James McCartan’s composure on the sideline is well appreciated by players, and no doubt added to his calm form before Down’s encounter with Kildare. The two teams were to meet on 29 August, their first championship encounter, just after agendaNi went to press.

It’s an impressive achievement which he had “certainly not” expected after his first season in charge. Clearly not wanting to raise hopes too high, McCartan was satisfied, not to mention surprised, at how Down had went up.

Down has held the Sam five times to date, first and famously in 1960 and most recently in 1994; it had not reached the semis since then. McCartan was man of the match in the county’s 1991 win over Meath, and also took a medal from a follow-up, against Dublin, three years later.

“Every game that we went into this year, we thought we could win it and certainly felt that we could beat Kerry and then [I] kept having to nip myself to try and tell myself to catch myself on.”

Tyrone knocked Down out of the Ulster Championships (0-14 – 0-10) on 19 June, only to be ousted by Dublin (1-15 – 0-13) on 31 July. The clincher came the same day with Down’s 1-16 – 1-10 win over Kerry.

Asked by agendaNi how he would sum up the season overall, he surmised: “Look at the end of the day, we have won nothing. We’re in the championship a bit longer than Tyrone but in the years in the future, Tyrone will be able to look back and say they won an Ulster title.”

The only thing to show at that point was a possible morale boost in victory over Kerry. “Happy enough so far, hopefully more to do,” he commented.

Kildare’s continual transformation, from league to first round and qualifiers, left a strong impression: “They just have tweaked every week, made a change. It has worked. Made another change the next week that has worked. Their performance levels have just gone up week on week.”

McCartan saw his job as trying to get the best out of the “gifted players” on the team, which was “not spectacularly different” from previous managers Ross Carr and Paddy O’Rourke. A bit of luck, such as the wake-up call against Tyrone and “the rub of the green in Tullamore” against Offaly had helped along the way.

“Maybe it’s better just to be a lucky manager rather than a good one,” he quipped. The team’s success was due to its tenacity rather than any spectacular tactics. “We just have guys who are prepared to work hard all over the field. When they get a setback, they get up and go on again.”

All four semi-finalists have been beneficiaries of the backdoor system this year, though the system still proves controversial by giving a second chance to counties dropping out of the provincials. Tyrone’s Mickey Harte and Kerry manager Jack O’Connor are understandably both critics.

McCartan does see where they’re coming from and, having talked it over with O’Connor after their game, thinks he has a “valid point.”

Many Down players started the season with little experience but picked it up along the way, thanks again to the back door system. “At times, it was chastening,” he continued, “but I’m hoping that the experience that we’ve garnered on the way to this game will help us and that may well be the difference.”

Mark Poland, scoring a quick opening goal and two points against Kerry, had come of age in that game, an example of a small Down man stepping up to the plate. As for Martin Clarke, who added four points at Croke Park that day: “We all know potentially what Marty’s capable of and I just hope there’s more to come from him.”

McCartan and Kildare boss Kieran McGeeny had rarely crossed paths, though they had played together for three years at Queen’s. “Nothing surprises me about Geezer,” he remarked, describing him as “probably the most focused man I’ve ever met to a fault” with an “unreal” dedication and single-mindedness.

The manager consistently avoided speculation about a final place, knowing that “it would be nice” to be compared to Down’s runs in the early 90s but that was still a long way off: “We’ve two massive games to win anything and one big one directly in front of us.”

Based on his 1991 experience, McCartan’s advice on how his players could improve after a semi-final is: “Target something, focus in on it and try and improve on that. Don’t drift into a game.”

After McCartan left for TV interviews, forwards Benny Coulter and Danny Hughes were keen to praise the strong backroom team he had set up. “Sometimes when you’re down at training, you get called aside by these men. Hand round the shoulder, wee chat, then next thing you’re lifted again,” Coulter commented.

