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FORMER Bahrain resident and poet David Hollywood is set to drop two books this year – the second volume of his travel series Locals Abroad, and Forgotten Memories featuring his striking verses.
The creative presents several essays and accounts of living in the kingdom in his upcoming release.
“My adventure into travel writing has been inspired by scenes and experiences from Singapore plus encounters in Moldova and the United States of America, all of which are recorded in my first volume (released in 2022),” the Irish bard told GulfWeekly. “This next volume embraces further encounters and continuances within all of those countries but also introduces to the reader several essays and accounts of living in Bahrain.”
The five-part series will feature escapades in countries including Antigua, Switzerland, Eleuthera, France, Germany and Croatia.
Speaking about his foray into travel writing, he said: “I was asked by some journalist friends to recount my travels and these were published in Irish newspapers, and to what surprised me to be ‘great success’, and from there the idea of the books arose.”
David called Bahrain home for almost a decade before leaving in 2016, but continues to be a member of the Bahrain Writers Circle. While here, he co-directed the group and subsequently founded and directed its poetry arm – The Second Circle Poetry Group. Living in different regions of the world has helped the creative ‘determine some of the sentiments contained within his poetry’.
“Poetry always seems endless in its potential and it speaks to me through the constructions of a genre that touches places inside my mind, heart and spirit. For me, prose is magnificent, but it rides on the coat-tails of poetry.
“When I try to write poetry, I like to give structure, pace, rhyme, tone and meaning to each effort, so that hopefully each effort reflects an attempt that is ‘not always the most obvious within its sense of being understood too readily’, yet expectantly contains ‘feelings’ of satisfaction, or at least emotion, and occasionally mystery,” he explained.
David’s Forgotten Memories will hit the shelves by the end of the year. In it, he explores ‘the soul, the spirit, music, the glories of human achievement, and the depths to which we can fall...’
“Forgotten Memories have moved my energies towards ethereal subject matters,” he revealed.
In addition to his own books, David’s work has been published in several newspapers and anthologies. Waiting Spaces, his first poetry collection, is now in its third edition. The 253-page re-print features two essays, 80 poems, including two about Bahrain, and 35 illustrations, all characterised by his ‘wonderful eccentricity’.
Intuitions Instincts, the theatre enthusiast’s 144-page book, also features three poems about Bahrain. All his works are available as hard copies and digitally.
“I believe sharing poetry is a great liberator of all our senses, emotions and thoughts, and helps us join together with inspirational people who will support and surround us with their own earnestness. My particular interest is to develop a public enthusiasm for poetry among those who aspire to appreciate the genre but haven’t yet made the leap into writing or proclaiming their verse.
“Since re-establishing myself in Ireland, I started ‘The Red House Poets’ group while also hosting a festival, and which has now been replaced by the Lismore & West Waterford Arts Group, with intentions to develop festivals of the written word in combination with music, painting, sculpture and eventually theatre,” the creative, who has spent around 20 years performing on stages in Ireland, Bahrain and The Caribbean, shared.
David presently lives with his wife in Ireland and has four children and one granddaughter. Not one to rest on past laurels, he is already working on a series of projects.
“There are at least three plays being completed, one about schizophrenia and the other about cancer, plus one historical drama about war, and two novels. A series of essays is being prepared for next year together with a volume of short stories,” he added.
To connect with David, email davidhollywood23@hotmail.com
