St. Colmcille, also known as St. Columba, was born on this day Dec. 7 in 521 AD in Gartan, modern day County Donegal, Ireland.…

On a July day nearly 130 years ago, an unknown and homesick young Irish writer trudged along a busy London street. He stopped suddenly and stood still, for he thought he could hear the tinkling of water in the midst of the bustling thoroughfare. He followed the sound and found he was looking in a shop window. There…

In remembrance of the 1916 Easter Rising, the Kindle edition of James Francis Smith's The Irish-American Chronicle, will be free starting March 28th through Thursday, March 31st.

The 44-pages dedicated to Kennedy's assassination and funeral are well worth acquiring.

Travel an historical byway few…

I did not eat out very much on my 2015 visit to Ireland. For most of the time I had cooking facilities available for my exclusive use. It was practical as I was being fiscally prudent. I spent some time at the home of my sister, Bernie, and her husband,…

Breise! Breise! Extra! Extra!

Posted on…

Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, has just published four new folios of research into the period of The Irish Famine under the collective title Famine Folios.

These compelling essays take a fresh and…

The Cormack Brothers is a 111-minute feature film completed this year, shot in Tipperary.  It tells the story of two brothers wrongfully hanged for murder in 1858 after a local land agent was shot and killed.  They were reburied in 1910 in their home parish of Loughmore. 

Made on a micro budget, with the support of the parish…

I want to return to Western Ireland for spiritual and artistic reasons. In college I fell in love with Irish literature, from the pagan/pre-medieval myths to the current day. I love Irish music, too. And oddly enough, I married a man from County Cork (we met in college). My mother’s family has a lot of Irish heritage as well. We are descended from a man who came on a ship to New York Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1847. I can only imagine what was in Martin’s heart when he left Cork and when he…

Mary Kate Neill was born on June 11th, 1900 in the tiny township of Graiguenaspiddoge in County Carlow. The 1901 census shows her ten months old. Her mother was Catherine or Kate Neill (née Cullen) aged 38, and her father Michael Neill aged 51. Born in 1850 just after the potato famine of 1845-7, he was a blacksmith. Graiguenaspiddoge was a row of 28 houses beside a main road in the countryside,…

    Croick Church is not everyone’s list of places to visit on a trip to Scotland. Edinburgh and Sterling Castles, yes. Loch Ness, definitely. The Isle of Skye if we have time. John O’Groats? Perhaps next time. What church?      

  Croick Church was built in 1827 at a cost of 1,426 pounds sterling. Robert Williamson was the first minister and he performed his duties…

I've been invited to publish Long-Form Posts on Linkedin & decided to share them with my readers on Wild Geese.  Here are my first posts. Hope you enjoy them.

Linkedin Long-Form Post #1

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Excerpts from James Francis Smith’s The Civil War’s Valiant Irish

The Begining

The Derry native nodded to his brigadier commander, Joshua Owen. Not expecting nor receiving a return greeting, he didn’t bother to salute. O’Kane crossed to the most distant campfire, where Duffy and Devereux joined him. His first question was a repeat of one he asked every night.

“Is that bastid Welshman drunk or sober?”

Tonight, Duffy responded. “He’s well on his way, but not there…

Meaití Jó Shéamuis Ó Fátharta is a member of The Irish Gift, a group based in Middle Tennessee that promotes and preserves the Irish culture in this area. The Irish Gift also has a huge online presence as we continue to bring the Irish language, music song and dance to people all…

by Karen Campbell

Two years ago, I was captivated by an…

First off, Paddy is a Hell of a nice guy! Secondly, he gives an IMPRESSIVE interview!

You can visit his site here: http://paddybrown.co.uk

Read on to find out more about the Belfast Cartoonist….…

I desire silence. I want to be free from the noise that humans make. I fear I will never be free from this noise. I'm often in the woods and I still hear a car that is miles away or a plane flying overhead. And even my own sighing and thoughts can become too noisy. The sounds of…

By Sandy Boyer

Fifteen years ago, the Good Friday Agreement promised a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. Today there is still no Bill of Rights, and human rights are under a severe and sustained attack.  

Internment without charge or trial is back; “special” political offenses are being used to muzzle political activists; and the police have…

British filmmaker Ken Loach took time out from editing his latest film, about the exploitation of immigrants in Britain, to chat with WGT. He spoke on a range of subjects, including "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" (his second film set against the Irish War for Independence, now on screens in the U.S.), British policies in Ireland, his unusual casting techniques, his passion…

REVIEW: 'The Gangs of New York' by Herbert Asbury

By Patricia Jameson-Sammartano 

Special to The Wild Geese Today

To buy Herbert Asbury's book, click on the cover.…

This five-part series on the 69th New York Irish Brigade at the 1st Battle of Bull Run is drawn from the book "The Irish Brigade and Its Campaigns," by Tipperary native David P. Conyngham, published in 1866. Conyngham served during the Civil War, for a time with Meagher's Irish Brigade, and finally as a correspondent for the New York Herald. In Part 1 of 5 the 69th New York departs triumphantly for Washington and prepares for war.…