Why it’s time to reclaim the last days and figureheads of the old Gaelic world. ℘℘℘ Stories matter, so here’s a good one. Four hundred and ten years ago this November the last two living Gaelic lords of Ulster arrived in Rome, uncertain of their welcome and feeling physically spent. They were Rory O’Donnell formerRead more..
The Ireland-U.S. Commission for Educational Exchange recently awarded 61 U.S. citizens the chance to study the Irish language in the Gaeltacht regions of Ireland this summer including places such as Galway, Derry, and Kerry. It marked the first ever group of 20 U.S. secondary school students to receive the Gaeltacht Summer Award, with 41 undergraduate,Read more..
On February 2, Molloy College’s Irish Studies Institute held its first St. Brigid’s Day Celebration – a fun afternoon of songs and stories that held the promise of exciting things to come for this fledgling Irish Studies program. St. Brigid’s Day, a Christian feast day, has its roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Imbolc,Read more..
The classic American sitcom about the Boston bar where everybody knows your name is set to be rebooted in Irish. In mid-December, the Dublin-based Sideline Productions announced that CBS had granted them permission to develop an Irish version of Cheers for Irish language network TG4. The beloved series, which aired for eleven seasons from 1982Read more..
Born and raised in Armagh City, Northern Ireland, Ethel Brogan immigrated to America in 1946, living at first in New York City before eventually settling in upstate New York with her husband, Liam. As a child, Brogan absorbed herself in the Irish language and culture, living in a Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking district) for a month everyRead more..
The Irish writer John B. Keane once said of my home town that “they should build a wall around it and let no man in and let no man out.” I don’t know why he said that about An tAonach, which means Fair or Market place. (The town was named Nenagh by the English duringRead more..