Just around the corner from the Pantheon in Paris’s 5th Arrondissement is the former Collège des Irlandais, now the Irish Cultural Center (Le Centre Culturel Irlandais). Matthew Skwiat explores its storied past and current revival. Henry Miller once said “to know Paris is to know a great deal.” His words seemed to take on a whole new meaning once one has traveled to France. … [Read more...] about Paris’s Irish Cultural Center
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Irish Art and Architecture: After Kells
The Book of Kells is often thought of as the embodiment of the Irish visual style, but a new publication promises to change the way we look at art and architecture in Ireland. Sharon Ní Chonchúir investigates the breadth of new five-volume tome, which covers 1,600 years of visual and structural art in Ireland. Every self-respecting person of Irish origin is able to list the … [Read more...] about Irish Art and Architecture: After Kells
We Are Not Ourselves:
Matthew Thomas’s Accomplished Debut
Matthew Thomas, whose debut novel is receiving rave reviews, talks to Tom Deignan.
Before he became a celebrated debut novelist, Matthew Thomas was an English teacher, so he could surely spot the flaw in the following item from The New York Post’s infamous “Page Six” gossip column.
“Matthew Thomas is the toast of the publishing world overnight after We Are Not Ourselves — a … [Read more...] about We Are Not Ourselves:
Matthew Thomas’s Accomplished Debut
The Big Thrill
Anne Rice and Michael Connelly spoke to Mary Pat Kelly at the Ninth Annual Thriller Fest a gathering of writers, editors, publishers, literary agents and fans held this summer in New York. Anne O’Brien Rice, the mega-bestselling (a hundred million books) author who created a genre with her Interview with a Vampire has never been to Ireland but wants to go. Michael Connelly, … [Read more...] about The Big Thrill
Eliza Lynch: The Uncrowned
Queen of Paraguay
The Cork-born beauty who was the mistress of Francisco Solano López, president of Paraguay, and is today revered in Paraguay as a national heroine.
Ireland’s Potato Famine forced 10-year-old Eliza from her native Cork to France, then to Algeria where she endured a bad but brief marriage to a French doctor whom she later dismissed as “a minor beast.” She left her husband for … [Read more...] about Eliza Lynch: The Uncrowned
Queen of Paraguay