Shirley-Anne McMillan

It is only a few decades since people were leaving Belfast as refugees escaping the Troubles. How very quickly we forget.

This looks like it will be great. Thanks to @shirleyannemcm.bsky.social for the heads up

Enjoyed watching the An Post Irish book awards last night. Sorry our Jenny (Ireland) didn't win, but happy for the rest. I hope that sax player got paid about 4 times as much as the rest of the band. Quare work out for the auld lungs.

So sad to hear of the closure of the brilliant Knights Of. Lovely people and excellent publishers.

That loud screech you can hear is the sound of a thousand YA writers gear shifting into Middle Grade.

Then again, there are worse things happening in the world.

I am trying to imagine a reason why no contemporary YA writers from NI were asked to appear in this documentary, or were even mentioned in it. Particularly writers like Sue Divin, whose debut draws on Kevin and Sadie. I don't normally complain about snubs but this one really bothered me.

It's very uncomfortable viewing but certainly does a great job of showing the impact of gun culture in the States.

It is the way!

We were short on news stories that you could joke about back then 😅

Everyone in NI got it. The modern Titanic.

Oh just wait until December and then stick on his Christmas album. *le sigh*

Life with an 11yr old boy:
Him: what's this white stuff on my orange?
Me: it's just pith
Him: *uproarious giggling*

NUALA MCKEEVER WINS GOLD AT THE IMROs... MY REVIEW OF THE DRAMA... As Nuala McKeever wins the Gold medal at this year's IMPRO Awards for best radio drama... here's my review after one of its runs in the Lyric Theatre...

Nuala McKeever has just won gold at the IMRO Radio Awards... here is my review of that play - Truth, Love Or Promise - that she performed at 4 Corners Festival this past year! Chuffed! sstockman.substack.com/p/nuala-mcke...

What lovely news. Nuala is a force for good and that play is class.

A poster advertising an event at the Oh Yeah Centre in Belfast on 11th October to raise funds for Palestine.

Here is a small thing you can for Palestine. Come to our event in Belfast on Saturday. Music, poetry and craic to raise funds for Medical Aid for Palestinians. Please share. Thank you x

YouTube video by Pendle Hill USA S5E3 - Irish Roots and Radical Hope with Manchán Magan and Shirley Anne McMillan | The Seed

I featured on this podcast, the Seed, with the wonderful Manchán Magan earlier this year. I always hoped I'd meet him in real life and we could talk about it, but it was not to be. Please do listen, even to the first half which is Manchán's bit. It's just beautiful. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw7U...

The Tiger. By Nael, age six. The tiger He destroyed his cage Yes YES The tiger is out

A poem for National Poetry Day.

Pay him no mind at all. I don't know what happened to him but he went from LADfleg to red fleg pretty quickly.

Bravery of worshippers and security stopped attacker entering Manchester synagogue, police chief says Two members of the Jewish community were killed, police confirm - the attacker was shot dead by firearms officers. Four people are in hospital.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx...

They might want to look into the campaign in the south for church and state separation in education. I am not sure they'd be huge fans...

Major issues with the availability and reliability of our transport service as well. I live an hour away from Belfast and if I wanted to get a bus it would literally take 2.5 hours, IF everything runs on time.

JK be like 'I absolutely respect her right to not be a transphobe, but at the same time she totally betrayed me by publicly saying she wasn't a transphobe.'

She also appears to think that not having been a billionaire for her whole entire life gives her the right to speak for all women on issues of safety. Some of us are still in the 'public toilets' phase of life and guess what, she's not making me feel any safer at all. In fact, quite the opposite.

I love these. The DK Knowledge encyclopedias are amazing too.

It was our favourite school assembly song when I was a kid. Absolute belter. We had that pure evangelical Protestant guilt so everyone knew the craic. Buck up, kids, it could be worse!

Did you ever read that news story about the group of kids who this really happened to and instead of bullying each other they all rallied together and made a brilliant wee community?

Deep sigh!

https://join.greenparty.org.uk/

They didn't even last as long as NI21. Flip sake.