paperboy

The other night, I attended a book reading by local author Tony Macauley. It did exactly what those kinds of things are meant to do, which is make you want to read the book. In this case, the book is Paperboy, a memoir about Tony's life in the Shankill, Belfast as a 12-14-year-old paperboy from 1974-6.

Read it. I plan to, whenever Conn gets around to bringing his copy by.

And, in a few years, go see the movie (screenplay in process).

Conn had asked last week if we were interested in going, talking it up as one of Northern Ireland's favorite and famous authors. He neglected to mention that Tony was also a personal friend of his. Turns out, Tony's primary work has been with peace & reconciliation programs, particularly for youth, in Northern Ireland. Also turns out, he was Conn's first boss after Conn finished his degree, hiring him to run a new program he had just started. (sorry about how vague that is -- i'll try to find out the actual details...)

Northern Ireland is a small place.