For decades now, Irish film stardom has been an exclusively male domain – the big three of Liam Neeson, Pierce Brosnan and Gabriel Byrne recently being joined by Colin Farrell. But that could be about to change. With her commanding screen presence, natural talent and striking looks, many film critics are predicting great things for Northern Irish actress Susan Lynch. American … [Read more...] about Susan Lynch
Maeve Binchy Reflects on Her Career
No one tells stories like Irish writer Maeve Binchy. Humane, down-to-earth, funny, her novels have captured imaginations on both sides of the Atlantic in a way most authors only dream of. Millions of her fans were disappointed when she announced last year she was retiring from both novel writing and her weekly column with The Irish Times. The newly released Scarlet Feather … [Read more...] about Maeve Binchy Reflects on Her Career
Film Forum: When Brendan Met Trudy
The first original screenplay by Irish novelist Roddy Doyle is automatically a cinematic and literary event. When Brendan Met Trudy offers many quirky delights, but it is an uneven and ultimately disappointing film. Doyle's oddball yarn about a movie-obsessed Dublin schoolteacher (Peter McDonald) who falls in love with a thief (Flora Montgomery) is dragged down on screen by its … [Read more...] about Film Forum: When Brendan Met Trudy
Book Reviews
NON-FICTION A larger-than-life Irish American politician finally gets the treatment he deserves – praise and criticism, that is – in Tip O'Neill and the Democratic Century, by Boston Globe writer John A. Farrell. The key aspect of this book's title is the second part. Not only is O'Neill's life, growing up working-class in heavily Irish Boston, fascinating, but the … [Read more...] about Book Reviews
Sláinte: Summer Blessings
One of summer's finest gifts is its long hours of sunshine. This is especially true the farther one travels from the equator where a midwinter's night is so long that only a few hours of pale gray twilight feebly light the day. Halfway around the seasonal wheel, the sun blazes forth in the same locale for nearly a whole 24-hour period. This phenomenon has a very scientific … [Read more...] about Sláinte: Summer Blessings