Hughes was, meanwhile, pleased with the continuity of selection: “He could have maybe changed a lot of things after the Tyrone game but I think that he stuck with it.” Recalling running on to the field following Down’s 1991 and 1994 victories, he named McCartan among the heroes from those days. While Down was an outside bet to win, it was plain to see they had a quiet confidence even if edging towards another day of Croke Park glory.

Northern Ireland’s 80-strong Commonwealth Games team is counting down to Delhi, where the contest runs from 3-14 October. Held every four years, the games see 71 nations compete across 17 sports and four para-sports, for disabled athletes. India, home to 1.17 billion of the Commonwealth’s 2.1 billion citizens, is hosting the games for the first time.

The province has accumulated 91 medals, 24 gold, since the competition was founded in 1930. Its tally at the 2006 Melbourne Games was two silvers, for the men’s triples bowls team and clay pigeon shooter David Beattie.

“I am really looking forward to going to Delhi, we were there in February for the Commonwealth Shoot and we were bowled over by the people,” David remarked. “They are so friendly and at ease with one another, they enjoy life so much, even though some of them have nothing, so it will be great to go again and take in their culture.”

This time round, Northern Ireland athletes will participate in twelve sports (see list) with the team combining experience with new talent.

• Archery
• Athletics
• Badminton
• Bowls
• Boxing
• Cycling
• Gymnastics
• Shooting
• Squash
• Swimming
• Table tennis
• Wrestling

Seasoned participants include two-time Olympian swimmer Andrew Bree, triple bowler Neil Booth and fullbore shooter David Calvert, making his ninth Commonwealth appearance.

Sprinter Amy Foster will race over 100m after a string of good performances this season, including wins in the Northern Ireland and English AAA Championships. Eighteen- year old Portaferry athlete Ciara Mageean will run the 1500m after clinching a World Junior Championship silver with 4:09.51.

“All her friends have turned 18 over the last year or so and Ciara did as well but she had to miss out on all the birthday parties and the socialising and in fact, doing the things that normal teenagers do,” said coach Eamon Christie.

“She has been absolutely tremendous and is already a role model for other young athletes.”

Banbridge archer Mark Nesbitt (17), who qualifies in the gent’s team and individual recurve division, says it is “fantastic” to put on the Northern Ireland vest at any competition “but to do it at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi will be an amazing honour.”

Peter Cheney browses Queen’s University’s McClay

Library building and finds out how three of its staff have found the change from old to new.

Named after the late entrepreneur Sir Allen McClay, the library opened its doors for the 2009-2010 academic year and was officially opened by Seamus Heaney in July.

Boston-based architects Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson & Abbott worked with Belfast architects in the Robinson Patterson Partnership to design the building.

Its current building may be almost new but the Queen’s library dates back to its opening as Queen’s College Belfast in 1849. The first site, in the Lanyon Building, quickly outgrew its size. The Main Library’s old red-brick building was therefore constructed between 1866 and 1868, and extended westwards in 1911. William Henry Lynn was the architect on both occasions.

The McClay houses most of the university’s collections, including its archive, while the separate Medical and Healthcare Library and Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute Library operate from other locations.

On the first floor, the CS Lewis Room (pictured overleaf) is its most artistic room. A replica of the wardrobe door used in the feature film of ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ marks the way in, while the room itself is decorated with glass-engraved quotations and Narnia- themed carpets and a table. Another wall on that floor is decorated with Malaysian wall-hangings.

John MacGeagh designed the Main Library tower block, constructed between 1962 and 1967. He is better known for the Geology and New Physics Buildings. The industrially-shaped Science Library opened in 1969 and the Seamus Heaney Library in 1996.

The Heaney building now houses an advice centre and study space for international and postgraduate students, while the Science Library is used for temporary accommodation. Queen’s is currently “considering options” for the future use of the red-brick Lynn Library and the Main Library stack. The old special collections structure is currently being removed from the Lynn Library. A landscaped pedestrian walkway is also being constructed, which will run from the McClay Library towards the Elmwood Hall tower, on University Road.

The oldest items are found in the secure special collections and date back to the Middle Ages. These include two small fragments from a service book written in France or Italy in the 11th century, and notification of a 12th century land agreement between the abbots of Mainz and Eberbach, in central Germany.

