Nerve Centre to publish book of essays from Derry author Dave Duggan

Derry's Nerve Centre have announced plans to publish award-winning local author and playwright Dave Duggan’s new work of creative nonfiction, Journeywork, a Creative Life, to coincide with the annual Foyle Film Festival in November 2024.

Dave Duggan presents Journeywork, a Creative Life — thirteen essays on the arc of a creative life. Each essay is a chapter in its own right, combining memoir, medical matters and creative practice and theory. The tone is humane, engaging, and serious, without being academic.

Duggan is a novelist and dramatist living in Derry, who has published several novels in both English and Irish. His detective novel Oak and Stone (Merdog Books, 2019) was listed among the best international detective novels of the year by The Irish Times.

The longstanding partnership spanning 30 years between Duggan and Nerve Centre, has produced numerous collaborative projects including Dance Lexie Dance, which was nominated for an Oscar.

This book represents a continuation of this relationship, showcasing Duggan’s multifaceted creative talents and the Nerve Centre’s commitment to changing lives through creative technologies and the arts.

Pearse Moore, Chief Executive of Nerve Centre, said: "Creativity is at the core of our work across film, music and digital technologies. When we heard that Dave was working on a set of essays exploring creativity and his professional journey, we immediately knew we wanted to publish it.

“Our skills in production and distribution, combined with our longstanding collaboration with Dave including masterclasses, a major digital artwork alongside our in-house animator John McCloskey and delivery of a slate of community education videos, make this project another perfect partnership opportunity.”

Journeywork: a Creative Life is aimed at general adult readers, including creatives who are practising, emerging and aspiring. The essays feature travel stories interwoven with health challenges, work achievements and disappointments. It serves as a case study in how one person creates works of imagination while earning a living and maintaining a family, with all the ordinary ups and downs of such a life.

Dave Duggan, writer said: "I’m delighted to be working with Nerve Centre on my new book. With novels and plays and a family memoir published, I was ready to write in a new form for me—the personal essay."

Journeywork: A Creative Life will be launched to coincide with the annual Foyle Film Festival in November 2024.

The book can be purchased now via Nerve Centre’s website for a reduced price of £9.99. https://bit.ly/4buMWdS 

Advance purchasers will receive ‘exclusive’ extracts including the book’s foreword in advance of the official launch and release in November.