The Essay

Novelist Glenn Patterson is proudly Belfast, and admits to being baffled by Derry in his childhood - it seemed far off in the distant West, and not quite in Northern Ireland, and not quite in Donegal, on whose border the city lies. Belfast has had a tendency to feel superior culturally, so why then has Derry's unique cultural tale had such a lasting impact and influence on Glenn? The city's Punk rockers The Undertones changed his view of music and 'shook' him awake, so why does he now think of them as Canadians?