Derry teacher Feargal Friel books in for success
A Derry school teacher enjoyed the successful launch of his first collection of poems at An Chulturlann on Thursday night. The talk afterwards among those in attendance was that this would be the first of many, so well-received was the collection!
Acting Principal Feargal Friel is the brains behind ‘The In-between’, which contains 43 poems inspired by the people and places Feargal has experienced during his time in Derry, Cork and Donegal, and also in the course of his school life at his beloved Hollybush Primary School in Culmore.
A capacity crowd enjoyed the banter between lifelong friends as fellow-author Brian McGilloway ‘grilled’ Feargal on his poetry, how it came about and his experiences of life in general.
The poet grew up in Derry, and spent all his school holidays in County Cork. He studied at Queen’s in Belfast where he read English and History. Since receiving a Postgraduate Certificate of Education at St. Mary’s College, Belfast in 1998, he has been teaching at Hollybush Primary School where he is presently Acting Principal.
For the past 24 years he has been living in Inishowen and began writing poetry in 2016.
Describing how this collection came about, Feargal told Brian: “I have always had a love of language, and especially of the poetic form.
A section of the attendance at Thursday's book launch in An Culturlann.
Summing up at the close of proceedings in An Chulturlann, Declan Grace, who wrote the foreword to the book, said “The In-between is Feargal’s first collection of poetry, with more to follow, as ‘the work is not yet finished! ’(a line from poem, Early Signs).
‘The In-between’ is available for purchase at £8/10 euro from Little Acorns Bookstore, Foyle Books, Centra Muff, and Mac’s Newsagents, Buncrana.