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@WednesdayErskin is completely right that the narrative of Protestants being 'lost for words' while Catholics write (and sing now!), as recycled once again by RDE in the News Letter, is widely believed in Northern Ireland.
I wrote a book on this back in 2017 and don't know whether to be depressed the stereotype still exists or pleased that people might still be interested. I doubt it'll ever be on the radar of those that make their political and journalistic careers perpetuating those stereotypes
Another writer from a Protestant background recently blogged that she didn't like 'confrontation' but had been struck by a recent conference where this debilitating view (the Derry girls' blackboard scene etc) was being used to frame all her work and those of other writers.
But I'm afraid there has to be some level of challenge to those stereotypes, actually reminding people - though we shouldn't have to keep doing it - of all those poets (Mahon, Longley, Hewitt, Greacen, McFadden), playwrights (Thompson, Carnduff, Boyd, Jones, G. Reid, C. Reid...
Mitchell, Hutchinson, Jenkinson, Gregg, Ireland, Niblock) novelists (Patterson, F Reid, Ervine, Hanna Bell, Burgess) to name but a few. Same is true for the visual arts and painting. In the meantime, go easy sharing clickbait articles that keep things depressingly 'us vs them'!
