UPDATE: Maeve Binchy, one of Ireland's national treasures, passed away on July 30, 2012, in Dublin. Sharon Ní Chonchúir's 2007 interview with Binchy, below, captures her incredible spirit and down-to-earth philosophy. Maeve Binchy couldn’t be more apologetic. She is sincerely fond of her American fans and is disappointed to have to let them down. “I can’t come to America for … [Read more...] about Maeve Binchy: The Queen of Chick Lit
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The Pirate Queen
The producers of The Pirate Queen, husband-and-wife team Moya Doherty and John McColgan, talk to Cahir O’Doherty. Between the first draft and the opening night the challenge of mounting a Broadway musical on the scale of The Pirate Queen is a high-wire act of artistic daring that few of us will ever have the courage or good fortune to make in our lives. Prior to the show’s … [Read more...] about The Pirate Queen
New York City Redux
Music Columnist Ian Worpole chronicles his return to the Big Apple Having spent a rowdy ten years in a cheap loft in Tribeca, New York City (Cheap! It wasn’t quite yet an oxymoron twenty years ago), with two small children and an irate landlord, it was time to move north to Woodstock, a quaint hamlet known for its arts colony and a certain concert that took place in 1964. We … [Read more...] about New York City Redux
Slainte: The Irish Wake
Nearly thirty-eight years ago an exuberant friend named Eddie burst into the office where I was working as assistant to a Hollywood producer commanding, “Come with me right now. I want to introduce you to someone.” Fortunately, I was alone and it was almost five o’clock. As I closed up shop, Eddie paced agitatedly about the room singing the praises of Bill, the stranger he had … [Read more...] about Slainte: The Irish Wake
A Day to Make St. Patrick Proud
Maeve Binchey, the renowned Irish author, explains how St. Patrick’s Day has changed in Ireland. St. Patrick’s Day used to be the dullest day in the Irish calendar until we got sense and learned to follow our transatlantic brethren and make it into a carnival. When I was young in the 1950s, March 17 was a bit like Tombstone City. For one thing it was in the middle of Lent and … [Read more...] about A Day to Make St. Patrick Proud