2021/2022 Library Lecture Series
March 17, 2021 from 7-10PM “My Love Affair with Irish Theatre.”
A Special St. Patrick’s Day Evening Treat! The McClelland Library is pleased to announce a very special St. Patrick’s Day FREE evening treat;
actress, director, scholar and author Charlotte Headrick will join us to present a lecture and interactive conversation via Zoom.
This year’s McClelland Library Lecture Series will be a personal journey by one of this country’s leading experts on Irish Theatre.
After an illustrious career of over 35 years in theater and academia, Headrick has recently retired from her faculty position Oregon State University and continues to be active in the world of theater.
She directed not only Irish women dramatists but started with Farquhar early on and directed Wilde, Synge, McGuiness, and Declan Hughes’s reworking of Farquhar.
Her book “Irish Women Dramatists” is an outstanding overview of some of the most important women playwrights in Ireland, most of whom aren’t very well known or gotten the recognition and audience of their male counterparts.
This event will be of interest to anyone interested in the history of Irish theatre, but also the theatre in general, and the often overlooked place occupied by women in it.
The McClelland Library Lecture Series now in its 8th year, was premiered in 2014 with an address by Dr. Adrienne Leavy on the 100thAnniversary of James Joyce’s Dubliners.
This event is FREE but donations are greatly appreciated and pre-registration is required to receive the Zoom link.
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2019-2020 Library Lecture Series: Irish Identity
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Irish Cultural Center Remembers Belfast Poet Ciaran Carson
Postponed until further notice
The Irish Cultural Center will host an evening of remembrance for Belfast poet Ciaran Carson, who died in October 2019. Beginning at 7PM, the program will include a lecture on Carson’s life and poetry, readings of his poems, and traditional Irish music.
Carson’s poetry provides witness to the conflict in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, known as “The Troubles.” He grew up in a bilingual household and attended Queen’s University, where one of his tutors was Seamus Heaney (Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995). From 2003 to 2015, he directed the Seamus Heaney Center for Poetry at Queen’s. Best known for his poetry, Carson also translated literature, played traditional Irish music, and served as arts officer on the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Collections of Carson’s poetry will be for sale, as well as raffle drawing for a basket of books and other gifts. There is no entry fee, but donations are appreciated. Co-sponsors include McClelland Library, Changing Hands Bookstore, ASU-New College, Kennys Bookstore-Galway, Wake Forest University Press, Reading Ireland, and the Irish Culture Center Book Discussions.
About the McClelland Library
Events
- Book Discussion Group 10:30AM – Norton Room
- February A Special Evening of Readings from Personal Memoirs
- February 22nd Workshop by James Silas Rogers
Roots into Word Workshop
February, 22nd 2020
Speaker: James Silas Rogers
Workshop
1PM – 6PM
Roots into Words:Â Your Irish Memoir / Your Irish Family Story
Join us for a lively and informative workshop on writing the Irish-American memoir! This workshop is for you if:
-You want to put shape on telling your own story
-You want to ensure a family story will be told and preserved
-You want to write a broader genealogical memoir that includes putting your family history into a larger historical narrative
Taught by the leading authority on Irish-American memoir, “Roots into Words” starts from two premises:
- Everyone (including you) has a story to tell.
- Telling your story under the aspect of Irish-ness will add texture and meaning.Â
Bring a pen and paper, as there will be some in-class writing and sharing.
Registration
- $20 member
- $25 non-member
James Silas Rogers is editor of New Hibernia Review and the director of the Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas. He was president of the American Conference for Irish Studies from 2009 to 2011. Rogers’s publications focus on Irish-American literature, chiefly memoir. His Irish books are Irish-American Autobiography: The Divided Hearts of Athletes, Priests, Pilgrims, and More (Catholic University of America Press, 2017); Extended Family: Essays on Being Irish American from New Hibernia Review (Dufour Editions, 2013), which he edited and introduced; and After the Flood: Irish America, 1945-1960 (Irish Academic Press, 2009), which he co-edited with Matthew J. O’Brien.
A Special Evening of Readings from Personal Memoirs with Jim Rogers and Guests
February 22nd 7:30PM – 9PM
Jim will host a very special evening of readings from his and other local author’s memoirs with a focus on the Irish American family experience.
Admission is FREE. More details to come.