I join Julian Gough, Joseph O’Connor, Edna O’Brien, Roddy Doyle, Eimear McBride and more in personal tributes to David Bowie from Irish writers in The Irish Times.

Here’s an extract from my contribution. Head over to The Irish Times to read it all and the contributions from some amazing writers.

“I’ve always had guides when it came to music and I remember the when and where of every significant artist for me. As a young boy my older brother played me Al Green in our bedroom. In secondary school a friend led me to Kate Bush. I remember who introduced me to Nina Simone at a summer camp, Bessie Smith in the common room at college, Billie Holiday at university digs and David Bowie on the A406 in London.”

This is a photograph I saw for this first time recently.

What a loss.