Cheryl Mercer

Cheryl has worked as a librarian for 23 years, starting with two years in the Medical Library, which led to 20 years in Science Library.

“It’s a very, very nice building and it’s very popular with the students,” she comments. In her early days, as a junior, all issuing was still manual with staff having a recall diary for books. Cheryl moved on to periodicals and journals, and works on the main issue desk.

A lot of queries come from students who have problems using the self-service machine or cannot find the books.

The major change over the years was the shift from manual to computer systems, which now include electronic journals and databases. However, there is “no less work” even in the digital age.

Florence Gray

Florence, who supervises the issue desk and inter-library loans, worked in the Main Library for over 30 years. While she liked the old building, she considers the new one to be much better for the students: “It is a lovely building. It’s a really nice environment to work in, very light and airy.”

“The reception desk was the biggest change because we had never done anything like that before,” she comments, adding that the library is seen as a tourist facility. “It’s so close to the museum and the park as well. It does encourage people to come.”

On the train on her way into work that morning, she had overheard three “ladies of a certain age” saying that they must see the new library. However, a balance needs to be struck as it is still a working building.

“You have many more students. Whenever I started work, you had much more contact with the students than you do now,” she comments. “You practically knew every student.” Students can now ‘self-issue’ books without meeting a librarian. Enquirers can also be referred to the different enquiry desks on each floor.

Steve Wellings

Steve finds the new library “open and spacious and light”. A porter for four years, he previously worked in the Main Library. The job mostly involves plenty of manual work and putting books back on the shelves.

“It’s more unusual people than unusual queries you have. It does seem to attract all sorts of different characters,” he says. “Someone asked me once: ‘Is Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in here?’” A group of men, clearly worse for wear, once wanted to book a room in the hotel they thought they had spotted.

People often ask to come in and look around, and the CS Lewis Reading Room is especially popular with children.

“We would have been on the front desk in the old library all day and you used to get to know people, and you knew quite a few of them by name,” he recalls. Now, people are “doing everything themselves.”

The John Hewitt is one of the most well-known bars in Belfast but is also a successful centre for helping the unemployed. Emma Blee finds out more.

Belfast’s John Hewitt is what many would call a “proper” bar. There is no music – except live entertainment − and no television, just good old-fashioned talking. It is also very unique in that it is the only bar in Ireland to be owned by a charitable organisation and also tackles unemployment.

In 1995, founder and chair of the Belfast Unemployed Resource Centre (BURC), Brendan Mackin, returned from a trip to Liverpool where he had visited ‘The Flying Picket’ – a bar owned by a charity group.

He was immediately drawn in by the idea and thought that “the polarised city of Belfast” could do with a new and innovative bar that thought “outside the box”. BURC had previously relied on grants to fund its work, which meant it had certain duties to fulfil in return, so the idea that it could generate some of their own funds, and seize some free reign by going into business, seemed appealing.

“The centre is a charitable organisation so we are governed by charitable law and that means the money we are allocated by funding is ring-fenced to do certain things,” explains Mackin.

“This money can only be used for certain projects such as training courses, and not for supporting issues the centre believes to be important such as environmental issues or campaigning against certain government policy.”

After extensive research and armed with a loan − which was split between Guinness and the bank − he set to work on finding a location for the bar. He soon decided that the old News Letter printing offices, located in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, would fit the bill.

In the mid-nineties, the Cathedral Quarter was full of derelict buildings and would have been the most unknown part of the city but the introduction of the John Hewitt was about to change that.

Unique features

Named after the late poet, socialist and freeman of Belfast, the pub first opened its doors in December 1999. It was a momentous occasion, especially as Hewitt had formally opened the resource centre in 1985.

From the very inception, the main focus of the pub was tradition, local produce and local people as well as supporting the issues and campaigns that BURC stands for. “We thought Belfast needed a good pub with good food and no distractions. We wanted there to be a focus on supporting local live music, food, literature and art,” says Mackin.

