Boston's Irish Writers Series in March 1994 Features Irish Poets, Playwrights, Novelists

-

Boston's 2nd Annual Irish Writers Series in March 1994 featured a number of top writers from Ireland and the United States.  The event was created by the Boston Parks Department and was a spin-off to the department's Boston Book Fair in Copley Square. 

The reading events, lectures and panel discussion took place across the city, at Park Plaza Hotel, Waterstone's Bookstore in Back Bay, the Old South Meeting House, Agassiz Theater in Harvard Square, Stonehill College and UMass Boston.  Several Irish pubs also held events, including Brendan Behan's in Jamaica Plain and Mr. Dooley's Pub in downtown Boston.

Among the featured speakers: novelists J.P. Donleavy, James Carroll, Thomas Flanagan, John McGahern, Chet Raymo and Peter Quinn; poets Derek Mahon, John Montague, Paula Meehan and Seamus Heaney; authors Angela Bourke, Marie Jackson and Liz Shannon and Marie Heaney; and playwrights, storytellers and filmmakers including Maggie Pierce, Marie Jackson and the cast Sugan Theatre.  

Local fiddle player and artist Kevin O'Brien provided an illustration of monks reading and writing in a boat. 

The Boston Globe was the media sponsor and provided free advertising in the newspaper.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Irish-born Augustus Saint-Gaudens, America's Master Sculptor in the 19th Century

-
Image
Courtesy of Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish, NH Acclaimed as America's greatest sculptor of the 19 th century, Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907) was born on March 1, 1848 on Charlemount Street in Dublin at the height of the Irish Famine, when millions of Irish were fleeing Ireland to places like Boston, New York, Montreal, St. John and other eastern port cities.    His father Bernard Saint-Gaudens was a French cobbler who had "a wonderfully complex mixture of a fierce French accent and Irish brogue."   His mother, Mary McGuinness, was born in Bally Mahon, County Longford, to Arthur McGuinness and Mary Daly. According to his son Homer, when Augustus was six months old, "the famine in Ireland compelled (the family) to go to America."   They landed in Boston in September 1848, where they lived for six weeks until the father found work in New York City and sent for them.   Augustus apprenticed as a cameo cutter, and in ...
Read more

The Boston Celtics : The Story Behind Their Irish Green Theme

-
Image
Bill Russell played for the Boston Celtics from 1956 to 1959 (This story was updated in March 2024) Many people wonder why the  Boston Celtics  wear shamrocks on their green uniforms and have a giant leprechaun smoking a cigar as their team logo. And why is the team mascot a guy named Lucky who looks like he stepped out of a box of Lucky Charms? According to the Boston Celtic’s official web site, the name came about in 1946 when owner Walter Brown started the team. He and his public relations guy, Howie McHugh, were throwing out potential nicknames, including the Whirlwinds, Unicorns and Olympics. It was Brown who had the epiphany, saying, “Wait, I’ve got it – the Celtics. The name has a great basketball tradition from the old Original Celtics in New York (1920s). And Boston is full of Irishman. We’ll put them in green uniforms and call them the Boston Celtics.” Red Auerbach , the now legendary coach of the early Celtics, then commissioned his brother Zang, a graphic d...
Read more

Boston Mayors of Irish Descent, 1885-2021

-
Image
(Originally published in 2013, this post was updated in 2021) Here are the Mayors of Boston Claiming Irish Heritage:  Hugh O’Brien 1885–88 Patrick Collins 1902–05 John F. Fitzgerald 1906–07, 1910–13 James M. Curley 1914–17, 1922–25, 1930–33, 1946–49 Frederick W. Mansfield 1934–37 Maurice Tobin 1938–41, 1941-44 John Kerrigan 1945 John B. Hynes 1950–59 John Collins 1960–68 Kevin H. White 1968–83 Raymond L. Flynn 1984–93 Martin J. Walsh   2014- 2021 The lineage of Boston mayors with Irish ancestry dates back to 1885, when Irish immigrant Hugh O'Brien of County Cork assumed office and became the first Irish-born mayor elected in Boston, serving four one-year terms (1885-88).   O'Brien was followed by Irish-born Patrick Collins (1902-05), also of County Cork, who died in office in 1905. He was replaced by John F. Fitzgerald, who became the first American-born mayor of Irish descent, serving two terms.  A noteworthy...
Read more