Even now, here 30 years since, when I turn to the southwest in Ennis from Shannon, and head out on the peninsula that ends at Loop Head, and somewhere on that road get my first wind of turfsmoke, I remember the first time and the sense that I had then of coming home. "The name's good," the man in the customs hall had said, letting my bags pass without a look. I had a hundred … [Read more...] about Nora, an Excerpt
Archive
Irish Memories
Thomas Fleming writes of the struggles and triumphs of an Irish-American family. ℘℘℘ My County Mayo-born grandfather, David Fleming, could not read or write. He had a brogue so thick I couldn't understand a word he said. But I knew one thing. He was Irish and proud of it. He had a favorite poem that he made me memorize and recite when I was six. It was called "Why I Named … [Read more...] about Irish Memories
Seamus Heaney Poetic Champion
A native of Northern Ireland, Seamus Heaney won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature. The following excerpts are taken from interviews conducted with him in 1986 and shortly after he won the Nobel in 1996. Poetry summons you. That's been my own experience. The real difficulty about being a poet is not in the writing. It's surviving the silence, surviving lack of … [Read more...] about Seamus Heaney Poetic Champion
Helen Hayes
First Lady of Theater
Dubbed the "First Lady of the Theater," Helen Hayes charmed audiences for 75 years, appearing in such theatrical productions as What Every Woman Knows, Victoria Regina, and The Glass Menagerie. In Hollywood she won Oscars for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and Airport (1970).
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On her stardom: My very lack of glamour has kept me a star.
To a reporter upon leaving … [Read more...] about Helen Hayes First Lady of Theater
Anjelica Huston
Renaissance Woman
Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston is perhaps most memorable to the Irish for her role as Gretta Conroy in her father John's film of the James Joyce short story "The Dead." Here she recalls time her family spent in County Wicklow before moving to St. Clerans in Galway.
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I have very early memories of that house. It was very large and drafty with an enormous kitchen and … [Read more...] about Anjelica Huston Renaissance Woman