Fict: Katherine Dolan's blog

Fict: Katherine Dolan's blog

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Ghana in the Eyes of Odai Quaye

Africa
In 2025, my erudite friend Londoner Odai Quaye travelled to Accra for the first time to meet members of his extended family. In this interview, he shares his impressions of and thoughts on the country. You can hear him describe the trip in more detail and from the point of view of a neurodivergent traveller on the podcast Audible...
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Rounding the Ards Peninsula

Running
This week we moved to an apartment by the sea in Bangor, Northern Ireland (i.e. not Wales or Maine). The first thing we noticed...
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Curses on Vases: Illustrated Agamemnon

Ancient
The House of Atreus is cursed. I have been making my way through Louis MacNeice's 1939 translation of Aeschylus' Agamemnon, which is sometimes tough...
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MacNeice in Ireland: A Prism of Delight & Pain

History
Until recently, I knew three things about Louis MacNeice (1907-1963): that he was from Ireland, that he was friends with Auden and that he...
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In the Falls, Reading the Walls

Uncategorized
Last week we moved to a place near Falls Road, the heart of Belfast's Gaeltacht Quarter, where most residents are Catholic and Irish Republican...
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20 Scenes of War and Peace

Uncategorized
Leo Tolstoy Leo Tolstoy’s masterpiece was published in its entirety in 1869, 57 years after the French Invasion of Russia, but it was a period...
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The DeLorean in Dunmurry

History
I’ve been wondering about the DeLorean for a couple of months because this space-aged car of stainless steel played a big (albeit brief) part...
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Risking a Trip to Titanic Belfast

History
It seems kind of weird that Belfast would capitalize on its links to a terrible shipping disaster, but that’s what it has gone and...
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Walls and Peace in Belfast

History
Yesterday we went on a taxi tour of the murals of Belfast. Our guide was clearly a tough customer. About fifty but wiry and spry,...
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The Most Preposterous Mystery Novel Ever? Yes.

Detective Fiction
Writing a mystery novel is a complicated proposition. There is much to consider. The sleuth should be human but not too human; the death(s)...
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All Toes on the Towpath

History
Belfast is a surprisingly wonderful city for running, with no shortage of greenways, parks and riverbank trails. My favorite place for long weekend runs...
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The Big Defibrillated Heart of Belfast

Heroes
We’ve been in Belfast for nearly two months now and I’m afraid I’m getting almost fond of it. Don’t get me wrong, its bad...
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The Troubles in Ten Novels

Fiction
Conflict is a sine non qua of fiction and war has been a central concern of story tellers for millennia. From Gilgamesh to "Nefarious...
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