However, because a loan was taken out to purchase the bar certain conditions had to be adhered to, such as the stocking of particular products. But seven very successful years later, the loan was paid off and the John Hewitt became “a free house”, which meant it could sell what it wanted and support what it believed in with the proceeds.

Ten years on and the ethos of the pub remains as strong. It employs 18 staff at present and most of the full-time staff have worked there since the doors first opened. BURC provides education, training and advice to the unemployed and the John Hewitt provides opportunities for those trained in the hospitality industry.

The bar, which has become one of the most successful in Belfast, stocks beer from all four of Northern Ireland’s breweries and insists on fresh, local produce in its restaurant. It is also the only bar in the province to stock 14 different types of beer on draft.

One of the most unique features of the bar is its art gallery, which displays the extensive work of local artists. While many of the bigger art galleries in Belfast enforce a commission charge, the John Hewitt sells work at no cost to the artists.

The gallery was built into the whole concept of the bar from the beginning. “The idea behind this is that it gives new artists a chance to break into the industry but because of the vast and varied footfall in the bar, it also attracts an audience they might otherwise miss,” Mackin comments.

The John Hewitt also helps existing artists to launch their work and managers of the bar have been known to purchase pieces for the ‘John Hewitt’ art collection, which boasts around 50 individual works. Oliver Jeffers and Lorcan Falloday are just two of the many well-known artists who have launched their work at the bar.

Local festivals

Bar manager Gerry White says that promoting the local art scene is also one of his top priorities: “We have a very close relationship to the local festivals. Many of the festivals are actually launched at the bar and we sponsor quite a few by making donations.

“This year we are involved in the Open House Festival, Belfast Bred, Belfast City Blues 2010, The Great Belfast Art Hunt and many other smaller projects. It is something we really prioritise. We want to help the local arts as much as we can.”

While BURC isn’t actually involved with the day-to-day running of the bar, staff at the centre are always available to add support and to ensure the ethics of BURC are adhered to.

“The benefits of having BURC as owners is that it gives a better feeling for the staff. They know that they are not just coming to work to pull pints. They are part of something more than commercial enterprise. It gives us a lot more pride in our work because we are involved with so many of the events that BURC run,” says White.

However, the benefits are not one-sided. The bar has proved to be successful and managers at BURC and The John Hewitt are looking towards expansion. Mackin comments: “We are looking at developing the concept and looking at other areas in Northern Ireland that we could expand to so that we can carry on our work at a greater level.”

A regular name at festivals and more intimate appearances in Europe and the States, Duke Special’s current tour took him home to his Belfast roots in early June.

“I had an ancestor who was a highwayman and he was doing what he was doing,” he says of his name. “There was a carriage going past with a nobleman in it and he stole the title.”

Asked about the overall inspiration for his music, he replies reflectively: “I suppose a desire to create, a desire to mine and express your kind of inner landscape, a desire to connect with people, to entertain, to feel fulfilled.”

In the past, he thinks he shone the spotlight on himself with his songs, but now it’s shining on other people.

Foremost among them is Hector Mann, the silent movie star of 12 films, invented by American writer Paul Auster in ‘The Book of Illusions’.

Duke penned ‘Mister Nobody’, pointing to Mann’s career ending, and asked 11 friends to write one song each based on the other films. He is taken by the way that each of Mann’s movies “almost point to actual events that were going to happen in his own life”, up to his own disappearance.

‘The Silent World of Hector Mann’ formed the second of the concert’s three parts, the first being English singer Hannah Peel’s songs on a music box and the last a selection from his soundtrack to Brecht’s play Mother Courage.

The combination – “somewhere between a concert and a play” – seems to have worked well on the tour but it is, in some ways, a lot to ask of an audience “because it’s not loads of songs they might know from the previous gigs.”

Duke sees this set-up as “three different parts bringing people on a journey” and has concluded that the audience can cope with not knowing what’s going to happen at the end “as long as you give them a strong voice to follow.”

