The Honest Ulsterman
 | This article has multiple issues.Please helpimprove itor discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
The Honest Ulstermanis a long-runningNorthern Irelandliterary magazinethat was established byJames Simmonsin1968.It was then edited for twenty years byFrank Ormsby.It has returned as an online publication from 2014 onwards.
Editors ofThe Honest Ulstermanwere: issues 1-11 and 14-19: James Simmons; issue 12 was guest-edited by Michael Stephens; Michael Foley guest-edited issue 13, and co-edited withFrank Ormsbyissues 20-34: Ormsby edited 35-74 on his own, and 75-86 with Robert Johnstone; Johnstone edited 87-95, with co-editorsRuth Hooley(later Ruth Carr[1]) up to 93, and Tom Clyde[2]for issues 94 and 95: Tom Clyde edited 96-110 with associate editors Ruth Carr and, from 99-110, Frank Sewell.[3]The final print issue, 111, was edited by Ruth Carr and Tom Clyde. It was revived by the Verbal Arts Centre which appointed Darran Anderson as Editor, who edited three online issues. It is currently edited by Gregory McCartney.
The magazine was published, with decreasing frequency, fromMay 1968until Summer 2003 and so was one of the longest-lived and most widely readlittle magazinesof its type inIreland,and probably in the English-speaking world.
From the start it presented Northern Irish writers alongside poets, prose-writers and critics from around the world. Early issues included work byStevie SmithandTony Harrison,as well as byGavin Ewart,who continued to contribute until his death. It went on to include work from all parts of Ireland and Britain, the USA and Canada, Australia and many other places. Its beginning coincided with the emergence of a remarkable generation of poets, includingSeamus Heaney,Michael LongleyandDerek Mahon,but it also provided an early, often the first, platform for subsequent waves of writers such asPaul Muldoon,Ciaran Carson,Medbh McGuckian,and numerous others.
A distinctive part of every issue from number 29 (July/August 1971) until the end was the "Business Section" by "Jude the Obscure" (Gerrard Keenan, previously a contributor toPatrick Kavanagh's Kavanagh's Weekly[4]), a free-ranging look at culture high and low, Irish, French and American. The "Business Section" was also used to serialise Jude the Obscure's novella "Farset and Gomorrah" and other prose pieces. Another notable contributor wasJohn Morrow,whose comic prose pieces developed into satirical novels and short-story collections. Another aspect was literature in translation, particularly from Russian, Spanish, French and Chinese. Issues 82-86 included a section edited byJohn Wilson Foster,"Critical Forum". Frankie Sewell (associate editor, issues 99-110) oversaw a section in theIrish language.
A series of over 30 poetry pamphlets were published along with the magazine itself, including work by Heaney, Mahon, Muldoon, McGuckian, Foley, Ormsby, Carson, Johnstone, Ewart,Tom Paulin,Carol Rumens,Iain Crichton Smith,Sean O'Brien,Geoffrey Squires,Harry Clifton,Tom Matthews and others.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^"Troubles archive Ruth Carr".Retrieved25 September2018.
- ^"Irish Literary Magazines".Retrieved25 September2018.
- ^"Frank Sewell".Retrieved25 September2018.
- ^"Features".
External links[edit]
- 1968 establishments in Northern Ireland
- Defunct magazines published in Ireland
- Literary magazines published in Ireland
- Magazines established in 1968
- Magazines disestablished in 2014
- Magazines published in Northern Ireland
- Online magazines with defunct print editions
- Defunct literary magazines published in Europe
- Online literary magazines