Sand has returned to a village beach on Achill Island for the first time in over 30 years after a surprise deposit from the Atlantic Ocean in April. Since storms washed away the sand in 1984, leaving only rocks and rock pools, the beach at the small town of Dooagh has been devoid of what was once a lifeline for residents, first as a source of soil fertilization and later as a … [Read more...] about Irish Beach Brought Back to Life Overnight
Hibernia
Wexford Festival Opera Named Best in World
Ireland’s famed Wexford Festival Opera won the prestigious “Best Festival” prize at this year’s International Opera Awards at the London Coliseum, home of the London Opera, in May. The festival, held every fall and now in its 66th year, beat out other shortlisted international festivals like Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and the Lyon Festival in France; Festival Verdi in Parma, … [Read more...] about Wexford Festival Opera Named Best in World
Reinventing Anne of Green Gables
The Donegal actress at the heart of a new series about Canada’s most famous orphan talks to Irish America. (Photo: Netflix) ℘℘℘ Fifteen-year-old Irish actress Amybeth McNulty has spent her entire life in Donegal and even proudly refers to herself as “a proper country bumpkin.” This would not seem to be the ideal background for someone looking to break into the … [Read more...] about Reinventing Anne of Green Gables
Connecticut’s Coffin Ship Art Exhibit
Aseries of art pieces portraying the struggle for survival aboard the “coffin ships” on which 1.5 million Irish escaped the Great Hunger are now on display at the Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven, Connecticut. The exhibit, Fleeing Famine: Irish Immigration to North America, 1845-1860, includes six oil paintings of the harrowing, often-deadly conditions on such vessels, … [Read more...] about Connecticut’s Coffin Ship Art Exhibit
North America Acts Irish
Community theater groups from throughout the United States and Canada converged at the Geva Theater Center in Rochester, New York for the 24th Annual Acting Irish International Theater Festival in April. The adjudicated festival, founded in 1993, consisted this year of seven full-length productions presented over five days, all of which were attended by Oleans-based theater … [Read more...] about North America Acts Irish