A conversation with Annie Ryan about her brilliant adaptation of Eimear McBride’s novel, A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing, and Aoife Duffin, the young actress who gave life to the words on stage. ℘℘℘ When theater director Annie Ryan approached novelist Eimear McBride to discuss bringing her award-winning debut novel A Girl Is A Half- Formed Thing to the stage, McBride had one … [Read more...] about Girl Talk
Literature
Edna O’Brien at the Lotos Club
On March 29, against the elegant backdrop of books and crystal, sat the elegant Edna O’Brien. Irish America’s editor and co-founder, Patricia Harty, co-hosts Ellen McCourt, Joe & Mary Lou Quinlan and PEN, the international writers’ association, joined together to celebrate O’Brien, one of our greatest living writers, and The Little Red Chairs, her new book. Guests convened … [Read more...] about Edna O’Brien at the Lotos Club
Anne Enright’s “Springs of Affection” for Maeve Brennan
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
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