By Frank O’Shea The word ‘amnesia’ was heard several times at the Famine round table in the Williamstown Town Hall on October 28. It was used to describe the way that Ireland seemed to have forgotten about the Great Famine of 1845-51 until it was brought to public discourse following the publication of Cecil Woodham-Smith’s … Continue reading
For the first time in its history the Irish Studies in Australia and New Zealand (ISAANZ) conference began with an Irish language day Continue reading
Bloomsday in Melbourne mounts a course, one day’s immersion in James Joyce’s most Irish chapter of Ulysses, Cyclops. Continue reading
A Poetry Scholar’s Tribute, and an Alert, by Chris Watson On a recent visit to Ireland, coming through County Derry, I visited Home Place, which is described as ‘a major new arts and literary centre in Bellaghy, dedicated to the legacy of Seamus Heaney’. Heaney’s poetry is often built on memories of childhood family and … Continue reading
The play powerfully captures in battle and at home the courage of Australian men and women. Continue reading
at the end of the day you WILL feel inspired to explore this wonderful book further… that’s a promise!
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While the setting and the craic is unmistakably Dublin, the literary tour embraces some Irish writers (Swift, Sterne, Goldsmith, Sheridan) but mostly lashes out at English classics – the revenge of a supremely gifted Irish writer on English letters. Continue reading
Beside such extreme acts of violence, ordinary life was of course lived ordinarily, decently, by scores of citizens. The vast majority of people wanted no truck with the killing. Continue reading
It is not just landscape and history and personal objects and events that shape us, but also the more casual and systematic reading we do …. Continue reading
Public Debate: ‘Is it time for a Republic of Australia?’ Continue reading
