Omagh-born author returns home to talk about new book

OMAGH-born author and political commentator, Jude Collins, will be in Caife 32 at Healy Park later this month for an event to celebrate the publication of his latest book.

Entitled ‘Born on the Twelfth of July’, the book tells Jude’s early life story, from his birth on the Derry Road, a mile outside the town.

The MC at the event, which takes place on Monday, March 20 at 7.30pm, will be Barry McElduff.

Refreshments will be provided, and copies of the book will be available for purchase.

Reflecting on his latest publication, Collins admitted, “I’m not totally sure of the answer as to why I wrote this book.”

He said, “Somebody at a launch in Belfast asked about what audience I was aiming at when I wrote it, and it struck me that I didn’t really write it for anyone but myself.

“Like most people, the older I get the more the memories come crowding in. Somebody asked me why this memoir covers only the first 20 years of my life.

“That’s because the book would have been far too long if I’d written about my whole life. In fact, for this one, I had to leave out several incidents and people I knew, otherwise even the first 20 years would have been too long!”

Collins thinks that many readers will be able to identify with a time and place that are “very different” from today.

He said, “That doesn’t mean that the past was better – there are a lot of things about the present day that I’m glad to have, not least a hugely-improved understanding of health.

“I talk in the book about my first cigarette – we knew back then that smoking was bad for you. In fact we’d sometimes refer to them as ‘coffin nails’.

“But because just about everyone else was smoking, including movie stars, we didn’t hesitate.

“Many of the people that are in the book are now dead. But that’s a part of life itself. I still, when my mind is in neutral, I’ll wander the fields down to the river, or I’ll visit the County Cinema or the Christian Brothers Park. All the people are still there, and so are the places, the settings. I think people underrate memory sometimes.”

Collins added, “You’ll hear people say, ‘Ach, your man lives in the past”. Well, the past can be a good temporary retreat point, and it’s a sort of time-travel when you awaken what happened decades and decades ago, and relive them.”

As well as being available on the night, copies of the book can also be bought at Top News in Omagh.