T.J. English didn't quite know what to expect when he went up to Boston earlier this year to promote his eye-opening new book, Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster. "Boston is the one place where this story is still a contemporary story, because of South Boston and the way Irish-American culture has been preserved in South Boston like no place else," … [Read more...] about Paddy Whacked
Literature
Review of Books
Recommended MYSTERIES OF MY FATHER: An Irish-American Memoir Thomas Fleming Publisher's Weekly is the bible of the book industry, and is read closely by everyone from writers and literary agents to editors and book store owners. All of them have their eyes out for the next big thing, say, the next Angela's Ashes. For years, all of the reviews in Publisher's Weekly were … [Read more...] about Review of Books
Holy Cross, the Untold Story
"There were men and women, over their fences, shouting names and spitting and pulling people's hair...and then a bomb flew over. Father Troy told us all to run. I thought everyone was going to die." Roisin Crawford was nine years of age during the infamous Holy Cross protest of 2001, when a group of Loyalist protesters, claiming provocation from local Republicans (including … [Read more...] about Holy Cross, the Untold Story
Harry Potter in Irish!
Draíodóirí, dragain, agus Dursleys...As readers around the world eagerly await the sixth installation of the Harry Potter series, we welcome a whole new way to read the first: as Gaeilge. Harry Potter agus an Órcloch, the Irish language translation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, is now available. Published in October, Harry Potter agus an Órcloch follows the … [Read more...] about Harry Potter in Irish!
The Importance of Being Oscar’s Mother
Appearing before an Irish-American group in St. Paul, Minnesota on St. Patrick's Day, 1882, Oscar Wilde was introduced not as a rising literary star, but as "the son of one of Ireland's noblest daughters -- of a daughter who in the troublous times of 1848 by the works of her pen and her noble example did much to keep the fire of patriotism burning brightly." Oscar may have been … [Read more...] about The Importance of Being Oscar’s Mother