Take five… with Steve Stockman and Martin Magill, Co-founders of the 4 Corners Festival
Favourite book?
Steve Stockman: Everyone should read this year’s Booker Prize winning Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. I also love Colum McCann and Claire Keegan… but my all time favourite is The Atlas Of Forgotten Places by Canadian Jenny D Williams, set in Uganda, where I read it on sabbatical in 2018. I felt that book and felt that it felt me.
Martin Magill: It would have to be Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion by Greg Boyle, the inspirational founder of Homeboys, the largest gang rehabilitation and re-entry programme in the world, though Guard Your Heart by local writer Sue Divin is in there too with Into the Silent Land: The Practice of Contemplation being my favourite spiritual book, after the Bible of course.
Favourite song?
SS: Too many but if push came to shove it has to be A Case of You by Joni Mitchell (Canadian again!). An vulnerable love song with a wee spiritual verse thrown in.
MM: I love Time to Go Inward by Rodney Crowell with the powerful lyrics including “It’s time to go inward, time to be still, If I don’t do it now I don’t believe I ever will.”
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Favourite film?
SS: Shawshank Redemption is the serious one and Bruce Almighty the comedy. They are the two that I have used most for sermon illustrations.
MM: I suppose not just for this time of the year but for any time of the year, it has to be It’s A Wonderful Life with lots of tissues beside me.
Favourite place?
SS: Oh, I love Cape Town, Vancouver, Arua in Uganda, but we have been in love with Ballycastle for 28 years and go up there any time we can.
MM: I have a particular fondness for the Lake District having spent several holidays there; closer to home, McArt’s Fort on the Cavehill Hill on a good day looking over Belfast is really hard to beat.
Favourite meal?
SS: I do love the seafood boxty in Holohan’s Pantry but if treating myself in a restaurant it would have to be steak and champ.
MM: My real favourite would have to be a really good floury potato, lots of butter and a glass of milk, but if going out somewhere it’s likely to be something Italian, having spent four years in Rome.
The 4 Corners Festival takes place from February 1-9, 2025. For more information go to 4cornersfestival.com