Patrick McManus

By Kieron C. Punch…

(photo courtesy of Megan Smolenyak)

Genealogist,…

A Blessed Nettlemas to all our members here.

Nettlemas, the name the Irish gave to the eve prior to Féile na Neantóg or May 1. On Nettlemas night, boys walked in the streets stinging one another with nettles. We can for go that custom, I am thinking. Instead, shall we toast to the start of a new season, the half…

Susan Potts Kimura read an article in TheWildGeese.com on Tennis In Ireland by James Doherty. Her famous Waterford relative Tennis Player Joshua Pim (Right: nicknamed The Ghost) was featured with a photo.  Susan had never seen a likeness of him and…

The Curragh, County Kildare - It’s who you are. Your blood, your genes and, some would say, your personality, can be influenced by your ancestors, the family members that came before you. It should be essential knowledge for anyone to have and yet there is hesitancy by many to undertake what seems an onerous…

Established in 1985 and quickly becoming one of the premier literature festivals in all of Europe (and beyond), the Cúirt International Festival of Literature launched its 2013 programme on the 23rd of April.  This annual festival based in Galway continues to…

Update: We have reached 300 and we found our winners!

Our 300th member is Melanie Cronk! Please welcome her! Our random member winner is Charlie Brady! Congratulate him! 

Since our launch March 9th, we…

While we were not able to attend any of the Saturday events at the Cúirt International Festival of Literature due to prior obligations, the lineup certainly had great appeal.  Moreover, all the chatter on Twitter and from other sources of discussion indicates a superb…

My qualifications for reviewing modern Irish literature are limited to:

    - I live in Ireland, and,

    - I like books

With that disclaimer...

The Over the Edge Showcase was, for me, a highlight of the Cúirt International Festival of Literature.  The event was billed as giving “a platform to emerging poets and…

Beltane (“Bealtaine” in Irish) is a festival with ancient origins traditionally celebrated on May 1st, a spring time festival of optimism.  Most commonly it is held on the first day of May, or about halfway…

Thomas Ashe

DOMHNAIGH -- On April 28, 1916, as the rebels in Dublin were being squeezed harder and harder by the British and nearing the end of…

As the Cúirt International Festival of Literature entered its third day, it became apparent early on that it was going to be a day in which one would be exposed to the true "Galway experience."  

The highlight of the day, for me, was the Literary Walk through Galway City.  This was a free event, and a large group of literature buffs…

Most of South Africa is more than 8,000 miles (14,000 km) from Tipperary, a truly “long, long way,” but still, as in Ireland, another former British colony, the tramping of British army boots once was a familiar sound to that nation’s natives and immigrants.  …

The Wild Geese gave away 5 copies of recently launched Celtic rock compilation "Larry Kirwan's Celtic Invasion" randomly to our members, beginning today. (…

I wanted to share with you this well written article written by Seán Carlson, an author based out of New York City. The article is part of The Irish Times' "Generation Emigrant"

One pebble creates a ripple.... Stories such as this place emphasis on how far those ripples reach:…

The Arizona International Film Festival is nearing its end for 2013. Tonight, attendees will be given a glimpse into Irish film with 7 Irish Shorts on offer including the Sundance Film Festival award Winner "Irish Folk Furniture" by Tony Donoghue.. Should be Mad craic tonight... The Shorts run the gamut from animation to sci-fi and docudrama:

Barry's Bespoke…

Whether singing about James Connolly or Bobby Sands or quoting Federico García Lorca, Wexford-born rocker and writer Larry Kirwan casts a discerning, empathetic and sometimes angry eye on the world. With "…

One thing which struck me about the writers featured in Thursday's programme at the 2013 Cúrt International Festival of Literature was the blend of established writers and younger up-and-comers.  Writing workshops were conducted in the morning -- one a fiction workshop led by Keith Ridgeway, and the other a poetry workshop led…

To thank The Wild Geese for recent a recent piece in which he was featured, author James Francis Smith is offering a copy of his Kindle book,…