February 2019
Escaping from History: The Dreamworld of Brexit
Noted Irish writer and theater critic Fintan O’Toole presents the annual Robert Fagles Memorial Lecture on “Escaping from History: The Dreamworld of Brexit”
Find out more »March 2019
The Myth of Paternity: James Joyce and his father
Bestselling author Colm Tóibín lectures on “The Myth of Paternity: James Joyce and his father” as part of the spring 2019 Fund for Irish Studies event series. Tóibín’s latest book, Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know: The Fathers of Wilde, Yeats, and Joyce, was published in 2018. In the James Stewart Film Theater, 185 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ. FREE and open to the public. Bestselling author Colm Tóibín. Photo courtesy www.colmtoibin.com Colm Tóibín is the author of nine novels, including The Blackwater Lightship; The Master, winner…
Find out more »Irish Emigrant Girls in New York
Irish scholar Maureen Murphy lectures on "Irish Emigrant Girls in New York" as part of the Fund for Irish Studies series.
Find out more »May 2019
Anne Enright: A Reading
Award-winning writer Anne Enright reads from her work as part of the spring 2019 Fund for Irish Studies event series. In the James Stewart Film Theater, 185 Nassau Street, Princeton, NJ. FREE and open to the public. Photo by Hugh Chaloner Anne Enright Anne Enright was born in Dublin in 1962, and she lives there still. She has written six novels, two books of short stories and a book of essays about motherhood. Her work appears in many publications…
Find out more »September 2019
“The Making of The Hunger”
Donnacha M. Dennehy (composer) and Iarla Ó Lionáird (singer) discuss the creation of their new music-theater piece on the Famine in Ireland. Introduced by Lecturer in Theater Michael Cadden, the event is cosponsored by Princeton University's Department of Music. The Hunger premiered in 2016 starring O’Lionáird at BAM Next Wave Festival. It is based on diaries and personal accounts from the period of the Great Famine in Ireland (1845-52). A departure from conventions in which the ensemble is concealed in the…
Find out more »Reading and conversation with novelist John Banville
Photo by by Douglas Banville Award-winning Irish novelist John Banville reads from his work followed by a conversation with Princeton’s Howard G.B. Clark '21 University Professor in the Humanities Paul Muldoon on Friday, September 20. The event will take place at the James Stewart Film Theater at 185 Nassau Street on the Princeton University Campus at 4:30 p.m. The reading and conversation are free and open to the public as a part of Princeton University’s 2019-20 Fund for Irish Studies…
Find out more »November 2019
“Dronehenge”: An Illustrated Talk by Anthony Murphy
Paul Muldoon introduces an illustrated talk by author and photographer Anthony Murphy. In his lecture, tentatively titled “Dronehenge,” Murphy will discuss his 2018 discovery that has radically changed our view of the Neolithic landscape of Brú na Bóinne.
Find out more »December 2019
“Fiddle Strings, Airplane Wings and Humanizing Technology”
Paul Muldoon introduces a lecture by award winning technology, innovation and creativity executive Domhnaill Hernon. In his lecture, “Fiddle strings, airplane wings and humanizing technology,” Hernon will share some of his personal history, discuss the merits of fusing art and technology, play some tunes, and talk about Irish tradition in music and in particular where he comes from in County Sligo, Ireland. DOMHNAILL HERNON is an award-winning technology, innovation and creativity executive. He received an undergraduate degree in Aeronautical Engineering…
Find out more »March 2022
Lecture by Susan McKay on “From Triumphalism to Desperation — the Fall of Ulster Unionism”
Journalist Susan McKay discusses her new book, "Northern Protestants – On Shifting Ground." Free and open to the public. This in-person lecture requires free tickets in advance.
Find out more »October 2022
Screening Ireland: A Life in Film with Lenny Abrahamson
Visiting Leonard L. Milberg ’53 Professor in Irish Letters and Chair of the Fund for Irish Studies Fintan O’Toole interviews Academy Award-winning Irish film and television director Lenny Abrahamson on his career in film.
Find out more »“Low the sun; short its course”: Tracing the Celtic ritual cycle through music, manuscript and performance
This lecture-recital by Professor of Arts Practice at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland, explores the musical and ritualistic evidence for the emergence and continuity of the Celtic ritual cycle, with a focus on the rituals of Imbolc and Samhain, a precursor of Halloween.
Find out more »November 2022
“Listen to the Land Speak” with Manchán Magan
Inspired by language, landscape and mythology, Manchán Magan explores the insight and hidden wisdom native Irish culture offers to the people of Ireland and the world.
Find out more »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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