“Kate, be careful when you get to America, the streets are full of gangsters!” That is what my grandmother, we called her Nanna, heard before she boarded the ship to America in the 1920s. It was advice from her brother, Jim Connolly, who bonded her and paid for her third class (steerage) passage. As the story goes, Kate Connolly arrived in New York in the … [Read more...] about Photo Album: Nanna’s First Fourth
Issues
Book Notes:
Sebastian Barry Is Ireland’s New Fiction Laureate
Author Sebastian Barry, known for his representation of varying perspectives during Ireland’s revolutionary period in The Steward of Christendom and A Long Long Way, was announced as Ireland’s new Laureate for Irish Fiction by President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins in February. He will hold a term of three years, through 2021, and succeeds writer Anne Enright (The Portable … [Read more...] about Book Notes:
Sebastian Barry Is Ireland’s New Fiction Laureate
Trove of Irish Civil War Letters Donated to Boston College
Six years after finding a box in her attic with her great-great-grandfather’s photographs and letters from his time in the American Civil War – and one book later – author of Yours Faithfully, Florence Burke: An Irish Immigrant Story and former educator Ellen B. Alden donated these artifacts of the early days of the Irish American experience to Boston College’s John J. Burns … [Read more...] about Trove of Irish Civil War Letters Donated to Boston College
Book Notes:
Novelist Edna O’Brien to Become a Dame of the British Empire
It has been reported that renowned Irish novelist Edna O’Brien will be made an honorary Dame of the British Empire for her contributions to the field of literature. Because O’Brien is a native of County Clare, the title will be unofficial. O’Brien jump-started a career of over five decades with her acclaimed debut novel, 1962’s The Country Girls, establishing a worldwide … [Read more...] about Book Notes:
Novelist Edna O’Brien to Become a Dame of the British Empire
Book Notes:
Sunday Times Longlists Irish Writers
The Sunday Times recently announced the winner of their EFG Short Story Award, a £30,000 prize: American Courtney Zoffness, who won for her story “Peanuts Aren’t Nuts” and beat out several Irish names, both big and small, for the award.
Among the Irish longlisted was Leitrim psychotherapist P. Kearney Byrne – who counts this as her second nomination for the award despite being … [Read more...] about Book Notes:
Sunday Times Longlists Irish Writers