It’s easier for an artist to be a “big fish in a little pond” but touring brings challenges that can only have a good influence on a musician’s career.

“It’s part and parcel of being a musician and being an artist. I think it sharpens your performance and the more of other people that you see [the better] … I think generally it’s important for your development to go to other places and play, and not be the big man in town but have to fight for people’s attention and, I suppose, earn your stripes.”

Banbridge-born Ian Cumberland is currently best known for his portrait of Allen McClay, the benefactor of Queen’s University’s new library, unveiled at its naming in early June. He came to prominence when his self-portrait won the 2009 Davy Portrait Award but remains modest about his work and achievements so far.

As he finished up at the University of Ulster’s Art College in 2006, the Arts Council bought an oil on canvas, the Mercy Seat, from his end of year exhibition. Showings of his work in Irish galleries followed, leading up to a display in London’s National Portrait Gallery last year.

Portraits and scenes of people in imagined situations are the main themes. He enjoys looking at portraits in general and finds that they brings out the viewer’s natural curiosity about the person pictured: “You cannot look at a portrait and not feel something about it.”

His own self-portrait is, in his words, modest, rough and honest – “not trying to hide anything”. Overall, he wants to do more work which is meaningful and purposeful. Although unassuming, he is being recognised near and far. Cumberland’s latest project is a commission for leading Turkish businessman Ömer Koç, which he is currently working on in Istanbul.

Posters of protest, warnings and calls for co-operation make up the Linenhall Library’s Troubled Images exhibition. Meadhbh Monahan reports.

Seventy posters from throughout the Troubles feature alongside children’s stories about a romance across the religious divide, in the Linenhall Library’s ‘Troubled Images’ exhibition.

“It’s a very hard exhibition in that it relays the story of a split community over 40 years,” librarian John Killen tells agendaNi. He has seen journalists, historical writers, academics and politicians come to the exhibition over the years to be reminded of how far the peace process has come.

Troubled Images, is one element of the Linenhall Library’s extensive collection of approximately 350,000 newspaper clippings, pamphlets, leaflets and a variety of other items from its Northern Ireland political collection. Together, the collected works aim to chronicle the history of the conflict from all sides of the political divide.

The posters have recently been shown in countries throughout the world such as America, Israel and Dublin. “Feedback was very positive as you can imagine,” Killen comments. “It is used by other countries experiencing this sort of mayhem. They look to Northern Ireland to try to come to some solution.”

The formation of what has become the “most definitive collection” of Troubles paraphernalia began in 1968 when the then librarian, Jimmy Vitty was handed a civil rights flyer as he sat in a bar in Belfast. According to Killen, he realised “this was history in the happening” and kept it. Since then, Linenhall librarians have continued the trend of picking up relevant documents. Killen spent some time collecting the billboards outside shops which contained that day’s headlines.

“It was often an atrocity and I thought: ‘In 40 years when they are making a film about this, authentic items will be vital,’” he recalls.

The collection, which celebrates its fortieth birthday this year, is still relevant according to Killen.

“We still need to come to terms with what we’ve come through collectively.”

Part of the exhibition features the work of Joan Lingard who grew up in Belfast and wrote a series of ‘Kevin and Sadie’ books about a romance between a Catholic boy and a Protestant girl.

The first book called ‘The Twelfth Day of July’ was published forty years ago this year, and became part of the education curriculum in Northern Ireland.

“It just adds a different slant [to the exhibition] but shows the different ways people have addressed this issue in literature. It’s a new and innovative way of looking at our situation.”

During that “very dark” part of history, one of Killen’s favourite posters was done for the Alliance Party by Rowel Friers in 1972. Depicting two children surrounded by barbed wire with demolished buildings behind them, Killen warmed to it because Alliance was “trying to bring sanity to the situation.”

He concludes: “They were trying to normalise our lives and in some ways that poster relates to Lingard’s children’s literature.”

What is unique about sports journalism?

I think it is the access. Let’s face it, every sports journalist is someone who grew up wanting to be a top level athlete, but wasn’t good enough!

