Service95 Book Club’s Monthly Read for June is Say Nothing – Patrick Radden Keefe’s immersive account of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. If you’ve read the book and you’re inspired to learn more about the country’s culture and history, here Northern Irish poet and artistic director Maria McManus – who lived through the height of the conflict and writes movingly about its impact on her as a child – suggests the books, TV, films and music to discover.
Short Stories
Sweet Home by Wendy Erskine
This Train Is For by Bernie McGill
Poetry
We Play Here by Dawn Watson
Gub by Scott McKendry
Irish Street by Damian Smyth
The Sun Is Open by Gail McConnell
The Full Indian Rope Trick by Colette Bryce
Belfast Confetti by Ciaran Carson
Anthologies
Impermanence edited by Neil Hegarty and Nora Hickey M’ischili
The New Frontier: Reflections From The Irish Border edited by James Conor Patterson
The Glass Shore: Stories By Women Writers From The North Of Ireland
Non-Fiction
Peace Comes Dropping Slow, My Life In The Troubles by Denis Bradley
Dirty Linen: The Troubles In My Home Place by Martin Doyle
Living With Ghosts, The Inside Story From A ‘Troubles’ Mind by Brian Rowan
Inventory: A Family Portrait Of Derry’s Troubled Past by Darren Anderson
Children Of The Troubles: The Untold Story Of The Children Killed In The Northern Ireland Conflict by Freya McClements and Joe Duffy
Bear In Mind These Dead by Susan McKay
Fiction
Milkman by Anna Burns
Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen
Close To Home by Michael Magee
Proxopera by Benedict Kiely
TV
Blue Lights, BBC
Derry Girls, Channel 4
Films – Check out BFI Player
Cal (1984)
The Crying Game (1992)
In The Name Of The Father (1993)
Mickybo and Me (2004)
Good Vibrations (2012)
Documentaries
Once Upon A Time in Northern Ireland (2023) – BBC iPlayer
No Stone Unturned (2017)
Music
Van Morrison, Astral Weeks
The Undertones
Stiff Little Fingers
Horslips
Soak
Cara Dillon
Una Monaghan
Arborist
