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February 2023
Lecture by Dr. Geraldine Parsons — “The Quiet Girls of Early Ireland: Women in Medieval Irish Literature”
Dr. Geraldine Parsons, Senior Lecturer in Celtic and Gaelic and Head of Subject at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, lectures on the mythological hero Fionn MacCumhaill and her broader research on medieval Irish literature. Fionn MacCumhaill, also known as Finn McCool, was a 3rd century A.D. warrior and hunter in medieval Ireland. He led a clan of warriors called the Fianna Éireann, and his adventures are documented in the Fenian Cycle.
Find out more »Screening of Documentary Lyra and Discussion with Director Alison Millar
Critically acclaimed filmmaker Alison Millar screens her 2021 award-winning documentary film, Lyra, an emotive, intimate portrait of the life and death of Belfast journalist Lyra Mckee, who was murdered by the New IRA the day before Good Friday, April 2019. The film seeks answers to her senseless killing through Lyra’s own work and words. Followed by a discussion with Millar moderated by Fintan O’Toole, Chair of the Fund for Irish Studies.
Find out more »March 2023
Lecture by Fintan O’Toole — “Uneasy Peace: The Good Friday Agreement 25 Years On”
Visiting Leonard L. Milberg ’52 Professor in Irish Letter Fintan O’Toole delivers the Robert Fagles Memorial Lecture, “Uneasy Peace: The Good Friday Agreement 25 Years On.” O’Toole examines Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement was signed in April 1998, a political deal designed to bring an end to 30 years of violent conflict in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles.
Find out more »April 2023
Lecture by Elizabeth Boyle: “Fierce Appetites: Lessons from My Year of Untamed Thinking”
Elizabeth Boyle (University of Maynooth) lectures on “Fierce Appetites: Lessons from My Year of Untamed Thinking” on April 14
Find out more »Lecture by Mary Burke: “Race, Politics, and Irish-America: A Gothic History”
Burke’s talk will draw from her new book, Race, Politics, and Irish-America: A Gothic History (Oxford University Press, 2023). Using the words and lives of Black and white writers and public figures of Irish connection, she will discuss the complex cultural and political legacies of centuries of Irish presence in the Americas, from the forcibly transported and Scots-Irish to post-Famine Catholic immigrants.
Find out more »September 2023
Lecture by Diarmaid Ferriter
Diarmaid Ferriter, Professor of Modern Irish History at University College Dublin, lectures on the Irish Civil War.
Find out more »October 2023
Lecture & Reading by Barry McCrea
Award-winning writer Barry McCrea will give a brief talk on “Language and the Irish Novel” followed by a reading from his novel-in-progress Miracle at Thorn Island. Introduced by Visiting Leonard L. Milberg ’52 Professor in Irish Letters Fintan O’Toole.
Find out more »November 2023
Lecture & Reading by Louise Kennedy
Award-winning writer Louise Kennedy presents “Trespasses: Fact, Fiction and Memory,” a lecture based on her bestselling novel Trespasses, which won the British Book Awards Debut Novel of the Year, the An Post Irish Book Awards Novel of the Year, and the McKitterick Prize. Kennedy will read from the book and examine her use of news reports, family lore and her own childhood memories in creating a fictional account of ordinary lives blighted by sectarian and class conflict.
Find out more »December 2023
Reading by Caoilinn Hughes
Award-winning writer Caoilinn Hughes (The Wild Laughter) reads from her work, including an excerpt from her forthcoming novel, The Alternatives. No tickets required.
Find out more »March 2024
Lecture by Fintan O’Toole: “Dracula and Home Rule: History, Horror and A Dream of Reconciliation”
Fintan O’Toole delivers the annual Robert Fagles Memorial Lecture entitled, “Dracula and Home Rule: History, Horror and a Dream of Reconciliation.” Bram Stoker’s Dracula may not be the greatest of Irish novels but it is certainly the one that has had the most influence on global popular culture. The novel is set in Transylvania and in England. Ireland is not mentioned and none of the characters is Irish. But in this lecture O’Toole suggests that Stoker, as a supporter of the contemporary…
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