An Offaly-based secondary school teacher is causing a stir with a new novel written from the perspective of a young Traveller boy living in the area in the 1960s.
Mr Peter Brady, assistant principal at Oaklands Community College in Edenderry, this week published Paveewhack (New Ireland Press, €12), written in what he describes as an "anti-literate" stream-of-consciousness style, using elements of Cant, the Irish Traveller version of the minority Shelta dialect.
Jack Joyce, a settled Traveller in his 50s, lies dying in Mullingar General Hospital. His nephew, Pecker Joyce, is a schoolteacher who is interested in recording Travellers' ways and customs. His uncle invites him to his bedside to hear his story.
"As a reaction against the straitjacket of convention, I got the idea to concoct an idiom which would be semi-literate and would not abide by conventional rules of spelling or syntax."
The writer recalls being "mesmerised" by a group of Travellers speaking Cant on The Late Late Show some years ago. The book, Travellers' Ways, Travellers' Words, published by Pavee Point, was some inspiration to him in writing the book.
"I used that as a basis for my voice and began to experiment. Then it all came through in a gush." He also used material published in the 1930s by the Irish Folklore Commission. It took about three years to complete the novel, mostly through "desk research", he says.
However, he recently read from the novel to a Travellers' workshop. "I was full of trepidation going into the Tullamore Travellers Workshop, which educates Travellers of all ages. It was like going into the lions' den, but when I finished, they all stood up and applauded me and I was absolutely thrilled by that."