Held in San Antonio, TX for the first time, CCE's annual celebration marked the organization's 60th anniversary. Hundreds of devoted Irish music and dance fans descended upon San Antonio for the annual Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann North American Convention on the weekend of March 25th. The annual event, held in different cities around the U.S., was extra special this year, as … [Read more...] about Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann Celebrates 60 Years
Patricia Harty
Mary Higgins Clark: Irish America Hall of Fame
A bestselling author who is proud to call herself "an Irish girl from the Bronx." The oldest living resident of New York died recently at age 111 and in a New York Times article only months earlier, she told the reporter that she had kept her mind alert by reading Agatha Christie and Mary Higgins Clark. A Higgins Clark novel keeping someone alive? Usually someone dies in the … [Read more...] about Mary Higgins Clark: Irish America Hall of Fame
The First Word: Imagine Ireland
By Patricia Harty, Editor-In-Chief
“An Irishman’s heart is nothing but his imagination.” – George Bernard Shaw (John Bull’s Other Island) Gabriel Byrne says that the line between reality and imagination is very thin. I concur. Perhaps it’s because my father filled my head with stories of banshees and haunted fields with gates that never stayed shut. Perhaps it’s simply the beauty of the Irish countryside – … [Read more...] about The First Word: Imagine Ireland
Review of Books
A selection of recently published books of Irish and Irish-American interest. Recommended Dear Mrs. Fitzsimmons: Tales of Redemption from an Irish Mailbox A couple of years ago, comedian Greg Fitzsimmons, known to me as Greg Fitz or Fitz, was honored as one of Irish America’s Top 100 and we roped him in to perform. He brought the house down with his stories of growing … [Read more...] about Review of Books
The First Word: Putting the Fight Back in the Irish
Niall O’Dowd returned from interviewing Coach Brian Kelly with a story of a cab driver he met – an immigrant from Africa who had seen little of America outside of South Bend, Indiana. When the cabbie learned that Niall was Irish, he exclaimed with admiration, “You Irish, you own everything over here!” Watching the televised game between Notre Dame and Utah and witnessing the … [Read more...] about The First Word: Putting the Fight Back in the Irish