Darach MacDonald

Darach MacDonald is a journalist, novelist, poet and film-maker. Following a lengthy newspaper career in Ireland and Canada, he was the editor of the award-winning Ulster Herald series of local newspapers. 

He is the author of seven books: The Sons of Levi, a 1998 novel; The Chosen Fews: Exploding Myths in South Armagh (2000); Blood & Thunder: Inside an Ulster Protestant Band (2010); Tóchar: Walking Ireland’s ancient pilgrim paths (2013); Hard Border: Walking Through a Century of Irish Partition (2018); Ireland’s Pilgrim Paths: Walking the Ancient Trails (2020); and Border 1921–2021 — A Centennial Calibration, a book-length poem published in 2022. He collaborated in the production of a 2023 documentary film of his poem featuring more than fifty readers from both sides of the 500-kilometre course of the Irish border. 

Darach earned his Master’s History degree in 1976 from University College Dublin, and in 2015 was conferred by Ulster University with a PhD for his thesis, Proud to be Prod: Music, Memory and Motivation in an Ulster Loyalist Band, which explored Ulster Protestant culture through ethnographic observation of a marching flute band and its community. 

Having lived in many places, Darach settled in Derry City during its 2013 reign as the UK City of Culture. A father of two, stepdad of two more and grandfather of one, he is active in the local National Union of Journalists (NUJ) branch as well as being involved in other worthy causes. In rare moments of spare time, he enjoys hillwalking.