Dan Lawton’s ABOVE THE GROUND Grabs a Spotlight Review by Kirkus Reviews!
We are proud to share that ABOVE THE GROUND: A True Story of The Troubles in Northern Ireland" by Dan Lawton, a recent history publication from WildBlue Press, has received a noteworthy review from Kirkus Reviews, an esteemed critic in the literary world. The rigor and expansiveness of Lawton's research is simply astonishing, and his journalistic prose is exacting and powerful. This is by turns a terrifying and heartbreaking story, conveyed with … [Read more...]
Author Dan Lawton Reflects on the Inspiring Image of Peter Heathwood in his Recent History Release, ABOVE THE GROUND
Of the images found in ABOVE THE GROUND: A True Story of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, the photograph that grabs me is of Peter Heathwood. He was the innocent landlord who was renting an apartment to Artt on the Antrim Road in Belfast. He got shot by Loyalist thugs who mistook him for Artt in 1979. He's been in a wheelchair ever since. In 2019, when he picked me up at the bus station so we could go to his house … [Read more...]
Author Dan Lawton Discusses the Universal Themes Present in ABOVE THE GROUND
I think Kevin Barry Artt's story is universal in its themes-An innocent caught up in a meat grinder, escape from oppression, David against Goliath. But, as an American, I had to learn the history from scratch to tell the story right. I grew up a white kid in suburban southern California, not a Black kid from South Central who had to worry about the LAPD. Police, courts, and laws were respected by everyone we knew. If there'd been a story … [Read more...]
A Glimpse into Dan Lawton’s Book Launch at Warwick’s Independent Bookstore and the Creative Process behind ABOVE THE GROUND
Last week, Warwick's Independent Bookstore in La Jolla, California, hosted author Dan Lawton to celebrate ABOVE THE GROUND: A True Story of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Attendees at this sold-out event had an opportunity to connect with Dan Lawton as he presented some of his research and signed copies of the book. Literary discussions and events like this one serve as powerful reminders of the profound impact that books have on our … [Read more...]
Author Dan Lawton Hopes ABOVE THE GROUND Can Create Space for Important Conversations Amidst Divisive Times
When Kevin Barry Artt was born, his mother had to give birth to him in a convent in a small town, out of sight of people who would be scandalized that a baby had a Protestant dad and a Catholic mother. If he'd died some years ago, he might have been buried in a cemetery in Ballymurphy that is said to have an underground wall, invisible from the surface, that divides Catholic dead from Protestant dead. The bigotry and absurdity of it seem … [Read more...]
Author Rod Sadler Describes the Charm and History of Mackinac Island, the Setting for GRIM PARADISE
It's a beautiful place. Michigan's Mackinac Island is considered the State's crown jewel. Thousands of tourists each year visit a place filled with Victorian charm. It's well warranted. There are no automobiles allowed on the Island. Modes of transportation consist of horse-drawn carriages, bicycles, or walking, and goods are transported to the stores by horse-drawn drays. As a tourist walks along the business district, the air is filled with … [Read more...]
Author Dan Lawton Calls Kevin Barry Artt’s Journey a ‘Metaphor for Northern Ireland Itself’
That Artt's adoptive parents named him after a revered Irish patriot, Kevin Barry, suggests that he, too, is a patriot and a freedom fighter-which, really, he isn't. He was an accidental hero. He didn't seek out the violence and abuse that the British poured onto him. He stumbled into them by accident. He didn't ask for the legal abuse that U.S. prosecutors Mark Zanides and Sara Criscitelli, a couple of modern-day Javerts, later laid onto … [Read more...]
Meet Author Dan Lawton
I'm a writer and lawyer. My short fiction and columns have appeared in The Recorder, Los Angeles Daily Journal, The Pensive Quill, The Daily Transcript, and Sheepshead Review. ABOVE THE GROUND: A True Story of The Troubles in Northern Ireland is my first work of narrative nonfiction. I was born in Los Angeles and raised in Fullerton, California, along with my three younger brothers. I earned my undergraduate degree … [Read more...]
Robert Dodge Combines Biographies of a Norwegian Family and Immigrant Experience from the Mid-19th Century through WWII in FIELDS OF FORTUNE
Available Now About the Book In the spring of 1853, a family of eight drove their wagon to the wharf in Bergen, Norway. They unloaded their belongings alongside the other stacks labeled, AMERICA, MINNESOTA, ILLINOIS, MICHIGAN, NEW YORK CITY, CHICAGO and boarded the crowded ship. Hopeful, nervous Norwegians-giving up everything for a place they knew of only through second-hand tales of freedom and opportunity-watched as the shoreline retreated, … [Read more...]
