An Interview with Long Day’s Journey Into Night’s Colby Minifie. On the evening of November 7, 1956, after the final curtain dropped on the New York premiere of Eugene O’Neill’s autobiographical masterwork Long Day’s Journey Into Night, the air in the Helen Hayes Theatre was strangely still. After more than a minute of hushed silence, the audience slowly rose to its feet, … [Read more...] about The Maid Behind the Mayhem
Edna O’Brien at the Lotos Club
On March 29, against the elegant backdrop of books and crystal, sat the elegant Edna O’Brien. Irish America’s editor and co-founder, Patricia Harty, co-hosts Ellen McCourt, Joe & Mary Lou Quinlan and PEN, the international writers’ association, joined together to celebrate O’Brien, one of our greatest living writers, and The Little Red Chairs, her new book. Guests convened … [Read more...] about Edna O’Brien at the Lotos Club
Anne Enright’s “Springs of Affection” for Maeve Brennan
Anne Enright delivered the inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction lecture on writer Maeve Brennan at the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House at New York University. Enright’s lecture served as the introduction to a new edition of Brennan’s Dublin stories, The Springs of Affection, published in June 2016. The historic New York City townhouse at 58 West Tenth Street is abuzz with … [Read more...] about Anne Enright’s “Springs of Affection” for Maeve Brennan
Review of Books
Books of Irish and Irish American interest. ℘℘℘ LITERATURE Spill Simmer Falter Wither By Sara Baume Before she began her creative writing Master’s degree at Trinity, Sara Baume studied fine art, and her visual acuity seeps through every pore of her debut novel, which was awarded the prestigious Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. The story itself is not a new one: outcast … [Read more...] about Review of Books
Sláinte! Women Rule
“I was elected by the women of Ireland who, instead of rocking the cradle, rocked the system.” – Mary Robinson, President of Ireland, 1990 – 1997 Several months ago, when 2016’s presidential campaign launched with more hoopla than has been seen in U.S. politics for more than a century, a Dublin-born friend told me he was placing his bet that, for the first time in American … [Read more...] about Sláinte! Women Rule