How the schools became divided. Continue reading
Tagged with Irish culture …
Irish-Australian Gothic
McKinty’s The Island is a page-turner, and often quite chilling and surprising in the turns it takes. Continue reading
The Old School
t wasn’t so much that I went to school, but rather that school came to me. In every single waking moment of my life school surrounded me. I never could escape from it. I breathed school air. I heard school sounds. I saw school everywhere. I felt the school pumping in my blood. How could this be? Continue reading
‘Venerating’ and Abusing the Mothers
A moving and useful novel about historical practices that could disappear from collective memory and that need to be understood from the point of view of how they impacted generations of mothers and children. Continue reading
Duffy’s Cut: A Story for the Ages
The widespread dislike of Catholics in the USA, especially those from Ireland, was due in part to the feeling that Rome had designs on taking over America and imposing its religion on the new country. Continue reading
Before the Dawn by Michael Boyle
Not another house in Ireland
ever had had so many
Saint Brigit crosses made by
Cassie’s hand. Continue reading
Belfast, a review
The film is at its best when we follow young Buddy as he navigates the grown-up world. Through his experiences we glimpse the apparent contradictions in adult life that is intent on perpetuating difference. Your religion can be identified by the name you go by, but not always Continue reading
Thomas Kinsella (1928-2021)
Many of his poems are celebrated and loved for their profound personal candour and sensitivity, but he has also been a poet of searing political and public critical insight. Continue reading
Siamsa Tire – Learn Dancing online
…as well as on-demand online classes for people of all ages, starting from age seven. This means that the wealth of tradition at Siamsa Tíre can now be shared with everyone, no matter where they are in Ireland or the world, what age they are, or how much or how little they know about our traditional song, music, and dance. Continue reading
A Poem from Diane Fahey
Yet fifty years later
Seán Ó Conaill could tell, word for word,
a story he’d heard, as a boy,
read from a journal. Continue reading
Tinteán 