Belfast Book Fesival 2017 Belfast Book Festival 2017 | Page 21

THE EDGE
DERMOT BREEN
WITH JOE MAHON
In January 2015, Dermot Breen was devastated by the death of his wife
Jacqui due to ovarian cancer at the age of 54. The Edge tells the story
of how he decided to undertake an arduous 38 day pilgrimage around
the 1,000km Ulster Way, both in Jacqui’s memory and to raise funds for
cancer research.
However, the physical journey is just one of the odysseys in his book.
Dermot exposes the raw feelings of loss and despair he experienced
during the weeks and months following his wife’s death. Guided by his
angels and demoralised by his demons, he will discuss how his walk
literally brought him right to the edge and back.
3PM // £6 | £4 // CRESCENT ARTS
HOPDANCE
Marilynn Richtarik presents Stewart Parker’s Hopdance
In the great tradition of Irish autobiographical fiction Stewart Parker’s
poignant novel, Hopdance, depicts events surrounding the amputation of
his left leg when he was an undergraduate at Queen’s University Belfast.
This posthumously edited work, largely written in the early 1970s, is
published for the first time this spring by The Lilliput Press.
Marilynn Richtarik took upon herself the task of preparing Hopdance
for publication and is the author of the acclaimed biography Stewart
Parker: A Life. A Professor of English at Georgia State University in Atlanta,
she has spent this spring semester at QUB as a US Fulbright Scholar.
4PM // £6 | £4 // CRESCENT ARTS
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