Can you be homesick for a place that was never your home? I don’t know, but that’s how I feel about Ireland lately – that it is calling me.
The feeling was intensified this weekend when I attended iBAM!, the festival of Irish Books and Music at the Irish American Heritage Center.
Mary Pat Kelly spoke about her books, Galway Bay, and especially the latest Of Irish Blood. She said she learned from the McCourt brothers to talk about her book, rather than read from it. She also led the audience in song. And at one point, we all crossed out fingers in hope that her books would be optioned for television.
Judy Lee Burke’s Blackrock is a thriller that encompasses both Ireland’s racing world and Mexico’s drug cartel.
Maryrose Carroll is a sculptor who has turned to writing, and she related stories from her book Beats Me, which is about her husband, well-known Chicago poet Paul Carroll. If you’d like to hear firsthand about her book, you can listen to her interview with SISMW friend Rick Kogan on his October 7 AfterHours show on WGN Radio.
In other Irish news, Colum McCann has a new book out: Thirteen Ways of Looking. The Minneapolis Star Tribune review is here. Last year Colum McCann was the victim of violence; you can read about that in his own words here.
Just this morning in my email I received info on a poetry contest that could get you to Ireland. It’s the 2016 Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Competition sponsored by the Munster Literature Centre. The deadline is November 30. The winner will attend the Cork Spring Literary Fest.
Well, I better get cracking. Peace, love, and solace
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