I Am Patrick: A
Donegal Childhood Remembered
24.03.22
INISHOWEN man, Patrick
Doherty, will launch his memoir 'I Am Patrick: A Donegal
Childhood Remembered' on Friday, 1st April, at 7pm in
Colgan Hall, Carndonagh.
Patrick was raised in Malin Head, attended Colgan
Hall and later trained to be a French teacher in
Manchester. He taught French and became a headteacher in
Lancashire schools for more than thirty years. Patrick
now lives and writes in France. |
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I Am Patrick: A Donegal
Childhood Remembered |
Patrick’s memoir recalls a
deeply traditional world, on the edge of The Atlantic
Ocean, that grappled daily with the harsh realities of
farming, poverty, and the powers of The Church. Patrick
was caught between the demands of his father, who wanted
the boys to help on the farm, and his ambitious mother
who wanted to give her children opportunities through
education. In a distinctive, teetotal, non-smoking
family Patrick, the seventh son, struggled to find his
place.
You will follow a deeply conflicted child wanting to be
one of the men as well as a good student. An acute
observer of the farming year and the physical demands of
planting, sewing, reaping and digging. Singled out at
school as the only boy to take the test for senior
school, young Patrick is voiceless in an inescapable
violent world of punishment. His detailed recall of
place and personality recounts how he switched between
his identities in a world filled with loneliness and
isolation.
Patrick narrates his troubling story through the
dialogue of his youth as he shows what it felt like to
live through fear and intimidation lifted by moments of
family humour. His yearning for belonging, endurance and
eventual escape speaks to generations of a remote, but
not distant, Ireland. |
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