Athlone native Declan McCabe and the cover of his book, ‘Turning Stones’.
An Athlone man who has spent almost four decades living and working in the United States will return to his native town this weekend for a fascinating talk on his first book, which takes place in Athlone Bookshop on Sunday afternoon.
Turning Stones is a collection of 50 short essays which provides a rich insight into the diversity of life that depends on water and was born out of Declan McCabe’s love of science and nature, and his lifelong interest in life under water.
Having been a prolific contributor to newspapers and magazines for much of his adult life, it was only a matter of time before Declan published his own book, which is the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition.
The son of the late Martin and Edna McCabe from Assumption Road in Athlone has made his home in picturesque Colchester, Vermont, where he works as as a Professor of Biology at St. Michael’s College, which is a 1,500 student private educational institution.
Having first travelled to the US in 1986 while still a student, the acquatic ecologist and scientist met his future wife, Margaret, shortly afterwards and the young couple kept in touch after he had returned home to Westmeath.
They eventually married in 1991 and now live in Colchester with their two daughters Heather (26), Lauren (17) and son, Ethan (23).
Declan McCabe has always been fascinated by science (his wife is also a scientist, working in the field of medicine) but he admits that scientists have to “write a lot of obscure papers filled with jargon,” and his aim with his first book was to write something which would appeal to the lay reader and would be free of jargon.
The 50 essays which make up his book, Turning Stones, Discovering the Life of Water were first published in a magazine in Vermont called ‘Northern Woodlands’ for which he has been writing since 2015. He also hosts a podcast on Spotify, called Nature Snippets.
Each essay in his new book is accompanied by an illustration by Adelaide Murphy Tyrol, and he says the illustrations are “crucial” to the overall book and make it more interesting for the reader.
As a proud Athlone man, Declan likes to return to his home town as often as he can, and is proud of the fact that his late Dad, Martin, who was a Company Sergeant in the Defence Forces, was one of the Jadotville heroes, and was also instrumental in establishing and running St Peter’s Boxing Club in the town.
The author and scientist is looking forward to hosting a fascinating talk on his new book in Athlone Bookshop at 2.30pm this Sunday next, July 21.
Declan is looking forward to sharing the afternoon with family, friends, neighbours and fellow science enthusiasts.
