In this wide-ranging, globe-trotting anthology, a host of Irish artists and personalities talk to John Quinn about the locations that have, for good or for ill, had a profound and lasting influence on their lives. Travel with, among others, Seamus Heaney as he visits Anahorish, the townland in South Derry that inspired much of his early work; accompany actor and bluesman Don Baker on a poignant return to Daingean Reformatory in County Offaly, where he spent two gruelling years as a boy; follow storyteller Eibhlís de Barra on a gloriously colourful stroll through the inner-city Cork of her childhood. Based on material from the RTÉ radio series of the same name, This Place Speaks to Me is a rich, deeply evocative collection of interviews and is punctuated by John Quinn´s own reflections on life-changing journeys he has made to places as diverse as Auschwitz and Ephesus. From the lived in, rolled up´ landscape of Westmeath in the company of artist Paddy Graham, to the storied environs of Anne and Catherine Gregory´s Coole Park, This Place Speaks to Me invites the reader on a journey around Ireland, and beyond, to explore the inextricable links between people, place and personal growth.
