The story of W.B. Yeats's tower, Lady Gregory's autograph tree, and the grave of Irish airman Robert Gregory, whose death inspired some of Yeats's most well-known poems.January 23, 2018, marked the 100th anniversary of the death in Italy of Ireland’s most famous aviator, Major Robert Gregory. His grave stands in a quiet corner of Padua’s elaborate Cimitero Maggiore in a … [Read more...] about The Irish Airman’s Grave:
From Padua to Kiltartan
Arts and Literature
The Irish Airman’s Grave:
Review of Books
Jennifer Egan's Manhattan Beach is a journey through time and mores. ℘℘℘ In Manhattan Beach, Jennifer Egan makes a radical departure in style, language, and structure from her previous novel, the post-modern and Pulitzer Prize-winning A Visit from the Goon Squad. This latest work, labeled “historic fiction” and set between 1934 and 1946, tells of a Brooklyn Irish American … [Read more...] about Review of Books
Motherfoclóir: A New Kind of Irish Language Revival
Darach Ó Séaghdha has been putting the fun back into the Irish language by translating words into English in a humorous, thought-provoking way, and deftly using Twitter to expand his audience. He now continues the exercise in a new book, Motherfoclóir, in which he also reflects on the role the Irish language played in his own life. ℘℘℘ The people of Ireland have a strange … [Read more...] about Motherfoclóir: A New Kind of Irish Language Revival
Portals to the Other World
This fall, a number of our most celebrated Irish American authors will launch books into heavy seas where Twitter storms and televised tantrums batter our attention, but after spending time at the Book Expo, the publishing industry’s lollapalooza in New York City this summer, I realized all will be well. I met with Jennifer Egan, Alice McDermott, Michael Connelly, Lawrence … [Read more...] about Portals to the Other World
Cherishing Joanie
As the Cherish the Ladies 30th Anniversary Tour begins, Kristin Cotter McGowan talks to founding member, the award-winning whistle and flute player Joanie Madden. Irish music was the soundtrack to life for Joanie Madden and other Irish American kids growing up in Woodlawn, a heavily Irish section of the Bronx, NY, back in the 1970s. “I was lucky – even if you didn’t want to … [Read more...] about Cherishing Joanie