News & Chit-chat
WHITE ROW GETTING READY FOR THE AUTUMN
After our extended sabbatical, the good news is that we’re going to begin publishing again, and have an exciting new title planned for the autumn. That’s all we can say now – more will follow…
KIERAN TRIES TO STAY CHEERFUL
White Row author Dr Kieran Hickey has turned his attention from climate change to the vagaries of Ireland’s recent weather. The summer of 2009 broke all rainfall records, and the subsequent November was the wettest month in two hundred years. Kieran’s Deluge: Ireland’s weather disasters 2009-10 (Open Air) examines these phenomena, and much more besides. It will be interesting to hear what he makes of this year’s exceptionally nippy winter. No doubt we will hear in due course!
NOSTALGIA IN BOOK FORM
In June, Regent House’s class of ’69 reassembled in Newtownards for its first reunion in over forty years. Former pupils flew in from Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Australia for a weekend of celebration. As well as touring the school – very little of which they now recognised! – they enjoyed dinner in the town hall, and a boat trip to the enigmatic Copeland Islands, the history of which is, of course, set out in White Row’s blockbusting, Portavo. The tour was led by Dr Trevor McCavery, who as well as being one of our authors, is Regent’s current headmaster. By way of appreciation, fellow White Row author Desi Rainey presented the school with a copy of his A Taste of Old Comber (2002 and still selling.) Catch the photos on YouTube!
November 2008 - In a major vote of confidence in the new White Row Press autumn title, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) have agreed to sponsor Kieran Hickey's Five minutes to midnight? Ireland and Climate change, due to be published on November 24th.
Welcoming this development, White Row's Jim Carr said, 'This is a terrific boost to the project. NIE and the ESB are pioneering the development of renewable energy and its incorporation in the national grids of both parts of the island. To have the support of two of Ireland's most forward thinking companies in this field is a tremendous fillip. It underscores the importance of this new title. I have no doubt that Five Minutes to Midnight? will be the most socially valuable book that we have published in some years.'
November 2006 - On the evening of Tuesday 7th November, Harry Allen's excellent Donaghadee: an illustrated history was launched at Pier 36 in Donaghadee. The venue was bunged, the heat was terrific, and the PA didn't quite carry to every corner, meaning that not everyone was able to hear Harry's 'oration', which, much to his surprise, was received without serious booing or heckling. The book also went down very well. Details will follow shortly...
August 2006 - White Row receives the news that an architects' practice in Enniskillen has received a commission from a wealthy client who plans to 'rebuild' Portavo House, the handsome Georgian mansion built by the Ker family in 1817-20, and destroyed by fire in 1844. Their client was inspired to undertake this ambitious project after reading the first volume of Portavo.
June 2006 - Part II of Peter Carr's acclaimed 'micro history' Portavo: an Irish townland and its peoples narrowly missed being awarded the Wolfson prize, the UK's biggest history prize, which is worth £15,000. Described as 'a serious contender in a very good year', Portavo was jointly pipped by Shopping in the Renaissance by Evelyn Welch, Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of London; and Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean 400-800, by Christopher Wickham, Professor of Medieval History at Oxford University. Our best wishes to the winners.