Both of my parents were from County Donegal here in Ireland, and there can’t be many areas more deprived and remote…

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…

It was Monday morning and I was having trouble packing. I woke with a brass band in my head, as Jim says.  After sitting in the shower for a while, I took a panadol, drank some water and went back to sleep. I woke an hour later and slowly started to get ready to go.

It was very, very difficult. I called mum, I felt…

Every couple of years this man would come to Loughrea, County Galway and set up shop on the footpath outside Molloy's Harp Bar on Main Street. He was an itinerant blade grinder, or knife sharpener.

Folks would get wind he was in town and quickly a queue would…

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,…

On a Picture of a Black Centaur by Edmund Dulac

by W.B. Yeats

Your hooves have stamped at the black margins of the wood,

Even where horrible green parrots call and swing.

My works are all stamped down in the sultry mud.

I knew that horse-play, knew it for a murderous thing.

What wholesome sun has ripened is wholesome…

The murder had made a big stir from the start, despite the  mayhem in Dublin a few years earlier. The police photo in situ shows a large crowd gathering to stare, and according to reporters they flocked to see the body in the back shed of Lamb Doyle’s public house outside…

This is one of the photographs taken of 'Honor Bright' by Garda Sgt Andrew Gordon on the morning of 9th June 1925. The photos were not used in court. In fact the court allowed no evidence about her at all apart from her name, address, age and her location on that night of 8th of June, the hottest night of the year, in relation to the location of the two accused murderers. Her words, emotions and actions or any closer description of her were objected to by the counsel of Leopold Dillon, who…

Hello Wild Geese!

I've decided to write this blog to get congratulations - yes, for me - for not only finishing writing my book, but also this week publishing a readable copy of it. I actually published it in August but the print was so small only leprechauns could read it. Now I've improved it and it looks quite nice - just have a look and see on www.HuesBooks.com.

Finishing my project is quite a surprise. Now another has turned up. I…

On September 25, 1916, William Butler Yeats penned the words “a terrible beauty is born” as he wrote about the Easter Rising. …

I wrote this poem after months of studying Yeats' work and life for my undergrad thesis. One night, I found a BBC recording of him reading "The Lake Isle of Innisfree." I finally got to hear the voice I had been reading for so long and the moment took my breath away. This poem resulted from that experience.…

I thought it was worth noting that today, June 13th, is the anniversary of the birth of Irish poet, W.B. Yeats.  William Butler Yeats was born on June 13, 1865 in Sandymount, County Dublin.  He would go on to be among the most influential writers in the 20th century -- not just in Ireland, but throughout the world.  He was a driving force behind the Irish…

By Joseph Gannon

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false…