Award-winning Ballymoney writer’s exciting new book: Hinba - The Lost Isle of Saint Columba
An award-winning Ballymoney poet has created a new poetry collection based on his personal journey around the Hebrides.
‘The Lost Isle of Saint Columba’ is an exciting new poetry collection by Alan Millar. It will be launched, as part of Heritage Week, in Letterkenny Central Library, on Thursday, August 20, at 6.30pm.
This latest collection, in Ulster-Scots, with English translations, builds on Alan’s inaugural collection, ‘Echas Frae the Big Swilly Swally’, published in 2023.
The collection records Alan’s Arts Council of Northern Ireland-assisted journey from his native Ulster to the Inner Hebridean island of Colonsay. There, he rediscovered the powerful legacy of Saint Columba and his 6th Century Columban mission, centred on Iona; for the first-time hearing of the monastic isle of Hinba whose location has baffled academics and scholars for decades.
Alan said: “I absolutely revelled in poetically documenting my personal journey through the Hebrides. These poems and prose pieces are my imaginative glimpses into the daily lives of our hunter gatherer ancestors and the lives of Saint Columba and his followers. I raiked tae Colonsay wi a speirn heid, an her muse gied bak a hairtsome screed.”
In the collection, Alan recreates his own Hinba of the mind, centered on the wonderful ‘Rias Buidhe Cross’, an early Christian stone carving, pictured on the front cover his book. Diffusing ancient with contemporary, he carries us beyond our geographical and cultural boundaries, the boundaries between real and imagined.
Alan continued: “The ‘Mise Brither frae Raphoe’ suite of poems, inspired by Umberto Eco’s novel ‘The name of the Rose’, are set among monks on Hinba.
"I travel with Brither frae Raphoe on his creative journey carving the stone, having been commissioned to do so by Abbot Odhrán.”
Millar’s ‘owersettins’ of Ulster-Scots aren’t quite translations, allowing the Scots and English to engage with each other, in the treatment of some challenging contemporary issues.
Initial reactions to the collection are immensely positive:
“‘The Lost Isle of Saint Columba’ is an important, complex piece of work that is up there with some of the best contemporary writing.” Wesley Hutchinson, Professor Emeritus (Irish Studies) Sorbonne Nouvelle.
“Alan’s incisive poetry and prose proves a feast for the senses: texture, colour, taste, smell and outlook – whether you’re reading in English or Ulster-Scots or both.” Áine Toner, Features Editor, Belfast Telegraph.
To purchase a copy PayPal £12.50, to Alan Millar at [email protected] or go to the Colmcille Press website.
Published by Colmcille Press, and made possible by the Donegal County Council Artists Bursary, ‘The Lost Isle of Saint Columba’, is being launched in Letterkenny Central Library, Oliver Plunkett Road, Letterkenny, Co Donegal at 6.30pm on Thursday August 20.