Harry Potter and the book about Martin. I have heard that they are both magical books, but only one of them is evil. People I have spoken to - but not the authors of the book about Martin, I have never ever, ever spoken to either of them - say that there is no disappearing in Martin's book. That is one of my favourite magic tricks. I think I'll put it in my new novel. “Disappearing” is more a Belfast trick than a Derry one.

Another good book about novels is a book to which I have written the introduction because it was written by a friend of mine who is a leading republican, as are many of my friends. I have read most of this book especially the parts about my books, which are novels set in Belfast, and this book is about books like that. I can recommend this book very highly. My book is available at all Eason's and would make a great Christmas present.

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