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I Am Patrick: A Donegal Childhood Remembered 24.03.22

INISHOWEN man, Patrick Doherty, will launch his memoir 'I Am Patrick: A Donegal Childhood Remembered' on Friday, 1st April, at 7pm in Colgan Hall, Carndonagh.
Patrick was raised in Malin Head, attended Colgan Hall and later trained to be a French teacher in Manchester. He taught French and became a headteacher in Lancashire schools for more than thirty years. Patrick now lives and writes in France.
I Am Patrick: A Donegal Childhood Remembered
Patrick’s memoir recalls a deeply traditional world, on the edge of The Atlantic Ocean, that grappled daily with the harsh realities of farming, poverty, and the powers of The Church. Patrick was caught between the demands of his father, who wanted the boys to help on the farm, and his ambitious mother who wanted to give her children opportunities through education. In a distinctive, teetotal, non-smoking family Patrick, the seventh son, struggled to find his place.
You will follow a deeply conflicted child wanting to be one of the men as well as a good student. An acute observer of the farming year and the physical demands of planting, sewing, reaping and digging. Singled out at school as the only boy to take the test for senior school, young Patrick is voiceless in an inescapable violent world of punishment. His detailed recall of place and personality recounts how he switched between his identities in a world filled with loneliness and isolation.
Patrick narrates his troubling story through the dialogue of his youth as he shows what it felt like to live through fear and intimidation lifted by moments of family humour. His yearning for belonging, endurance and eventual escape speaks to generations of a remote, but not distant, Ireland.
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