No Ordinary Bread

<p>A village somewhere in rural China in 1949 and a ten-year old boy recounts a story the effects of which are with him today.</p><p>The story he tells is of a European a foreigner - the <em>Laowai</em> who comes to the village while most of the remaining men are away fighting the Civil War.</p><p>Through his sermons and stories the <em>Laowai</em> who is a Belgian Jesuit captivates the young boy's imagination as lives are permanently altered and the Civil War eventually comes to the village.</p><p> </p><p> <em>No Ordinary Bread</em> explores the dynamics of a power struggle not only confined to political and military affairs but to philosophical and existential ones as well and through knowledge cruelly learned another paradise is lost.</p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(58 58 58 1)>Jim Ward is an Irish writer published for poetry and stories in Irish and English in various publications. His play </span><em style=color: rgba(58 58 58 1)>Just Guff </em><span style=color: rgba(58 58 58 1)>won 'Best in the West' award at Galway Fringe Festival 2017 and has toured nationally. His poem </span><em style=color: rgba(58 58 58 1)>2016 Proclamation </em><span style=color: rgba(58 58 58 1)>was runner-up in the Galway Bay FM/Thoor Ballylee Yeats Poetry Challenge 2017. His poetry has twice been runner-up in award categories including the Bobby Sands Creative Writing Contest 2021. A second play </span><em style=color: rgba(58 58 58 1)>Three Quarks</em><span style=color: rgba(58 58 58 1)> was performed live via Zoom on February 2</span><sup style=color: rgba(58 58 58 1)>nd</sup><span style=color: rgba(58 58 58 1)> 2021 Joyce's birthday by The James Joyce Centre in Dublin. A memoir piece </span><em style=color: rgba(58 58 58 1)>Begging from Beggars</em><span style=color: rgba(58 58 58 1)> was published in </span><em style=color: rgba(58 58 58 1)>The 32: Anthology of Irish Working Class Voices</em><span style=color: rgba(58 58 58 1)> edited by Paul McVeigh in 2021. Jim is also a published cartoonist.</span></p>