This job gives you a chance to get within touching distance of the action and talk to the stars of the sport. I particularly enjoy working pitch side at matches. There is an electric energy at big games, whether it is rugby, soccer or Gaelic football. It is an energy that gives you goose bumps at times, as you experience every emotion endured by the players and fans. Getting the opportunity to speak live to those involved seconds after the end of the game puts you in a position where you can ask the questions everyone watching at home, or in the ground, wants to hear answered. Nothing beats playing sport, but working at big events comes close.

You also get the chance to see the human side of some of the stars away from sport. Earlier this year, I presented a documentary on Manchester United and Northern Ireland defender Jonny Evans. He brought us on a tour of United’s training ground, we got a chance to watch sessions and interviewed the likes of Ryan Giggs and other superstars as well as spending time with Jonny outside football. You realise people like Jonny are just normal people who are very talented and committed. Sportsmen aren’t particularly well known for their modesty, but most of them are genuine and prefer to shy away from the limelight.

How does your experience is the US compare to Northern Ireland?

It was very different over there, but a great learning experience. When I was 20, as part of my degree, I was employed as an engineer with Siemens in Silicon Valley in California. Having worked a bit for BBC, I contacted NBC to see if there would be any opportunities with them. Luckily, they ran an intern scheme at the weekend, so I used to work for them on a Saturday and Sunday, then for Siemens during the week.

The station I worked with covered the Bay Area, which is made up of Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose and some of Northern California. My biggest challenge was learning about Baseball and American Football. I played basketball throughout school and university, but the other two sports confused me totally. After a while, having learnt enough to bluff my way through, I started to interview some of the stars from the Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants, as well as the Golden State Warriors. I had a great time and the players were good with me, loving the Irish banter.

I didn’t appear on camera for NBC, mainly doing background work, but I interviewed the likes of Jerry Rice, Michael Jordan, Barry Bonds, Andre Agassi, Serena Williams and even George Lucas, the Star Wars creator. It was a fantastic experience and I am very lucky that NBC gave me that opportunity.

Are there any sports the ‘fan’ in you prefers to cover?

To be honest, I am a sports addict, but I suppose for me, Gaelic football’s All Ireland Championship is extra special. I am lucky to work as the pitch side reporter for ‘The Championship’ programme. I get a front row seat every step of the way, getting immediate reaction from players and managers. Huge crowds pack into grounds during the heat of the summer, hoping that it will be their year. It is a unique competition which I love working on.

Having said that, and while it might seem like a cliché, there is something thrilling about every sport. Rugby internationals make the hair stand on the back of your neck and when you are sent out to cover an event, you just don’t know what to expect. That is one of the main attractions of the job, the unpredictability factor. In the future, I would love to work on the basketball element of the Olympic Games.

What the most memorable sports story you have covered?

It is hard to pick one particular story. My first live All-Ireland final was big for me, as was Ireland’s rugby team winning the Grand Slam for the first time in 61 years and there have also been some fantastic nights at Windsor Park.

The documentaries I have made on Jonny Evans, Jack Kyle and Martin Clarke and Mickey Harte are special to me, simply because so much work, time and effort are put into making half an hour of television. It really does dominate your life for a while. But there is one story which does stand out. Playing basketball growing up, Michael Jordan was my hero; I idolised him.

When I was out in America, Jordan had just come out of retirement to play for the Washington Wizards. The Wizards were playing in Oakland at the same time as some of my mates from home were coming across to meet myself and my friend Gareth in the States. It was a crazy couple of weeks, Gareth turned 21, it coincided with St Patrick’s Day and we had all headed to Las Vegas. But nothing could top Jordan’s last ever game in California before his retirement. I bought four tickets for the match, only to find that NBC wanted me to work that day. I was gutted, but NBC had been brilliant to me, so I headed into work. As I arrived at the office, with my friends off to the game, I was handed a press pass to the match – I would be doing interviews after the game.

