Nationalist, September, 1967. Ballon writer launches new book. In the quite village of Ballon, local publican Mr William Nolan last Thursday marked the launching of his novel "They First Arose" , ---a two year labour of love --with a pleasant function in his home. A historical novel, centred around Ballon as it was in the latter part of the 18th century, has as its hero, a local man, Ned Hickey, who was involved in the "98 Rebellion. Mr Nolan (49) a Carlow County Councillor for twelve years, is married with two children. Deeply interested in local history and tradition since boyhood days, he started the book as a hobby. Mr Nolan maintains that we have failed completely in presenting history in an attractive form. He says: we must present our past in it true light to our young people and we must explain the motivation which eventually led to our independence, but we must do it attractively.