'It's the bedrock of my life' - Longford author on new book and life on family farm

"It's the bedrock of my life and it's something I get great enjoyment out of and I suppose the majority of my books have been about farming. That's what people seem to like".

There is four in John's family; one brother and two sisters who all grew up in rural Ireland with farming a key focus of their lives.

"At the moment it's lambing season so I'm on the farm taking care of the sheep and the lambs and I'm over there every day for a few hours doing that and just helping out," he told us.

John thanks the great teachers of his life for helping him find his passion for writing books. His latest book, 'The Wisdom of Farmers' is being released on April 2 in bookshops around the country.

"I'm very thankful to all my readers in Longford for all the support over all the years and I hope they enjoy the book," John said.

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"I was very lucky to have had a couple of very influential teachers growing up and people are lucky if they have teachers like that. So we would have had Master Colm Harte in Killoe School where I went and he gave us a great love of literature, and then I had an English teacher, Michael McCann, in Moyne. They were very pivotal in terms of me getting interested in English.

"When I finished my studies in Sydney, I took a creative writing class and that's kind of where it all started to coalesce and I got a book deal and slowly began trying to write. It was something that I always wanted to do.

"I'd always had an interest, I'd always been reading books and it's become a full-time thing now in the last 10 years. So yes, it's very interesting, I have to say. I get to use my journalism skills still.

"I travel a lot and interview people for books and stuff so I'm still a journalist at heart in some ways. It's a really interesting process and in particular with 'The Wisdom of Farmers' there was a good bit of travel; America, Ireland, Australia and it's where I started to develop the theory which is in the book called The Land Philosophy."

John explained: "This is about the ancient knowledge system of 10,000 years of agriculture and how we can put that into our ordinary lives, and it's something that as I say, it was a product of a lot of travel and thinking, but it's something that I really enjoyed writing."

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John said that his latest book is something he thought about writing for the last ten years. The idea came to him when he was in Australia visiting his wife's side of the family.

"I had this idea; I was sitting in my brother-in-law's office looking at his business books.He's a businessman, and I kind of said to myself, oh this is very interesting, there's no books on self-help or business from a rural writer, and I sort of said, there's a gap in the market there and slowly but surely The Wisdom of Farmers developed.

"I'd travelled to America and Australia on various other trips doing research and I started to see that a lot of those things were tying together and were making sense in terms of understanding the 10,000 years of agriculture, so it was a very interesting process. It's a product of 10 years of writing and 10 years of thinking so hopefully people will enjoy it."

John added that the book is for city people and country people alike, and for people who might be living a very busy life, a stressful life and are looking for a way to slow down and appreciate the natural world and the land philosophy has.

"It's a way to harness your inner farmer and to appreciate the everyday moments of life. I'm aware that some people can't get out in nature, so by reading this book they might have their way to get out into nature, or it might inspire them to get out into nature and to slow down and find their own form of wisdom. I think the book will hopefully deliver that and get people thinking."

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One example in the book to help people slow down and enjoy life is getting up early and learning how to find your morning mind.

"So getting up early to start the day which a farmer does and finding a way to engage with that or being prepared to help others. As farmers, we always have to help our neighbours and we can all put that into our lives."

Other aspects of the book help people to deal with thinking about the past as closer than we think or being healthy, "so I talk about the importance of eating good clean food and also appreciating where food comes from," he explained.

"So for example, taking a moment before we have a meal to say this is something that's really important and I should treat food with respect because it took a farmer, or a lot of farmers, to bring the food to your plate so we should appreciate it."

Granard Booktown Festival is now in its fourth year and takes place from April 16-19. John said that this year is set to be the biggest festival yet.

"We've got writers and thinkers and journalists coming from all over the world for the fourth year of the festival. It's something we're really excited about.

"It's going to be a really fabulous weekend, we'll be remembering Manchán Magan and also Conor Gearty, two former guests at the festival who have sadly passed away," he said.

John added that for the first time this year there will be creative workshops held at the event and live performances by poets and writers.

For tickets you can go to www.granardbooktownfestival.ie.

"We're just so delighted and so thankful to all our sponsors, both public and private, who make the festival possible and also our team of board members and volunteers. It's a really wonderful thing and it's just great to celebrate books in the heart of the Midlands."

* John Connell will launch his book ‘The Wisdom of Farmers’ in Longford’s Backstage Theatre on Wednesday, April 8 in conversation with Bryan Dobson