Wow! I don’t usually get nervous, but I was this time. We headed to the stadium and recorded pre-game interviews with celebrities courtside. It was the night of the Oscars, but George Lucas, Danny Glover and a host of stars were here. They all shared my obsession with Jordan and were more than happy to chat with me about him on camera.

He may have been past his best, but getting to see the greatest basketballer ever playing in person was a dream come true. After the game I was sent off to interview him. I only got the chance to ask one question to Michael, but I just remember shaking like a leaf. It might not have been that memorable a story for anyone else, but for me, it will have to take something spectacular to top that in terms of unforgettable days at the office!

If sport is your passion and your work, can you ever relax?

Crazy as it seems, I tend to relax and switch off when I am playing sport myself. It is good to take part rather than talk about it!

In particular I tend to relax playing golf. I find it the most infuriating game in the world, but I love being away from things for three or four hours. Even though I mostly play with Gavin Andrews who also works for BBC Sport, work never really seems to crop up in conversation and any time Rory McIlroy is in work, we both torture him about the latest adjustments to our swings. God only knows what he thinks of us.

The nature of the job though, is that there are always stories or events happening. My girlfriend has the patience of a saint putting up with phone calls at the most inopportune moments and for joining me in my search for an Irish bar in the most obscure parts of the world as I try and catch a big game from back home. I don’t think you can do the job without loving sport, because you are constantly surrounded by it, working long hours and not making as much money as people think! Despite all that though, I still love it and wouldn’t swap it for the world.

Described by the judges of that competition as having “dedication, commitment and an intuitive eye for the perfect picture”, McVitty says the main challenge for a newspaper photographer is “creating different pictures for different stories.”

He enjoys having “plenty of variety” in his job and contends that “in the media world, every day is different.”

Since beginning his career 28 years ago as a darkroom technician, he was soon one of the resident photographers in the County Fermanagh paper. Now, he also takes wedding photos and PR shots for various companies.

“I don’t really have a favourite topic,” he explains. “Each assignment has its own challenges whether it be features, sport, news, weddings or PR. Nowadays a photographer needs to be able to shoot quality pictures, no matter what the topic is.”

In 2008, he came runner up in BT’s regional photographer category, also collecting two merit awards, but in 2009 he clinched the top prize saying: “It’s the daddy of them all.”

His portfolio of pictures, shown here, was described by the Sun’s royal photographer, Arthur Edwards, as "excellent." Edwards claimed that McVitty’s portfolio “shows sadness and joy and pictures that make you smile.”

On what makes a good photograph, McVitty believes it is. “A picture that tells its own story whether it be colourful, happy or sad.”

He adds: “It has a lot to do with ‘naturalness’ and the emotional aspects of a very simple image.

“After all, I could set up a shot, with models, lighting, correct camera settings and composition that anyone could come along and shoot with any camera and get a great image. Is that photography or have I just set up a nice scene which can be photographed?”

Getting down to the technicalities, he explains that he has used Canon cameras throughout his career.

“I built up my equipment over the years and never had any problems with them. They always seem to be ahead of the game no matter what situation you find yourself in, and with their fast lenses, I value their reliability.”

He concludes: “Beauty, or the appreciation of art in any form, is in the eye of the beholder and that is certainly the case with photography.”

Despite his initial aim to avoid writing about Northern Ireland and the Troubles, “it just so happened the story that came along was set in that [time].”

Neville, who kept the fact that he was writing ‘The Twelve’ a secret until it was finished, began writing only four years ago. Prior to that, he had an eclectic mix of jobs including guitar teacher and partner in a local multimedia design business.

“I never told anyone I was writing until I had gotten myself an agent because it seemed like a really daft thing to be doing,” he reflects.

Growing up in Armagh, Neville was not directly affected by the events of the Troubles but he knows many people who lost loved ones during the conflict.

“The Troubles were [a delicate subject to deal with] but they are less so now,” he contends. “The best fiction about any conflict doesn’t come along until it’s over. We didn’t see the best films about Vietnam until the 1980s. Likewise, I don’t think we will see any good fiction about Iraq or Afghanistan until another five or 10 years.”

