Joyce’s Legacy Colm Herron’s second novel, Further Adventures of James Joyce, is an extremely ambitious work. Herron, who lives in Derry, takes his readers back to the tense and volatile Derry of the late 1980s, where Myles Corrigan and Conn Doherty spend much of their time drinking and talking in a local haunt, The Drunken Dog. In the midst of the palpable grief, depression, … [Read more...] about Review of Books
Slainte! Ireland’s Viking Heritage
Edythe Preet looks at the legacy of the Vikings in Ireland, including influences that linger in Irish winter holiday celebrations. One day while searching for I can’t remember what in my foot-thick Webster’s, which has been my word go-to since high school, I stumbled upon a most interesting linguistic factoid. Every single question word in the English language (who, what, … [Read more...] about Slainte! Ireland’s Viking Heritage
Roots: The Kelly Clan
Kelly is one of the most common Irish names due to the fact that it originates from at least seven different and unrelated ancient clans or septs. One of the major septs is the O’Kellys of Ui Maine or Hy Many in East Galway and South Roscommon. An authentic pedigree of this family exists from earliest times and is contained in the Book of Hy Many, which was written in the 14th … [Read more...] about Roots: The Kelly Clan
The Photo Historian of Ireland: Sean Sexton
Take an aerial view of a dreary road in Walthamstow, a soulless part of the East End of London, and you will easily spot which house Sean Sexton lives in. For there, nestled among the rows of uniform, somewhat neglected and overgrown urban back yards, you will see a garden poetically “planted” with artifacts and statues, paying homage to their owner’s passion for Greek and … [Read more...] about The Photo Historian of Ireland: Sean Sexton
The First Word: A Window From the Past
One of the more difficult tasks I’ve undertaken as your editor was making a selection from Sean Sexton’s vast collection of photographs to showcase in this issue. Of his 20,000 Irish photographs, dating from the mid-1800s to the 1930s, Sean picked 125 for me to choose from. Over many transatlantic phone conversations as we worked out the details, I came to appreciate both … [Read more...] about The First Word: A Window From the Past