James Franklin works at Culture Vannin as Online and Educational Resources Officer, with responsibilities including social media and film. Raised in Maughold but now living in Peel, he is a co-author of the recent book, A Guide to the Folklore Sites of the Isle of Man. Here are the top ten books, films and songs that have inspired or entertained him.

 THIS PURPLE-MISTED ISLE BY KATHLEEN FARAGHER

It is controversial, but I sometimes wonder if Kathleen Faragher isn’t a greater and more relevant Manx poet today than T. E. Brown. I can still hear the older people I knew as a child in her joyous dialect poems of the 1950s and 60s – I am so thankful that she was there to capture it.

OSS OSS WEE OSS

A 1953 exploration of May Day celebrations in Padstow directed by Alan Lomax. Many scenes leave me breathless, but the old man wishing for the strange hobbyhorse to dance on his grave when he’s gone always leaves me in tears. It is a perfect expression of community and identity – something which fills me with inspiration and wonder.

MANX FAIRY TALES BY SOPHIA MORRISON

Every Manx or Manx-hearted person should have this book. Sometimes mistaken as something for children, it is better understood as a disguised folklore collection. It will always reward re-reading, as I’m enjoying now with my younger children.

VIEW WITH A GRAIN OF SAND BY WISŁAWA SZYMBORSKA

I enjoy poetry, and translations from Slavic languages are particularly exciting. The ideas seem stranger, more surprising, and clearer. I always return to the Polish Noble Laureate, Wisława Szymborska, because there remains so much depth and beauty in her work, no matter how many times I read it.

MASTER OF MAN BY HALL CAINE

I read vociferously in my youth, but in my twenties I realised that I had never read Manx literature. I turned to a Hall Caine novel and started a journey of Manx discovery that I’ll never get to the bottom of. My favourite of Hall Caine’s books is the late and little-known The Master of Man.

PARTITA FOR 8 VOICES BY CAROLINE SHAW

American composer, Caroline Shaw, won a Pulitzer Prize for this choral work, and it is obvious why. Shaw’s music is something different. Like so many others, from hearing even just the first 30 seconds of this, I have been an avid follower of all she does.

ON CERTAINTY BY LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN

I studied philosophy at university and fell in love with the thinking of Ludwig Wittgenstein. I was and remain deeply moved by this book he wrote in the final months of his life. For me, its exploration of the limitations of knowing reach towards something moving and profound.

SOLLYS: GAELIC SONGS FROM THE ISLE OF MAN

After a long exile away from the Island, I discovered this CD when I returned home eight or so years ago. I listened to its 30 songs almost constantly for over the following year, delighted to be home at last. For me, it is one of the few albums every Manx person should have in their lives.

RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET

Something a lot lighter, this 2018 aminated children’s film was a joy. As a family we have ‘Cinema Saturdays,’ where we all sit down to enjoy a film together. Often the films disappoint the adults, but this was a wonderful film we’ve been recommending to other parents ever since.

A MANX SCRAPBOOK BY W W GILL

531 pages of Manx folklore at its most wonderful. Chapters cover wells, old roads, road lore, place name and place lore. It was in the fascination and frustration of reading this book that the idea for our Folklore Guide was born, and I will never tire of trying to get to the bottom of Gill’s books.