The Irish News pointed out that “although a fictional novel, ‘The Twelve’ does not shy away from Northern Ireland’s very real past, in fact it embraces its history. And many reading the novel will feel that its fiction is only a hair’s breath away from reality.”

Neville predicts: “There will be more [novels and films] when people are free from having to be partisan or having to be sensitive and can just go ahead and tell the story.”

Coming from a working class background, Neville explains, affected his creativity in a negative way because “you were boxed and pigeon-holed as one of the kids from the rough estate who wasn’t going to go too far and you were treated accordingly in school.”

He remembers that as a child he was “an avid reader [who] always wanted to write”. In his grammar school he was aware that he was unlike the other students who came from middle-class, affluent backgrounds. “In that environment you are not encouraged toward expression or anything in the arts at all. So I kept the writing to myself until I had something to show for it,” he remarks.

Technique

‘The Twelve’ was described by the Irish Independent as dealing with “old fashioned concepts of guilt, redemption and soul salvation.”

Growing up in the 1980s, Neville was influenced by Stephen King books such as ‘The Shining’ and ‘Salem’s Lot’. He explains: “It wasn’t until I was older that I started reading more James Ellroy and crime fiction. There’s a kind of grey area between thrillers and horror that writers like John Connolly work in. I found myself naturally gravitating towards that kind of area.”

In terms of ‘soul salvation’ he recognises that his novel has a paranormal element to it but adds: “When you are writing something you don’t necessarily aim at themes. The themes will tend to be present in what you write whether you intend it or not, but if you go looking for them you will wind up letting that dominate the story. You have to let the story be what it is.”

Getting into the dynamics of writing, Neville says: “Theme is an important part of any story or film. To take a crass commercial example, with a film like ‘The Dark Knight’, you can say that’s about a man who dresses up as a bat and beats up criminals. But what it is actually about is how society deals with crime. All good stories have a theme underlying in them.”

A keen musician, Neville often entwines his knowledge of instruments into his stories. A short story called ‘Me and the Devil Blues’, written before ‘The Twelve’ was the perfect avenue for his musical persona.

“He swept the bottleneck up the fingerboard, striking the strings just as it passed the seventh fret. He halted at the twelfth, letting his left hand waver, a glassy vibrato swelling to fill the room,” Neville wrote.

“It was nice to be able to bring that out in the story and that comes out in ‘The Twelve’ also,” he reveals.

Highlights

Neville’s “hero”, the famous crime fiction author James Ellroy said ‘The Twelve’ is: “The best novel I have read in years. It crackles. It grabs you by the throat.”

“That was very good of him to say,” he concedes. Meeting Ellroy in Belfast last November was one of the highlights of Neville’s relatively new career as an author.

“Belfast is becoming quite important on the author circuit, mostly due to David Torrins in [the] No Alibis bookstore,” he explains.

“He [Torrins] has been organising some great events and together we packed 700 people into the Waterfront to see James Ellroy. He is one of my biggest influences so it was a huge deal for me to meet him and disprove the theory that you shouldn’t meet your heroes.”

Another highlight was the LA Times book prize which he won in April this year. “That was a huge thing,” he admits. And so heightened were Neville’s emotions on the night of the award he “fell on one knee” and proposed to his girlfriend, adding to the positive momentum his life has been taking recently.

Other special moments for the author are walking into Eason’s in Craigavon and seeing his book for the first time, and “even getting an agent was huge.”

“The reviews have been fantastic. For a debut it seems to have done pretty well in a quite crowded market,” Neville smiles.

Forthcoming plans for the author include a sequel called ‘Collusion’ and two other books that he has been contracted to complete. Following his appearance on The Late Late Show in America, the host Craig Ferguson has optioned the movie rights for the novel. This means that they made a contractual agreement whereby Ferguson obtained the right to buy a screenplay from Neville.

“There’s a long road between here and there, to actually getting a film made. There’s so many practical things [which mean that] only one in 100 books ever get made into a film, but he is very very passionate about it. We will wait and see.”