''The Honest Ulsterman'' is a long-running

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

that was established by James Simmons in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

. It was then edited for twenty years by

Frank Ormsby Francis Arthur Ormsby (born 1947) is a Northern Irish author and poet. Life Frank Ormsby was born in Irvinestown, County Fermanagh. He was educated at St Michael's College, Enniskillen and then Queen's University Belfast. From 1976 until his ...

. It has returned as an online publication from 2014 onwards. Editors of ''The Honest Ulsterman'' were: issues 1-11 and 14-19: James Simmons; issue 12 was guest-edited by Michael Stephens; Michael Foley guest-edited issue 13, and co-edited with

issues 20-34: Ormsby edited 35-74 on his own, and 75-86 with Robert Johnstone; Johnstone edited 87-95, with co-editors Ruth Hooley (later Ruth Carr) up to 93, and

Tom Clyde Thomas Knox Clyde (August 17, 1923 – October 1, 2005) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, ...

for issues 94 and 95: Tom Clyde edited 96-110 with associate editors Ruth Carr and, from 99-110, Frank Sewell. The final print issue, 111, was edited by Ruth Carr and Tom Clyde. It was revived by the Verbal Arts Centre which appointed Darran Anderson as Editor, who edited three online issues. It is currently edited by Gregory McCartney. The magazine was published, with decreasing frequency, from

May 1968 The following events occurred in May 1968: May 1, 1968 (Wednesday) *CARIFTA, the Caribbean Free Trade Association, was formally created as an agreement between Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. *RAF Strike Co ...

until Summer 2003 and so was one of the longest-lived and most widely read little magazines of its type in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and probably in the English-speaking world. From the start it presented Northern Irish writers alongside poets, prose-writers and critics from around the world. Early issues included work by

Stevie Smith Florence Margaret Smith, known as Stevie Smith (20 September 1902 – 7 March 1971), was an English poet and novelist. She won the Cholmondeley Award and was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. A play, '' Stevie'' by Hugh Whitemore, bas ...

and

Tony Harrison Tony Harrison (born 30 April 1937) is an English poet, translator and playwright. He was born in Beeston, Leeds and he received his education in Classics from Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University. He is one of Britain's foremost verse w ...

, as well as by

Gavin Ewart Gavin Buchanan Ewart FRSL (4 February 1916 – 23 October 1995) was a British poet who contributed to Geoffrey Grigson's ''New Verse'' at the age of seventeen. Life Ewart was born in London and educated at Wellington College, before entering C ...

, who continued to contribute until his death. It went on to include work from all parts of Ireland and Britain, the USA and Canada, Australia and many other places. Its beginning coincided with the emergence of a remarkable generation of poets, including

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Michael Longley Michael Longley, (born 27 July 1939, Belfast, Northern Ireland), is an Anglo-Irish poet. Life and career One of twin boys, Michael Longley was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to English parents, Longley was educated at the Royal Belfast A ...

and

Derek Mahon Derek Mahon (23 November 1941 – 1 October 2020) was an Irish poet. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland but lived in a number of cities around the world. At his death it was noted that his, "influence in the Irish poetry community, lite ...

, but it also provided an early, often the first, platform for subsequent waves of writers such as

Paul Muldoon Paul Muldoon (born 20 June 1951) is an Irish poet. He has published more than thirty collections and won a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize. At Princeton University he is currently both the Howard G. B. Clark '21 University Pr ...

Ciaran Carson Ciaran Gerard Carson (9 October 1948 – 6 October 2019) was a Northern Ireland-born poet and novelist. Biography Ciaran Carson was born in Belfast into an Irish-speaking family. His father, William, was a postman and his mother, Mary, wo ...

Medbh McGuckian Medbh McGuckian (born as Maeve McCaughan on 12 August 1950) is a poet from Northern Ireland. Biography She was born the third of six children as Maeve McCaughan to Hugh and Margaret McCaughan in North Belfast. Her father was a school headmaster ...

, and numerous others. A distinctive part of every issue from number 29 (July/August 1971) until the end was the "Business Section" by "Jude the Obscure" (

Gerrard Keenan Gerrard may refer to: People * Alfred Horace Gerrard (1899–1998), English sculptor * Anthony Gerrard (born 1986), English footballer * Edward Gerrard (footballer) (1900–1987), English footballer * James Joseph Gerrard, (1897–1991), American ...

, previously a contributor to

Patrick Kavanagh Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel '' Tarry Flynn'', and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". He is known for his accounts of Irish life t ...

's Kavanagh's Weekly), a free-ranging look at culture high and low, Irish, French and American. The "Business Section" was also used to serialise Jude the Obscure's novella "Farset and Gomorrah" and other prose pieces. Another notable contributor was John Morrow, whose comic prose pieces developed into satirical novels and short-story collections. Another aspect was literature in translation, particularly from Russian, Spanish, French and Chinese. Issues 82-86 included a section edited by

John Wilson Foster John Wilson Foster (born 1942) is an Irish literary critic and cultural historian. Early life and career John Wilson (Jack) Foster was born and grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the son of William Foster (draughtsman) and Gertrude Foster ( ...

, "Critical Forum". Frankie Sewell (associate editor, issues 99-110) oversaw a section in the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

. A series of over 30 poetry pamphlets were published along with the magazine itself, including work by Heaney, Mahon, Muldoon, McGuckian, Foley, Ormsby, Carson, Johnstone, Ewart,

Tom Paulin Thomas Neilson Paulin (born 25 January 1949 in Leeds, England) is a Northern Irish poet and critic of film, music and literature. He lives in England, where he was the G. M. Young Lecturer in English Literature at Hertford College, Oxford. Earl ...

Carol Rumens Carol Rumens FRSL (born 10 December 1944) is a British poet. Life Carol Rumens was born in Forest Hill, South London. She won a scholarship to grammar school and later studied Philosophy at London University, but left before completing her d ...

Iain Crichton Smith Iain Crichton Smith, (Gaelic: ''Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn''; 1 January 1928 – 15 October 1998) was a Scottish poet and novelist, who wrote in both English and Gaelic. He was born in Glasgow, but moved to the Isle of Lewis at the age of two, ...

, Sean O'Brien,

Geoffrey Squires Geoffrey Squires (born 16 November 1942, in Derry, Northern Ireland) is an Irish poet who works in what might loosely be termed the modernist tradition. Early life While born in Derry, he grew up in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland. He read ...

Harry Clifton Harry Clifton may refer to: * Harry Clifton (poet) (born 1952), Irish poet * Harry Clifton (actor), American silent film actor * Harry Clifton (footballer, born 1914) (1914–1998), English footballer * Harry Clifton (footballer, born 1998), We ...

, Tom Matthews and others.

References

External links

The Honest Ulsterman website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Honest Ulsterman, The 1968 establishments in Northern Ireland Defunct magazines published in Ireland Literary magazines published in Ireland Magazines established in 1968 Magazines disestablished in 2014 Magazines published in Northern Ireland Online magazines with defunct print editions Defunct literary magazines published in Europe Online literary magazines

See also

References

External links