Writer Kevin Barry on fancy chocolates, Cuchullain’s heroic diet, and naked seething ambition. Kevin Barry’s novel, City of Bohane, has just been published in the U.S. It was shortlisted for both the Irish Novel of the Year and the Costa First Novel Award in 2011. His debut story collection, There Are Little Kingdoms, was awarded the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 2007. … [Read more...] about What Are You Like? Kevin Barry
The New Irish Songwriter: James Vincent McMorrow
A spring tour in Australia on the immediate horizon, thoughts brewing of a sophomore album and the world at his feet, James Vincent McMorrow has stormed onto the scene from virtual nothingness in the last year. It was January of last year that the Dublin native’s debut album, Early In the Morning, found its way to my desk for review, and I was completely stunned. In many ways, … [Read more...] about The New Irish Songwriter: James Vincent McMorrow
Sláinte!
The Fast & The Feast
How Ireland perfected the journey from abstinent Lent to the celebratory feast of Easter.
Throughout the history of Western civilization, spring’s arrival was always a time for feasting and gaiety. After months of cold stormy weather, long nights and gloomy days, shoots of new grass would herald the onset of another year’s planting cycle. In pre-Christian Ireland, the spring … [Read more...] about Sláinte!
The Fast & The Feast
Roots: The Marvelous McDonaghs
McDonagh is one of the rarer surnames of Ireland, but exists also as MacDonagh, MacDonough, Donogh, and Donagh. The modern forms of the name are derived from Mac Donnchadha, which originates from the first name Donnchadh, a compound of “donn” meaning brown, plus “cath,” a battle. Often translated as “brown one,” Donnchadh was a common first name in ancient times. Given its … [Read more...] about Roots: The Marvelous McDonaghs
Review of Books
Recently published books of Irish and Irish-American interest. Recommended: Bloodland In a genre that may seem to have exhausted all possible plot-lines, Alan Glynn’s new thriller, Bloodland, is refreshingly unpredictable. An out of work journalist researching a dead socialite, an American senator attacked in the Congo, a drunk former-Taoiseach, and an Irish real estate … [Read more...] about Review of Books