The death of Moya Brennan in 2026 brought a flood of tributes celebrating one of Ireland's most distinctive musical voices. For Tim Flynn, it also triggered an unexpected journey back to October 1982, a time when Britain was living in the aftermath of the Falklands War, Northern Ireland was engulfed in the Troubles, and a…

Three Irish Families and Steven Knight's Britain

By T.S. Flynn

Standfirst

The Guinnesses inherit power. The Shelbys inherit survival. The Quinns inherit conflict. Across three television sagas, The Guinnesses, Peaky Blinders, and This Town, Steven Knight tells the…

Shane MacGowan is usually remembered as the musician who fused Irish traditional music with the energy of punk rock. Yet the deeper influence on his work was not punk at all, but the literary inheritance of Brendan Behan. Through songs of emigrants, outsiders and dreamers, MacGowan became one of the last great voices in a tradition…

DOMHNAIGH -- On May 26, 1706, Col. Charles O'Brien, 5th Viscount Clare, died from wounds suffered at the …

To bear His heir, perfection

No stain or fault, detection

This House of David's promised place

Her conception full of grace

Original sin, suspended

Eden's triumph, upended

I AM's ark of flesh and blood. 

Whose prophecy withstood

Herod's…

DOMHNAIGH -- On May 28, 1779, poet and songwriter Thomas…

During a nostalgic trip to Dublin City, Ireland in June 1971, I found myself in the delightful St. Stephen's Green, a welcome oasis in that bustling, cosmopolitan city. The park is sited not far from the Four Courts building, which sits on the north bank of…

My Tír na nÓg

To Patricia A. McLaughlin from Dan,

her husband, February 14, 2022

Though this poem may…

Pleased to see my book "Turn Out the Light' was chosen as a finalist in the Eric Hoffer 2018 Book Awards.

"If music be the food of love, play on,

give me excess of it that surfeiting, the

appetite may sicken, and so die.”

                       …

On 10th May 1916, the "Daily News" posted a letter from the Irish playwright, George Bernard Shaw, in which he condemned the ongoing execution of the leaders of the Easter Rising: "My own view is that the men who were shot in cold blood, were prisoners of war, and that it was, therefore, entirely…

Pathways a virtual art exhibition

This…

The life and accomplishments of John Quinn are so improbable that if they were fiction no one would believe them. The son of a baker from a small town in Ohio, Quinn, by the time of his untimely death in 1924 at the age of 54, had not only amassed the greatest collection of…

A friend of mine, an archeologist, …

Hello, Everyone, 

My name is Mary and I'm from County Cork, Ireland. I have just joined this great group and I'm still trying to find my way around the site. I heard of this group through the lovely Claire Fullerton and I want to say thank you to her. I am a published writer and enjoy crocheting when not writing. 

I have two gorgeous grandsons and being a Nana is one of my greatest joys. I am a Mum of four…

Do you remember this old song?

Come single belle and beau, onto me pay attention -

Don't ever fall in love, it's the devil's own invention.

For once I fell in love with a maiden so bewitching

Miss Henrietta Bell out of Captain Kelly's kitchen -

With me toora loora la, toora loora…

This is an article I wrote for my site about Coffin Ships and the Potato Famine:

http://www.irishamericanjournal.com/2017/08/coffin-ships.html

"In 1958 in his book 'A Nation of Immigrants,' John F. Kennedy wrote about the…

When I was asked to write a series of poems for an art exhibition in Australia earlier this year, I embarked on a dark voyage of discovery into the lives of Irish immigrant children 150 years ago.

Image: 'Image Above: Falling' by Jane Theau (2017)

There is a special brand of human misery so steeped…

We are indeed saddened to announce that Maryann Tracy, a founding member of TheWildGeese.irish and one of our earliest staff members, died September 6 in Syracuse at the age of 63. Maryann began her tenure with us in February 2012 as part of the small team that helped us transition from TheWildGeese.com,…

When at 18 or 20, or in my case 24, you fly away on the adventure of a lifetime, you aren't thinking of your future self. When I first winged my way to Australia, I had no inkling where it would lead. Or all the losses it would lead to. For me. For my future husband. For our future children. For our…