Catching the Light 'an inspirational book'

29 September 2008 -

Belfast poet and literary critic Gerald Dawe's latest work Catching the Light: Views and Interviews is a "necessary and highly readable" piece of writing, one reviewer has claimed.

According to Ross Moore at Culture Northern Ireland, the writer takes readers back, through a series of interviews, to the Skegoneill area of north Belfast and details how it was growing up in the 1950s.

The book is split into three parts with readers given an insight into Mr Dawe's many interests, including figures such as Bob Dylan and Jack Kerouac, his musings on countries such as Japan and Switzerland as well as discussions where he reveals his views on a range of different topics.

Ross Moore believes the latest work from the poet is an enjoyable and compelling read.

"Dawe's literary criticism and observations of his own craft are always acute … Catching the Light is highly recommended, as are the last three collections of cultural and literary criticism. Together they form a body of work that is at once necessary and highly readable," he claims.

Those keen on sampling the work of one of Northern Ireland's biggest literary names could be interested in the views presented by Mr Dawe.

Born in Belfast in 1952, the scholar is a lecturer at the University of Dublin, Trinity College, where he is a director of the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing.