Launch of Polish wildlife book by Roscommon man

A new flipbook focusing on Polish wildlife and its environs by County Roscommon native Michael Gannon will be launched on Thursday, October 9th in Roscommon Library at 7 p.m..

Michael who was born in Roscommon spent his childhood years growing up in the town, enjoying adventures with his friends around the Norman castle along with days out in the library.

He left his hometown at around the age of 18 and ventured to Dublin, Donegal and Derry and attended the University of Ulster. He said it was “destiny” that he ended up in Poland where he fell in love with his future wife but also with the geo-political crossroads of eastern and western Europe.

He writes, “I moved around Ireland to living in various corners of the country. Although Ireland is four times smaller in surface area than Poland, its coastline is eight times longer. You could say the Poles are of the land while the Irish are off the sea.” 

Commenting on the area around Elbląg he said, “Everything attracted me – the people, the culture, food, history, architecture and most of all the wildlife.” He also began working as a tour guide, often leading tours around former concentration camps and in fact translated a book about children at the camp.

He later decided to buy a camera and this lead him to remote places straddling the region’s border.

He writes, “At some point I bought a camera and began pressing the button. When I ventured into more remote places straddling the Russian regions border, armed with my long lens, the Polish Border Guard became interested in my wanderings, my somewhat broken Polish only fuelled their suspicions. ‘What are you doing here?’ they would ask. ‘I'm looking for a moose,’ I would reply. ‘Nice job. Well, what are you doing here?’ Usually such mild interrogations ended in pleasantries.” 

‘The Vistula Delta and the Elbląg Uplands through Irish Eyes’ is his debut book. It is a flipbook that recalls his time growing up featuring photos and commentary from his earlier life, moving on to his time in Poland highlighting the visual impact of the wildlife and landscape.

The father of one is delighted to return home to launch his work in Roscommon Library which he was encouraged to do so on the advice of his family and friends.

He concluded by stating, “The heady mix of forest, fens, dunes and the sea that you find bordering each other around Elbląg is a natural phenomenon. I am neither a photographer nor an naturalist, I just take pictures and admire the beauty of the nature that I see. Something that we can all do, only if we only take the time to look. This album is a labour of love born out of a passion for my adopted homeland, and I hope you will enjoy looking at the photos as much as I did taking them.”