The two Irishmen behind Diary of the Tweople There’s no denying the wonderfully wide (and sometimes weird) reach of Twitter – from messages from Tahrir Square during the Arab Spring, to live tweets of the Republican presidential debates, to to-the-minute updates concerning Kim Kardashian’s whereabouts. Since the social networking phenomenon was founded in 2006, it has … [Read more...] about A Diary for the Tweople, By the Tweople
Literature
Poem: The Stones of Culdalee
By Timothy Walsh
Culdalee We took the winding road west from Aclair, arrived at where we thought the turnoff should be, the boreen so overgrown you’d hardly know it had ever been the way. We waded down through the uncut field, down the steep hillside to the wild valley below. Thankfully, the cottage still stood, looking much as it did when I saw it last, forty years ago. “Culdalee,” my cousin … [Read more...] about Poem: The Stones of Culdalee
Banville on Black
"Sometimes, in the middle of the afternoon if I’m feeling a little bit sleepy, Black will sort of lean in over Banville’s shoulder and start writing. Or Banville will lean over Black’s shoulder and say ‘Oh that’s an interesting sentence, let’s play with that.’ I can see sometimes, revising the work, the points at which one crept in or the two sides seeped into each other.” If … [Read more...] about Banville on Black
Scarlett is 75 and Still Going Strong
On the 75th anniversary of the publication of Gone With the Wind, David O'Connell explores how Margaret Mitchell's Irish background influenced her writing. Writing in the second edition (1940) of his monumental and influential study The American Novel, Carl van Doren wrote: “Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind not only gave a revised version of the Civil War in the South, … [Read more...] about Scarlett is 75 and Still Going Strong
A Night for Saints and Sinners
An Evening with Edna O'Brien at NYU's Glucksman Ireland House Edna O’Brien threw down the gauntlet straight away. In discussing her latest collection, Saints and Sinners, at Glucksman Ireland House on May 31, she explained that Miss Gilhooley, the romantic librarian in the story “Send My Roots Rain,” had tried to organize literary evenings but found that “people only came … [Read more...] about A Night for Saints and Sinners