THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

When lauded Irish writer PP Hartnett told us he doesn’t want to be “the usual safe fag who isn’t going to gamble” in order to get his books on the shelves, we decided we wanted to hear more. Celebrated for his 1996 queer novel, Call Me, he’s since rejected the mainstream to create his own publishing company, collaborated with gay serial killer Dennis Nilsen, and formed a band called Child Rape Photos. As his latest collection of poetry, or what he calls “thought grenades”, is published, he tells Gavin Whelan it’s all in the service of wanting to tell the truth about the ip side.

Intelligence isn’t always reflected in numbers,” says PP Hartnett. He’s talking about social networking, or “Facebore,” as he calls it, responding to a question I’ve put to him about whether there’s such a thing as a subculture anymore.

Which is the real self? Is it the nine-to-five person in the suit, or is it the person in a jockstrap, boots and a balaclava, posting his pictures on recon.com? How many selves do we have in our closets?

“The people who are innovators and originators, they don’t tend to twitter, which is a desperate form of attention seeking. It’s such a load of tedious bollocks. The level of the functioning of communication is skimmed milk rather than organic whole.”

Leeds Skinhead, Rebellion Punk Festival, Blackpool, 2016

Such juicy soundbytes are par for the course with 59 year-old Hartnett, who has produced three novels, one short story collection, a photography book and two books of poetry, since his debut, Call Me garnered international acclaim 20 years ago. He tends to talk in statements, announcing opinions and telling tales, so while on one level he’s got plenty to say, on the other it’s often hard to get a firm grip on the content of his conversation.

The son of rural Irish parents who emigrated in the 1950s, he grew up in the London suburb of Ealing, “weighed down with shamrock”. He’s since given up his British passport in favour of his Irish one.