A sampling of the latest Irish books on offer. ℘℘℘ RECOMMENDED The scope of Tim Pat Coogan's latest book Wherever Green Is Worn: The Story of the Irish Diaspora is like nothing he's ever done before -- and perhaps like nothing ever done in Irish history. The esteemed journalist spent the last five years traveling the world, from Japan to Latin America, from Africa to the U.S. … [Read more...] about Book Reviews
Poetry
Billy Collins as Soul Friend
A visit to Ireland with Poet Laureate Billy Collins. What draws an assortment of poets to Ireland to study with Billy Collins? If you've been to the Beara Peninsula, you understand the allure of this mountainous region in West Cork; if you are familiar with Billy Collins' poetry, its quirky bends and heart-stopping imagery, you would never even ask the question. … [Read more...] about Billy Collins as Soul Friend
Remembrance
The potato blight arrived in Ireland in the late summer of 1845.Pest, parasite, fungus, invisible and invincible,it stuck across Europe, the same sudden, unstoppable invasion everywhere. Infection, corruption, devastation.But Ireland was a special case.Ireland was a place where for millions of people, the potato was neither staple nor supplement, but sustenance: … [Read more...] about Remembrance
Chapter & Hearse
"For twelve long years I've suffered this damned cat.../ though more than once I've threatened violence/ the brick and burlap in the river recompense/ for mounds of furballs littering the house." – "Grimalkin" "Grimalkin," Tom Lynch informs me, "is dead." I couldn't help it, I had to know. The cat lasted almost eight years after the poem was written. "I had told … [Read more...] about Chapter & Hearse
Yeats Country and Beyond
"I am of Ireland," wrote William Butler Yeats in one of his most famous poems from 1933, and all we have to do is look at the stark images from the land where he lived and from which he absorbed his genius and his inspiration to know that this is true. Few poets have identified so strongly with the Irish landscape as Yeats; few poets have such heavenly imagery at their … [Read more...] about Yeats Country and Beyond