Nora Barnacle was 20 when she arrived in Dublin and met James Joyce in 1904. She had run away from Galway, her absentee mother, her strict uncles, and her friends, without goodbyes. She began work as a chambermaid in Finn‘s Hotel. Nora and Jim spotted each other on Dublin’s Nassau Street. Noting his nautical cap, canvas shoes and long frame, she thought he must have been a … [Read more...] about Nora Joyce: The Girl from Galway
Wild Irish Women
Lola Ridge, Poet and Anarchist
IA Newsletter, March 2,2024
“How can you help writing about something you feel intensely?”Ireland may have more poets than any other Western nation, but Lola Ridge remains in absentia on lists of Irish poets. True, most of her life was lived outside Ireland but she held her Irish heritage close, believing she was of royal Irish blood, the Reillys of Loughrea, County Galway a “very old race of kings.” She … [Read more...] about Lola Ridge, Poet and Anarchist
The Uncrowned Queen Of Ireland
IA Newsletter, February 3, 2024
— Well I let her bawl away, to her heart’s content Kitty O’Shea and the rest of it until she called that lady a name that I won’t sully this Christmas board nor your ears, ma’am, nor my lips by repeating.He paused. Mr. Dedalus, lifting his head from the bone, asked:—A nd what did you do, John?— Do! said Mr. Casey. She stuck her ugly old face up at me when she said it and I had … [Read more...] about The Uncrowned Queen Of Ireland
The Life And Adventures of Kit Cavanagh
How the search for her missing husband turned this Irish wife and mother into a daring and dauntless soldier.She was born Christian Cavanagh in 1667, although throughout her life, she changed names and identities with particular zest. Known mostly as Kit Cavanagh or Christopher Welsh, she dabbled in surnames that included Welch, Welsh, Jones, Davies, and oddly, Mother … [Read more...] about The Life And Adventures of Kit Cavanagh
Touched by Fire
IA Newsletter July 29, 2023
Born of the sun, they travelled a short while toward the sun And left the vivid air signed with their honour. The Truly Great, by Stephen SpenderSinéad O’Connor who died Wednesday, at age 56, is one of "The Truly Great,” those heroes whose gifts and passions have granted them a kind of immortality. In the days since her death, tributes and vigils have come from all over the … [Read more...] about Touched by Fire