Michael Conaghan is a youthful 58 year old Playwright, Poet, and Bookseller, brought up in Mid-Ulster who now lives in Belfast.
Michael was introduced to the industry via a creative writing class in Whitstable, Kent, taught by his future wife, Jane.
What genre/style do you create in?
Poetry and Drama.
What would you be best known for?
Used to be the ‘Poet in Exile’ on BBC Radio Ulster’s ‘Your Place and Mine.’
What would you consider your biggest achievement?
Still to come, hopefully. 3rd in Strokestown Poetry Festival.
What would you consider to be the biggest lesson you’ve learned in your industry?
Never give up.
What has been your biggest challenge to date?
Funding to enable you to never give up.
Tell us a little about your personal life, are you married, kids, hobbies etc?
Married to Jane (see above) happily ensconced in Ormeau Road. Thump a piano and twang a guitar occasionally.
Tell us about your most recent work?
A darkly comic take on Lockdown called ‘The Unbearable lightness of being in Lockdown.’
What would you like us to tell people about?
Unbearable Lightness of Being in Lockdown for Culture Night 2020. Filmed using Zoom technology and starring the Fourth Wall Theatre Group. Short and to a certain degree, sour.
If you had to describe your work to someone who has never heard of you what would you say?
Poet and Dramatist with a historical bent. Why have you never heard of me?
What’s the funniest experience you’ve had in your business?
Art is either joyful or terrifying. Still, seeing our actor trying to act the death of Thomas Beckett while the bar next door played Born Slippy by Underworld at max volume can now be looked back on with a certain detached amusement.
What would your advice be to young people hoping to pursue the same industry?
Don’t. I could do without the competition, but if you feel you must, tend the flame of self-belief. Take criticism. Expect disappointment. But there must be a tiny part of you that believes you’re the best there’s ever been.
Anything else you want to tell people about yourself or your work?
Poetry is an inherently dramatic art form. As a poet you don’t always have to write about yourself, sometimes it’s nice to put words in the mouths of others.
Who do you look up to and why?
James Joyce, for inventing an ideal Ireland of the mind. Seamus Heaney and Stewart Parker helping us through the mess via their genius.
You can stay up to date with Michael here >>