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Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, Canada
My virtue is that I say what I think, my vice that what I think doesn't amount to much.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Sons + Fathers

Sons + Fathers is an anthology of entertaining essays which celebrates the special relationships between sons and fathers. The book, in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation, features affectionate and witty musings from writers, actors, musicians, politicians and entrepreneurs. Here, we reproduce those of Bono, Adam Clayton, Roddy Doyle and Colum McCann.



RODDY DOYLE & HIS FATHER RORY DOYLE

Roddy Doyle was born in 1958. He has written ten novels, including The Commitments (1987), Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (Booker Prize 1993), A Star Called Henry (1999), and, most recently, The Guts (2013). The Second Half, which he wrote with Roy Keane, was published in October 2014. He lives and works in Dublin.

My father lost his teeth in Ballybunion. This happened in August 1966, when I was eight, and - I just worked it out now - my father was forty-two. I sat on the beach for hours and watched him and my sister diving into the water, and coming back up, and diving in and coming back up. This was the Atlantic Ocean they were diving into, so the chances of finding his teeth, or anyone else's, were slim. But, eventually - and inevitably - I heard a roar: he'd found his teeth, or my sister had. He came out of the water a bit like Ursula Andress in Dr No, if Ursula had been male and she'd just found the false teeth she'd lost hours earlier. 
More: Independent.ie 

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