BOOK LAUNCH

Club na Múinteoirí
Photo:Eoghan O'Duibhir

THE SPEECHES

These are summarised below, but if you want to hear the whole thing click on the AUDIO (35mins) following the speeches. Alternatively you can read a "transcript" here

Photo:Leentje Folens

I started by welcoming all to the launch, including my Dutch relations who had flown over for the event, and past pupils from the Class of '63, my classmates, from Coláiste Mhuire.

I then went on to explain my tenuous connection with Gordon Brewster and how the book eventually came about after the National Library got some 500 of his original drawings and I contacted the Brewster family.

Photo:Leentje Folens

I pointed out that the book is neither a comprehensive biography of Gordon Brewster (much remains to be written) nor is it a comprehensive review of his lifetime of cartooning. It is based on, and largely confined to, those cartoons included in the National Library’s collection, along with details of his family life based on information from the family, and the odd public record added in.

I also pointed out that we are so fortunate to have this collection of his original drawings. Were we to be stuck with relying on the reproductions in the newspapers, we would never have been able to appreciate the subtlety of presentation in the originals.

I then asked Felix Larkin to launch the book.

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Photo:Paul Egan

Felix did me proud, welcoming me to the small elite band of historians of cartoons, of which he himself is a distinguished member. He was lavish in his praise for the book and paid me some complimentss which I really don't deserve but am quite prepared to accept on the occasion.

He went on to outline the history of Irish cartoons and claimed that I had been kinder to Gordon than had his own newspaper the Irish Independent.

Photo:Leentje Folens

His verdict on the book is that it is a very comprehensive study – and it retrieves the memory of Gordon Brewster for posterity, as well as contributing greatly to the history of Irish cartoons.

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I was thrilled that 10 Brewsters flew over to attend the event. That's how much the book meant to them. I was anxious that one of them would convey exactly what this meant to them and Leigh Brewster, Gordon's grandson, volunteered to say a few wordsl

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Photo:Eoghan O'Duibhir

Leigh explained how the name Gordon Brewster was carried down through each generation of the family, right down to his son, Mathew Gordon Brewster, Gordon's great grandson. But he stressed that there was more than just a name involved, a family's history and journey. It is about a family once lost then brought back together. About an unknown history that they shared but never knew and a journey that taught them that history, that they can now pass on.

Photo:Paul Egan

He credits me with being a guide who has taken the family along new paths and introduced them to their Irish heritage, not just shown them their family history but brought their extended family closer together. So I am not just an author and a researcher but someone they think of as a FRIEND.

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Diarmuid Ó Gráda credited me with introducing him to aspects of his cultural life and recalled an incident involving Lady Chatterley's Lover.

That in turn prompted me to expand on the story.

And that more or less wrapped up the speeches.


THE AUDIO

Now, after my nearly botched attempt to record the launch of Leentje Folens book, I resolved to never let that happen again. But in my excitement it did. As I said above, I started by welcoming all to the launch, including my Dutch relations who had flown over for the event, and past pupils from the Class of '63, my classmates, from Coláiste Mhuire. I then described Gordon's death in the Sweetshop. It was then that I noticed I had forgotten to turn on the recording. So I stopped and turned on the recording, and you can pick up the audio from there:-




THE CAKE

Thank God the day went well. No serious surprises. At least not in a negative sense.

But there was one big surprise. A hugely positive and welcome one.

Susan, Eoghan's wife, had arranged a cake. But this was no ordinary cake. It was a highly luxurious and expertly decorated cake with the cartoon from the cover of the book as the top icing.

Flabbergasted I was. Thank you Susan.

The Cake
Photo:Eoghan O'Duibhir

This led to the most amazing ceremony - the cutting of the cake by Gordon's great-great-granddaughter, Martha, with the Brewsters all gathered round. And it echoed my first meeting with Dolores, who was accompanied then by Lynne (Gordon's granddaugher, Katrina Gordon's great granddaughter and Lotte (Gordon's great-great-granddaughter). Four generations of Brewsters. At the cake-cutting we had three of those four generations, Dolores having died in May 2016, but with Martha, Lotte's little sister to cut the cake. A chain of continuity and belonging and a fitting setting for the cake.

Brewster group waiting to cut the cake
Photo:Eoghan O'Duibhir

Martha's cutting lesson
Photo:Eoghan O'Duibhir

Martha cutting the cake
Photo:Eoghan O'Duibhir

COLÁISTE

A fair clatter of my former classmates turned up (Coláiste Mhuire 1963) which was very encouraging.

Frank, Barry, Kevin
Photo:Leentje Folens

Me, Fionnuala, Alan
Photo:Michael McShane

THE INLAWS

Ruud & Saskia

I was very surprised to learn that my Dutch inlaws were flying in for the launch, well, also to meet up with me.


MY OWN FUNERAL

At one point I was struck by a simple truth. At a funeral the corpse is eulogised and the only person present who can't hear what is being said is the corpse. Here I am giving birth to my book and I can wallow in the vastly expanded eulogies. So, in a sense, I'm at my own funeral, and enjoying it imensely.

You can order the book through a variety of sources from this site. Lettertec is the best bet for those in Europe.

https://brewsterbook.com