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Michael Magee

@michaelmagee__

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Thanks to the brilliant Omar El Akkad for such a fantastic event last night, we had a wonderful time hosting the Belfast launch of the paperback edition of One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This. Thanks also to Michael Magee for his insightful questions, and to the audience for coming along.
We have signed copies of the paperback in stock, available in store and on our website 📚❤️ taken in Mandela Hall by @michaelmagee__

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13 days ago

BELFAST! Omar El Akkad, author of “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This”, will be joined in conversation with Belfast’s very own Michael Magee (award winning author of ‘Close to Home’ and founder of Irish Writers for Palestine).

This will be held in the Mandela Hall, the iconic venue that students named after Nelson Mandela during the fight against apartheid in South Africa in 1980s.

Do not miss this opportunity to hear from Omar and welcome him to the city.

Wednesday 30th September 8pm

Organised by No Alibi Bookshop and Canongate taken in Mandela Hall by @michaelmagee__

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22 days ago

Avançament editorial!📣 'A tocar de casa'. de Michael Magee

Un retrat de la joventut de classe treballadora irlandesa amb la llarga ombra dels Troubles de fons.

Després de quatre anys estudiant a Liverpool, en Sean torna a Belfast amb un títol universitari. Sense perspectives vitals i laborals clares en una ciutat en plena crisi, retroba els vells amics i els hàbits de tota la vida: els mateixos pubs, els mateixos excessos. Una nit agredeix un desconegut en una festa, i aquest acte desencadenarà tot un seguit d’esdeveniments que l’obligaran a decidir quin tipus de persona vol ser.

✍️Magee basteix un relat complex i fascinant al voltant de la masculinitat moderna, marcada per la classe, els traumes i el silenci, i sobre com trobar un lloc en el món en un entorn marcat per la violència i la desesperança.

Traducció // @nilsabates9

📚28 de setembre a llibreries i a partir del 18 a La Setmana del llibre en català! by @michaelmagee__

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a month ago

Big important book drop.

Stephen O’Neill’s ‘Irish Culture and Partition, 1920-1955’ is the first study of its kind on the impact of partition on the culture of Ireland. Examining the island’s literature, art, history, and visual culture, O’Neill argues that the establishment and maintenance of partition has had a deep and long lasting impact on the ways that Irish culture was produced and interpreted during this period and beyond.

In considering partition not as a past event but a process which continues in the present, this study also recovers the networks of influence and production as well as the debates around partition that propelled Irish culture in these years.

It’s also worth reiterating that this is the first study of its kind, partition being something of an overlooked and often marginal concern in the critical and academic field, and probably for good reason. We have almost been conditioned to believe in the idea of cultural divergence between the six and twenty-six counties and partition being an inevitable outgrowth of that. O’Neill’s book sets out to deconstruct this argument, and show how cultural identities and traditions were in fact instrumentalised to legitimate Ireland’s two partitioned states.

He also demonstrates how partition has had a profound impact on us, culturally and socially, accelerating the ‘estrangement of the Irish people from each other’ and reshaping the ways in which we conceive of this island and our place within it.

And yes, Hubert McNerney from Belfast was sentenced to a year in prison with hard labour (I know) for the terrible crime of owning a book about republicanism in 1938.

If you’d like to hear more about Stephen’s fascinating and important work, I’ll be talking to him about it at the Feile, 4th August, 5pm at St Mary’s. FREE EVENT. No tickets, just come along and say hello. by @michaelmagee__

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3 months ago

Mandela Hall, 30th September at 8pm

Omar El Akkad is the National Book Award winning author of ‘One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This’. Written and published during the g*nocide in Gaza, El Akkad offers a wide-ranging critique of Western imperialism and liberal hypocrisy, and the ever widening gap between the West’s ‘lofty ideals and its blood-stained reality.’ His primary target is the liberal centrist, in particular the kind of person who knows better than to tacitly condone mass atrocities but has done nothing to intervene or speak out against the U.S.-sponsored murder and the obvious propaganda that promotes it. He does this by interrogating the various hypocrisies that underpin Western exceptionalism and the mythologies it promotes in a direct, persuasive, and ultimately profound way.

I’m going to be talking to Omar El Akkad about his remarkable work, and would love for you to join us for the conversation.

Ticket link in bio.

A portion of the proceeds will be going towards MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians).

From the National Book Awards website:

‘As an immigrant who came to the West, El Akkad believed that it promised freedom. A place of justice for all. But in the past twenty years, reporting on the War on Terror, Ferguson, climate change, Black Lives Matter protests, and more, and watching the unmitigated slaughter in Gaza, El Akkad has come to the conclusion that much of what the West promises is a lie. That there will always be entire groups of human beings it has never intended to treat as fully human—not just Arabs or Muslims or immigrants, but whoever falls outside the boundaries of privilege. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is a chronicle of that painful realization, a moral grappling with what it means, as a citizen of the U.S., as a father, to carve out some sense of possibility in a time of carnage.‘ by @michaelmagee__

