Internationally-acclaimed author to speak in Dungannon

THE author of an internationally acclaimed novel that is based in part on his father’s emigration from Country Tyrone to Canada almost 100 years ago will return to Tyrone this week where he is set to speak at the Killymaddy Centre in Dungannon.

‘Traveler’ was written by John Heagney, a Florida-based writer, journalist and author who, throughout his career spanning over half a century, has won numerous awards and distinctions for journalistic excellence.

‘Traveler’ was an idea that grew out of Mr Heagney’s search for his family history.

The search led to the shocking discovery that his 16-year-old father, Bernard Heagney, was shipped off alone for three years of indentured servitude to a series of Ontario farmers.

His father’s indenture ended in 1932 but was a secret he hid until the day he died.

Mr Heagney also found that his father had been swept up in what became known as the British Home Children scheme that scattered poor Irish and British children – some as young as four – as free labour to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

‘Traveler’ tells the story of teenage Neddy McKenna who is shipped off to Canada from his parents’ small Dunnamore farm during the Irish War of Independence. He takes with him just a battered suitcase and his dreams. But in those dreams, he encounters again and again an enigmatic stranger calling himself “Traveler” who challenges everything Neddy knows.

During his visit to Tyrone, Mr Heagney will also return to the now abandoned farm house that his father left all those years ago in Dunnamore.

The last time he visited the farm was in 1975 when he returned with his father who would reunite with his brother Packy who he hadn’t seen since 1929.

Sadly, both Mr Heagney’s father and uncle Packy have since passed away, leaving the farm abandoned.

“Packy was the last family member to inhabit the family home,” explained Mr Heagney.

“The Heagney’s farmed that land for generations, extracting little more than survival from the rocky soil punctuated with peat bog and hardship.

“Once filled with childish laughter and the hum of honest toil, the farm today contains only memories, stirred here and there by Gaelic breezes washing over and through the small farm cottage.

“It’s as if the very soul of the place has finally moved on, as sure as those who once live there.”

John Heagney will be speaking at the Killymaddy Centre, Dungannon this Saturday (September 28) at 11.30am. Admission to the talk is free and signed copies of ‘Traveler’ will be available for purchase afterwards.