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A former apprentice joiner who escaped one of Belfast shipyard's worst tragedies has written a book which has been shortlisted for a prestigious award.
Retired lecturer Will Morrison began his working life as a runner in Harland & Wolff.
His book, published last year by Appletree Press, is Between the Mountains and the Gantries which is a story of growing up in Belfast as war clouds gathered and working in the yard. It has been nominated for the Glen Dimplex new writers' award.
Born and reared in Ardoyne, Will now lives in Vancouver, where he was a teacher of philosophy and literature.
The horror he escaped happened when he was 16 years old in January 1951. He had stepped away from the gangway of the factory whaling ship Juan Peron just before it collapsed, sending 18 men hurtling to their deaths and injuring many others.
No memorial has ever been erected to the men who died.
"I'm looking forward to returning home for the awards ceremony," said Mr Morrison today.
"The book was planned initially only as a record for family and friends.
"It was a chance meeting between my brother and John Murphy of Appletree on a boat tour of the yard that led to its publication."
The young Morrison became a joinery apprentice in H&W before leaving to study for the Presbyterian ministry.
After his ordination, he sailed away to British Columbia, where he spent several years in the ministry before becoming a lecturer.
His book first took shape as a series of stories about his Belfast childhood and youth for his wife Margaret, from Londonderry.
Publisher, Murphy of Appletree said today :"The book deserves to be shortlisted for the Dimplex. We are proud to be the only Irish publishers outside the Irish language and poetry sections to be shortlisted this year."
Winners of the Dimplex will be announced at a ceremony in the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin on November 26.
Each category winner will receive a prize of 5,000 euro and the overall winner will receive a further 20,000 euro. The competition is run in association with the Irish Writers' Centre for the best first books published each year in Ireland and the UK.
