Off the Record! Limerick author on the resilient residents of the Treaty City

CORBALLY author Denis O’Shaughnessy has been writing about the characters of the Treaty City for about 25 years. He is now back with his tenth book, a collection of short stories.

His latest book, The Poster and Other Stories, is a “deviation on the type of books” he has written over the years, but still includes several fictional stories with some based on true historical facts that have happened in Limerick.

“An eclectic selection of stories,” his latest book tells the tales of a boy’s encounter with the Black and Tans, the actions of a member of Hitler’s Youth Movement as the Allies swept towards Berlin, a puny chap who thought he had a look of Clarke Gable, a doctor who tried to introduce the bible to the unbending Catholics of Limerick through his medical career, as well as the story of the Viscount Fitzgibbon whose statue on Sarsfield Bridge meets more than the eye.

Described by Con Houlihan as a storyteller of the first order and a guardian of Limerick’s past, the author celebrates the city through his writing.

“As you know, Limerick is a very historic city, so I decided to write about its lesser known social history. A lot of sport, music, and also, colourful characters. All those books about Limerick proved to be very popular and sold out, so it shows Limerick people like to read about themselves and about the city, more generally,” commented Mr O’Shaughnessy.

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The author would describe his writing as informative memories about the city. The late Richard Harris would agree, as he once described Denis’ books as “the real Limerick.”

Speaking of what is special about the city, Mr O’Shaugnessy said: “To me and my generation, Limerick was full of wonderful characters, it was one of the reasons why I started to write about them. The great traditions, institutions, and the people themselves. The people of Limerick were always good to know, and are probably some of the best people I have ever known.”

Prior to his retirement, Denis O’Shaugnessy worked in local media for nearly five decades. At age 14, he joined the Limerick Leader, where he worked for 48 years.

As a compositor, he would insert each letter of a word into printing frames. Remembering his time at the local newspaper, he said: “I developed friendships with the people I had worked with over the years. I was happy to be associated with all the happenings of Limerick for that period of time, and all of the great characters.”

The author stated that without the people of Limerick, he would never have had a chance to write.
“I think they’re highly resilient people, with a good sense of humour.

“In the book, I thanked them for all their stories which gave me material to write about over the years”, Mr O’Shaughnessy concluded.

His latest book, which was launched by Limerick Writers’ Centre, is available now.