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3 months ago

somehow managed to get both the Belfast pogroms in 1920 and the burning of Bombay Street into an 800 word article for the Independent

i wanted to make a very clear connection between what we’re seeing happening to ethnic minorities in Belfast and across the six counties with the experiences of our parents and grandparents living in the orange state mostly because I wanted to remind people who might be lured into the traps of racist ideology that our history and the history of our people is very much structured by an opposition to those same mechanisms of oppression

i knew when all this kicked off that people in West Belfast wouldn’t take the bait, that the anti-colonial, anti-racist politics that runs through the collective consciousness is too firmly ingrained (also fuck the loyalists and their bigotry etc)… but that’s not to say that this can’t change, that the very marginal voices sowing hatred in the community won’t find a foothold (they already have, in all sorts of ways)

i basically wrote this article for them, the people of West Belfast, to reassert our radical opposition to the bigotry and racism that underpins loyalism and make sure that the people who have come here to build lives for themselves know they are not alone, that they won’t be abandoned the way our parents and grandparents were, and that we stand by them in love and solidarity

link to full article in bio by @michaelmagee__

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4 months ago

just watched a family being rescued from their home live on Sky News in north Belfast

the houses at the end of the street had been on fire for a significant amount of time, the fire was spreading along the row towards the house the family was trapped in, but the family wouldn’t leave, they were hiding, windows smashed, terrified of the loyalist mob waiting for them at the bottom of the street

it was only when the fire brigade showed up that they felt safe enough to open their front door and step out onto the street

this family didn’t stab anybody, they didn’t hurt or abuse or do anything to deserve what they’re being put through, they are simply a man and a woman and a child trying to live and make a life for themselves, as is their right

same ideology, different target

we used to be the target, we used to be the minority, our parents and grandparents lived in a state that criminalised and discriminated against them for decades, they were treated as an internal enemy, blamed for all of societies problems, and routinely burned out of their homes by loyalist mobs just like the ones we’ve seen today

that’s why it’s so important to remember the connections we share with people who are being attacked and driven out of their homes based on religion or the colour of their skin

their story is our story, we carry it and struggle with them through our past and present lives, and we owe it to the generations who came before us to stand alongside them in love and solidarity by @michaelmagee__

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4 months ago

Tak til alle, der deltog i sidste uges arrangement, hvor Michael Magee fortalte om sin debutroman, ’Tilbage til Belfast’, i samtale med Camilla Engkjær Laursen. Det blev en samtale om håb, venskaber, og om at skrive om det, der gør ondt, og om hvad der sker, når man begynder at kradse i ens sår.

Vi glæder os allerede til næste arrangement med den schweiziske forfatter Nelio Biedermann, der lige nu er aktuel med romanen ’Lázár’ om et Europa og en adelsslægt i opløsning, som forfatter og musiker Patti Smith anbefaler med ordene ”Et stærkt og mesterligt vidnesbyrd om, at en begavet ung forfatter er iblandt os”.

Arrangementet finder sted den 25. august kl. 16.30. Book din billet via link i bio.

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Thank you to everyone who attended last week’s event, where Michael Magee spoke about his debut novel ‘Close to Home’ in conversation with Camilla Engkjær Laursen. It was a talk about hope, friendship, and writing about the things that hurt – and about what happens when you begin to scratch at your wounds.

We are already looking forward to the next event with the Swiss author Nelio Biedermann whose latest novel, Lázár, about Europe and an aristocratic family in decline, is praised by writer and musician Patti Smith as “an exquisite and masterly pronouncement that a gifted young writer is among us.”

The event takes place 25 August at 16.30. Book your ticket via the link in our bio.

Foto: Anthon Jackson. by @michaelmagee__

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4 months ago

Further casting has been announced for @channel4 series Close to Home! 📣

Joining the cast are Michelle Fairley as Dearbhla, Conor MacNeill as Marty, Gerard Headley as Finty, Kerri Quinn as Jackie, Hannah McClean as Bernice, Jeanne Nicole Ní Áinle as Julia and Lalor Roddy as Fra.

Based on Michael Magee’s debut novel, Close to Home is a new four-part drama series produced by Element Pictures.

#CloseToHome @channel4 by @michaelmagee__

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5 months ago

📸 Enda Bowe by @michaelmagee__

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6 months ago

special x by @michaelmagee__

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6 months ago

Absolutely buzzin to hear that @michaelmagee__’s incredible debut novel Close To Home is being made into a four part series starring our @seamus_oharah @anthonyboyle @jjessicareynolds & @oisinthompson. If you haven’t read this yet, get it on your TBR pile naiii. (I went with the audio version which was class) Genuinely, no other novel has impacted me in the way this one did for a long time. It’s powerful & parrrrful stuff.

Over the last few years I’ve been thrilled to collaborate with these two hallions, Michael & Seamus. For Micheal, we did a Merrion bomber (a print inspired by Irish writers, so fitting) with lines from Close to Home on the sleeves. When he picked up the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature he wore the Dreamer/ Millie pocket square, a perfect Belfast connection.

Seamus is a bit of a muse (although he’d be scundered for me saying so), a fellow north coaster with a face like the Glens of Antrim personified 😂 and has worn ÉADACH to the Oscars, BAFTAs, IFTAs (the Merrion kimono which was fucking STUNNING on him, twinning with the beaut @maryellen__ohara), House of Guinness premiere and just generally.

20 years ago I made the decision to stay here to try to carve out a fashion career which honestly seemed fairly ridiculous but somehow it worked & I loved being a stylist for a long time. Then 11 years ago I launched ÉADACH & honestly, it would’ve probably been easier to be a designer elsewhere but not for one minute did I regret my decision. I wouldn’t be anywhere else. I love this place & the people, it’s what inspires me, where the stories come from & what drives me.

Over the last number of years, seeing the incredible talent that’s emerging and STAYING here, feeling the palpable creative energy across various disciplines, makes me so glad I made that decision. Being able to throw silk & scribbles at some of this local talent is a privilege. Genuinely can’t wait to see how this series pans out & so proud to see another incredible creative contribution from here being put out into the world. taken in Béal Feirste by @michaelmagee__

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8 months ago