Nonfiction

A Celtic Childhood

By Bill Watkins

Book One of the Once and Future Celt Trilogy

The beginnings of a lyrical narrative of a gifted and animated storyteller, Bill Watkins weaves a wonderful tale of misadventure and merriment.

A Celtic Childhood vividly portrays his eccentric and richly colloquial Celtic family; his vibrant Irish mam whose “hand is on the tiller” as the head of the household; his principled but stout-loving Welsh dad, who dances a jig to escape from the fairies; an uncle, who gets the “heebie-jeebies” from round food; and his Grandda, who has “a generous supply of Celtic songs and tall stories for all social occasions.” The fleádh nights with his family bring forth a rich understanding of young Bill’s place in Celtic history.

The tales of Watkin’s boyhood as a good-natured miscreant find him disrupting weddings while dressed as a gangster, illegally operating a ham radio, and getting kicked out of Ireland for “vagrancy” while on a minstrel trail in search of his Celtic spirit and manhood. Lively anecdotes and rich dialogue sing from the pages with a keen sense of rhythm and cadence.

“Deserves to be read for its own brilliance … laugh-out-loud funny … Watkins’ tales make for pure reading pleasure.”
— Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Watkins’ work stands out because of the quality of the writing and the underlying humor behind the facts.”
— Irish Voice

Bill Watkins was born in Birmingham, England, to a Welsh/Irish family in 1950. His bilingual parents were notable traditional singers. Having learned to play the tin whistle, fiddle, guitar, banjo and mandolin at an early age, Watkins is an accomplished singer/songwriter whose most famous ditty, “The Errant Apprentice,” has been recorded worldwide. Watkins lives in Minneapolis, where he builds pubs in the British Isles style and serves as a cultural ambassador at Merlins Rest Pub. He's currently working on his next book, The Fiasco Society. www.merlinsrest.com/bill-watkins/