Peter Quinn wanted to do something simple. It was 1994 and Quinn had just published Banished Children of Eve, his epic novel of New York City and the Irish famine. Up until then, there had been a monumental gap in American literature. The Irish had been in New York City going back to the days when Peter Minuit, as legend has it, hoodwinked the local Algonquins and snatched up … [Read more...] about Probing the Past
Interview
Touch of the Poet
Many homes treasure family photos. The award-winning Irish actress Dearbhla Molloy recalls, "I remember, in my grandparents' house, a glass cabinet with a pair of handcuffs. "My grandfather Michael Ryan was a `freedom fighter' involved in the 1916 rebellion and the civil war. He went to prison several times during part of my mother's childhood." Referring to that unusual … [Read more...] about Touch of the Poet
The Manly Mr. Crowe
Russell Crowe is clad in a black jersey with a shamrock and bulldog embroidered on the left breast, and the name Jim Braddock, Crowe's character in Cinderella Man, emblazoned on the right ("Something I designed for the crew," he says briskly). His face is roughly shaven, and his short bicycle shorts show off the scope of his muscles. Crowe exudes a raw masculinity. His body, … [Read more...] about The Manly Mr. Crowe
The Survivor
On the corner of 34th and Broadway the crowds of tourists and harried workers tried to look the other way. But it was hard to ignore the tall tanned handsome man in the crisp white shirt with the gray hair -- even in New York, where every day a million handsome men pass along the crowded streets. "Hiya," he says, his face splitting in half, his arms swooping me up in a … [Read more...] about The Survivor
Gavin’s Flower Power
"I've got to go. Diarmuid's show is coming on." My otherwise devoted mother has cut short more than one transatlantic phone call with those words. If you haven't yet encountered Diarmuid (pronounced Dermot) Gavin's friendly face under its mop of curling hair, trust me, it's only a matter of time before you do. In England, the success of his television garden makeovers show … [Read more...] about Gavin’s Flower Power