Dr. Nicholas Grene, professor of English Literature at Trinity College, Dublin, lectured on J.M. Synge’s “Riders to the Sea” on September 17, 2013 at Hofstra University.  Dr. Grene’s host was the Irish Studies Program co-directed by Dr.Maureen Murphy and Dr. Gregory Maney.

For his audience…

I recently finished Gerard Cappa’s thriller, "Blood From a Shadow."  If you had been with me at the time, you would have heard a loud exhale as the little readometer on my…

There is a link with Spain that is revealing itself. I was looking for a flamenco guitarist for for my Irish/Spanish musical. I scoured the web looking for people and came across a tapas bar that had flamenco guitar. I got an email and sent it off. A week passed and I wondered but decided to let it go. I got an email from an entertainment website where I have a profile because there were jobs matching me. I thought I would contact guitarist needs singer. Said nothing but…

I just recently came across these lovely colourised photos from circa 1930 which depict life as it was for most folks in Connemara and in the Claddagh area of Galway Town.  What's striking, to me, is that the lifestyle shown would not have been much different even 100 years (or more) earlier!  The conditions of rural Ireland all the…

After watching the videos produced by Coláiste Lurgan in Connemara and posted here a few weeks ago, I think a few eyes have been opened.  Any eyes who are still blind to the budding revival of the Irish…

The following is a transcript of the LIVE Wild Geese Community Chat hosted here at TheWildGeese.com on Sunday, September 8, 2013 with historian C. Michael (Mike) Harrington.  Some editing has…

This summer, driving through Connemara, I pulled into Sraith Salach, (Willow Stream) as Recess is now officially called, on the N59 Galway Clifden Road. All Gaeltacht villages throughout Ireland now only have the Irish name, though it caused such a furore in Dingle/ Daingean that they made an exception. The village consists of a shop, pub and marble shop. My friends were…

In June of 2013, Chetham's LIbrary in Manchester, England published an album, containing about 120 excellent prints of coastal scenes of rural Galway. Many of them were dated to 1879.  Founded in 1653, Chetham’s Library in Long Millgate, Manchester, is the oldest public library in…

Galway City has historically been among the "most Irish" of all Irish towns/cities -- some would even argue that it would top that list.  For evidence of this, one need look no further than Galway's unofficial slogan, Croí Cultúrtha na hÉireann,…

The image above on the left is a detail from Richard Bartlett's A.D. 1602 map of Ulster showing the inauguration of the O'Neill chief/king at Tullyhogue, County Tyrone. Bartlett has been called, "…

Sixteen Films screenwriter Paul Laverty (pictured at left) has called out CIA chief John Brennan, seeking an apology from him "for all the misery and murder that the institution has caused around the world." The former human rights lawyer was speaking in Effernagh, County Leitrim, at an August 16 commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Irish government's expulsion of…

Mícheál Ó Foighil (left) manages Coláiste Lurgan, the Irish language summer camp for teens, located just around the corner from our house.  You may have heard of Lurgan because of their wildly successful music videos, some of which have been posted on The Wild…

NO CHOICE BUT TO TAKE IT: RFE INTERVIEW WITH RICHARD O'RAWE

Drawing in your audience with an alluring description of the tunes you will be playing is a wonderful addition to the art of music. We had the pleasure of seeing the great Brendan Begley recently at the Harcourt Sessions in Dublin and he shows just how important this is when doing a live…

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John McDonagh (JM) and Sandy Boyer (SB) interviews author and journalist Ed Moloney (EM) who provides updates on the Boston College case and comments on the possible presidential candidacy of Peter King. (Eliza Butler (EB) also comments.) The Transcript…

Have you heard that the Irish language is dying, spoken only by a few old men and women on the fringes of the western seaboard?

Watch these videos made by the young people attending Irish summer courses at Coláiste Lurgan in Indreabhán (County Galway). …