‘From the Súgán to the Smartphone’

Kilbarron Terryglass Historical Society begin the new season on Friday, October 13, by welcoming Jim O'Brien to Terryglass Hall (8pm); admission: €5.

Our October talk follows on from Jim’s talk via Zoom in February last year, titled ‘The Rural Ireland that made me’.

Jim O’Brien is a freelance writer and columnist. For the last 13 years, he has worked as property correspondent with the Farming Independent and since 2017 has been writing a weekly column for the paper. He is well placed to keep a finger on the pulse of rural Ireland.

Jim travels the country, week in and week out, walking land, meeting farmers, chatting to rural auctioneers and tasting the delights to be found in local coffee shops.

In 2020 he published a compilation of his columns entitled Matters of Great Indifference. The collection covers a wide range of issues from broadband to Brexit, from politics to place-names, from climate change to Covid. He published another selection of the columns under the same title in December 2022.

With a background in community and rural development, Jim likes to identify trends and patterns he sees emerging. He also reflects on the personal joys, delights and sorrows experienced at the various milestones that mark a life.

Originally from Kildimo in Co Limerick, Jim now lives in O’Gonnelloe on the shores of Lough Derg in East Clare.