Cork author Cónal celebrates US book deal and local pigeon honour

ONE of Cork’s best-loved authors is celebrating the news that not only are his books now available in bookstores across the United States, but he is being honoured by the northside’s pigeon fanciers.

Novelist Cónal Creedon has just signed a distribution deal with Barnes & Noble, the largest US books retailer, which has more than 600 stores across all 50 states.

Mr Creedon told The Echo that his first foray into the US had been in 2008, when the Irish American Cultural Institute invited him to present a seven-city, coast-to-coast reading tour.

“It was mighty fun, I made great friends on that tour and they invited me back.” 

Since then, his plays have wowed critics from the New York Times, New York Post and New Yorker, picking up numerous US awards.

Perhaps his greatest recognition, though, has come from his own people, with Fairhill Pigeon Club's Scott Lee naming his favourite pigeon after a character from Mr Creedon’s 2018 novel, Begotten Not Made.

In the novel, Dowcha Boy is a Fairhill pigeon who, when all hope is lost, saves the lives of soldiers trapped in No Man’s Land and becomes a hero of World War I.

Pigeons and their fanciers have always featured in Mr Creedon’s fiction and everything he writes is inspired by his Leeside home.

“I guess the local versus global paradox seems to be that, the more detailed and honest the depiction of local fiction, the more accessible it becomes to a global audience,” he said.

During the naming ceremony in the Fairhill loft, a recently hatched chick Asha was named after Mr Creedon’s niece and “marketing manager”.

“Asha has become my sidekick, she has a natural affinity with all animals - so it was very sweet when Scott called the baby chick after Asha,” Mr Creedon said.

“Do you know why the pigeons return home, even from as far away as Penzance across the Irish Sea?

“I’ll tell you why. They’re just like us. They just want to get home. And when home is Cork? It’s a no brainer!”