Anne Enright delivered the inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction lecture on writer Maeve Brennan at the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House at New York University. Enright’s lecture served as the introduction to a new edition of Brennan’s Dublin stories, The Springs of Affection, published in June 2016. The historic New York City townhouse at 58 West Tenth Street is abuzz with … [Read more...] about Anne Enright’s “Springs of Affection” for Maeve Brennan
Literature
The Rebel Path
Ernie O’Malley was a renowned figure in Ireland’s fight for independence. Here are his memories of 1916 as compiled by his son Cormac O’Malley. Born in 1897 in Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Ernie O’Malley’s (Malley) family moved to Dublin in 1906 where he went on to study medicine. During the Easter Rising O’Malley came to share the vision of the rebels, and left his medical studies … [Read more...] about The Rebel Path
Digging Up the Past
Robert Schmuhl takes us behind the scenes on a decade-long research project that culminated in his book Ireland’s Exiled Children: America and the Easter Rising. Facts are stubborn things,” John Adams famously remarked. Less known, though, is a clause he added to complete the thought – “and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they … [Read more...] about Digging Up the Past
Long and Winding Road: An Interview with Kevin Barry
Kevin Barry talks to Julia Brodsky about his prize- winning novel Beatlebone, set in “the haunted, sea-obsessed world” of Ireland’s Atlantic coast, and the “terrifying” prospect of writing a book about one of the 20th century’s greatest pop culture icons. The University of London established the Goldsmiths Prize in 2013 to acknowledge fiction that pushed the boundaries of the … [Read more...] about Long and Winding Road: An Interview with Kevin Barry
The Little Red Chairs:
A Novel by Edna O’Brien
A Novel by Edna O’Brien
Edna O’Brien’s acclaimed new novel, her first in a decade, is reviewed.
Celts have always believed in an invisible spirit world running parallel to our visible world, a mystical universe that has given Irish storytellers a rich folklore of the supernatural. From this tradition comes the oft-told story (undoubtedly a cautionary tale for impressionable girls) of a handsome … [Read more...] about
A Novel by Edna O’Brien