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Something For The Weekend: Alan Nolan's cultural picks

Updated / Thursday, 3 Oct 2024 08:16

Writer, illustrator and RTÉ Culture contributor Alan Nolan has just published the latest in a series which pairs an unlikely duo of Dublin icons, the author of Dracula and the mythical subject of an ever-popular ballad... It's called Molly Malone & Bram Stoker in the Riddle of the Disappearing Dickens!

What's more Alan has just been awarded the Annual Children's Books Ireland Award for his 'outstanding contribution to children's literature'.

We asked Alan for his choice cultural picks...

FILM

I'm planning to see The Outrun as soon as I can – Saoirse Ronan can do no wrong in my book, and Slow Horses’ brilliant Saskia Reeves is in it – but the film I’m most looking forward to is Alice Lowe’s Timestalker, a twisted reincarnation rom-com that looks right up my street!

MUSIC

The album that’s seldom off my turntable or out of my ear pods at the moment is 2021’s Shake Five by The Routes, an anglo-Japanese instrumental surf rock garage band. The dirty reverb and twanging guitars brighten up my day, and the lack of lyrics means that I don’t get distracted by words when I’m writing.

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BOOK

I read a lot of kids’ books, but a more grown-up book that grabbed me recently was Rebel Girl by Kathleen Hanna, the lead singer of feminist punk band Bikini Kill. She had a tough life that she writes about in some detail so I can’t say I enjoyed it as such, but it certainly gives the reader a fascinating warts-and-all insight into the origin story of the OG Riot Grrrl.

THEATRE

Last year’s Fun Home at The Gate was the finest play/musical I have seen in a long time, with great songs and superb performances, especially by the younger members of the cast. Although I’m a comics fan, I hadn’t read Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel that the show is based on – I have since rectified this grievous error!

TV

Slow Horses, with Gary Oldman and the aforementioned Saskia Reeves, is a must-watch in our house. I love Only Murders In The Building too, it’s great to see Ned Nederlander and Lucky Day finally making it big!

GIG

I’m looking forward to Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve in Vicar Street, as well as They Might Be Giants and The Unthanks in November. I try to never miss the supremely talented D. Cullen when he plays Dublin as well. The last gig that really made the hairs stand up on my neck was Pixies in The Olympia; they played all of Trompe Le Monde and Bossanova – I was in heaven.

ART

The Irish painter Annette Smyth. I saw her work in the RHA during the summer and was entranced by her amazing, grittily realistic depictions of urban Irish landscapes. Her painting of Dublin’s Ormond Quay, a location that Molly & Bram have strolled through many times in my books, is my absolute favourite painting of hers.

PODCAST

I love Uncanny, Danny Robins’ podcast about the paranormal. I find myself driving around Ireland a lot, visiting schools and libraries, and I must have listened to each of these episodes with their first-hand, true-life accounts of ghost encounters multiple times.

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TECH

I know this is going to make me sound VERY elderly, but I have just (just about) gotten to grips with Instagram. It seems to be a much kinder and good-natured place than its competitors, but that could be because I’m the new boy and haven’t plunged too far into the dark depths as yet.

THE NEXT BIG THING...

Two Irish children’s books writers; Sinéad O’Hart and Eve McDonnell. Both Sinéad’s latest book, Sword of the Sun, and Eve’s The Last Boy are powerful, exciting and emotional reads, and if there’s any justice both of these brilliant authors will be headed for superstardom.

Molly Malone & Bram Stoker in the Riddle of the Disappearing Dickens is published by the O'Brien Press.

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