En Anglais – For three decades, Gerald Dawe has chronicled the difficult yet exhilarating interface where personal experience meets political and cultural realities.The title essay; My Mother-City, traces the altering map of Belfast in the late 50s and 60s, through to the critical years of the Troubles and beyond, with some of the city’s leading artists profiled, including Van Morrison, Stewart Parker and Brian Moore. Bit Parts is a familial exploration with Dawe uncovering the actual past underneath the clutter of northern stereotypes. The lives of his great-grandparents and grandparents reveal a teeming and vibrant world often ignored by politicians and cultural critics alike.