Kildimo author and columnist, Jim O’Brien is to launch a new collection of his columns ‘Matters of Great Indifference’ at the Seven Sisters Pub, Kildimo this Friday, December 2. On hand to do the honours will be broadcaster Darragh McCullough of RTE’s ‘Ear to the Ground’ and a fellow columnist with Jim at the Farming Independent.
This is the second collection of O’Brien’s weekly musings taken from the pages of the Farming Independent. It contains a selection of pieces published between November 2020 and October 2022 and, according to the author, matters of all sorts are covered. “From the end of the pandemic to the start of a war, from the arrival of a new pup to the departure of a Queen, I have a look at everything and anything” he said.
The pieces are inspired by the life Jim is living and the context in which he is living it. “I draw on my childhood in Kildimo and other places I have lived, including Foynes in West Limerick Rosenallis, Co Laois and in O’Gonnelloe, Co Clare, where I now live. These are among the deep wells I draw from,” he said.
While the last collection of columns was very much coloured by Jim’s travels around the country, he has since been ‘confined to barracks’ by Covid and other circumstances. He describes this new volume as more reflective and the product of what he refers to as a ‘semi-monastic existence’.
But it isn’t all serious, “I find lots to smile and laugh about. The title comes from my grandfather who went to the pub most nights to drink a few pints, play a game of cards and discuss what he called ‘matters of great indifference’.
“I’m delighted the launch is taking place in Kildimo,’ where I first clapped eyes on the planet,” Jim concludes, “I’m also deeply grateful to Dominic Taylor and the Limerick Writers Centre for publishing the book, it is good to shop co-operatively and shop local.
Matters of Great Indifference Volume II is available from www.jimobrien.ie , at O’Mahony’s bookshops in Limerick and Ennis and online at www.omahonys.ie. It is also available at the Crescent Bookshop at the Crescent Shopping Centre, Dooradoyle.
Jim O’Brien
