What help can poetry be during a pandemic? This summer it feels like Ireland needs Americans and Americans need Ireland more than ever. I have visited Ireland close to twenty times since my first trip there in the late 1970s, drawn by the country’s remarkable beauty, justly famous hospitality, and, during the 90s, by my interest in American involvement in the Northern … [Read more...] about “Keeping Going”
John B. Keane
John B. Keane Remembered
By Victor Walsh, Contributor
October / November 2002
On May 30, 2002, John B. Keane, author, raconteur and much-loved Kerryman, passed away. Keane, at 73, had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1994. The author of 18 plays and 32 works of prose and poetry, including Big Maggie, which played on Broadway in 1982, and The Field, which was made into an award-winning movie starring Richard Harris Keane captured the soul of rural … [Read more...] about John B. Keane Remembered
Roots: The Keane / Kane Family
By Siobhán Tracey, Contributor
October / November 2002
Keane and Kane are anglicizations of Ó Catháin from cath, meaning battle. There were two great septs of Ó Catháin in Co. Derry but in modern times, Keane, Kane and sometimes O'Kane are more common, Keane in Munster and Connaught and Kane in Ulster. Traditionally the two septs were quite distinct and it was believed that the prominent Clare Keanes were an offshoot of the Ulster … [Read more...] about Roots: The Keane / Kane Family