Local author Mavis releases book of Christian poetry
Local author Mavis Heaney
LOCAL author Mavis Heaney has released her latest book, The Light of the World (Poems of Faith with Heaven in View), a book of Christian poems.
Mavis began her break into the publishing world with 'Lisburn - Life in the County Down' in 1997, then came 'To God Be the Glory (the Personal Memoirs of Rev. W.P. Nicholson', and in 2010 'Ravernet - A Century of Grace.' However, as Mavis explained, this is her most personal work to date.
"This little book is particularly personal to me - consisting as it
does of my own compositions of Christian poetry" Mavis said. "I first
began writing in 1976 in a voluntary capacity for an organisation in
Northern Ireland called 'Commission - -Christian Programmers for Radio'.
My first effort was a series of thirteen 15 minute episodes entitled
'Men of God' written mainly for children, dramatising the well known Old
Testament Bible Stories. These were used on Missionary radio stations in
different parts of the world. Locally in those years Downtown Radio also
used a little series I did at Christmas time called 'Michael's Lamb'
played over five days on the Candy Divine programme.
"However, the Ulster Star was a great incentive when it came to writing
as they accepted all my poems submitted to the newspaper. It was through
the 50 verse poem on Lisburn in the 50s published in the 1990s that
'Life in the County Down' emerged. The response to that book was a great
surprise and so encouraging. Within three days in was No. 3 in the
Northern Ireland Top Ten paperback list, and also reached No. 1 in the
following weeks.
It was mainly at Christmas and Easter that the Lisburn readers would have found a little poem from me somewhere in the Star. These are included in my latest book, along with many others written over the years, and indeed also in the course of preparation for this latest literary endeavour.
"I had so many loose pages of poems gathered up, that I felt it would be good to put them into a permanent format, initially thinking of my own children - but once I get going I enjoy the creative process and inevitably photographs creep in, and an element of local history (e.g. There is a poem about Lisburn Congregational Church, and another on The Coalmen's Mission plus photographs). And each poem is preceded by an appropriate verse of scripture."
Mavis added: "I would love to see this latest publication being used as an encouragement to people in their Christian faith and also as an outreach for the Gospel. The sub title is 'Poems of Faith with Heaven in View, and the pathway of poems begins with the category of 'Creation' and ends with 'Heaven' and the joys of eternal life for those who blow Christ as their Saviour.
"A couple of the poems which I personally like are very recent, The Empty Chair' dealing with the loss of a Christian loved one, and 'The Book of Life."
The books can be purchased by telephoning 07598156191 or through the Faith Mission Bookshop, Chapel Hill, Lisburn.
Ulster Star
22/06/2012
