Glucksman Ireland House, the center for Irish and Irish-American Studies at New York University, will host a series of screenings, discussions and concerts beginning Thursday, October 1, 2009. The events will take place at the Glucksman Ireland House at 1 Washington Mews in lower Manhattan.
Glucksman Ireland House, the center for Irish and Irish-American Studies at New York University, will host a series of screenings, discussions and concerts beginning Thursday, October 1, 2009. The events will take place at the Glucksman Ireland House at 1 Washington Mews in lower Manhattan.
Thursday, October 1, 7:00 p.m. Screening and discussion of “The Forgotten Maggies,” a stark and intense documentary that tells the stories of Kathleen Legg, Maureen O’Sullivan, Mary King, and Mary Collins - four women marked by forced placement in Ireland’s Magdalene laundries. Filmmaker Steven O’Riordan will be joined by Mari Steed of the organization Justice for Magdalenes. Admission is free for Glucksman Ireland House members and students/ faculty with a valid NYU I.D. card. For all others: $10 donation.
Friday, October 2, 9:00 p.m. The Blarney Star Concert Series featuring: Mairtin de Cogain and Jimmy Crowley. The concert features the renowned Cork singer and bouzouki player Crowley, and singer and bodhran player Mairtin de Cogain, a fellow Corkman. They will be joined by Texas fiddler Valerie Plested and guitarist Don Penzien. Admission is free for Glucksman Ireland House members and NYU students with valid NYU ID. For all others: $15 at the door. No advance tickets. Saturday, October 3, 4:00 p.m. As part of NYU’s Alumni Day, the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development will host a “Literary Café” at Glucksman Ireland House to honor alumnus Frank McCourt, Class of 1957, teacher, Pulitzer-Prize winning author (“Angela’s Ashes,” “‘Tis,” “Teacher Man”) and member of the Advisory Board of Glucksman Ireland House NYU. Professor Terence Moran of NYU Steinhardt and Pete Hamill, distinguished writer-in-residence, NYU Carter Institute of Journalism and fellow member of the Advisory Board, will read from McCourt’s work and reminisce about their friend. Glucksman Ireland House members are welcome, but space is limited, and advance registration is required. Please RSVP to Steinhardt.alumni@nyu.edu or 212 998-6290 no later than Friday, October 2, at noon.
Saturday, October 3, 6:00 p.m. Fordham University Professor James T. Fisher discusses “On the Irish Waterfront: the Crusader, the Movie, and the Soul of the Port of New York” at Glucksman Ireland House. The site of the world’s busiest and most lucrative harbor throughout the first half of the twentieth century, the Port of New York was also the historic preserve of Irish American gangsters, politicians, longshoremen’s union leaders, and powerful Roman Catholic pastors. This is the demimonde depicted to stunning effect in Elia Kazan’s On the Waterfront (1954) and which Professor Fisher explores in his remarkable and engaging historical account of the classic film’s back-story. “On the Irish Waterfront” is a detailed social history of the New York/New Jersey waterfront, from the rise of Irish American entrepreneurs and political bosses during the World War I era to the mid-1950s, when the emergence of a revolutionary new mode of cargo-shipping signaled a radical reorganization of the port. Admission is free for members of Glucksman Ireland House and for students/faculty with a valid NYU I.D. card. For all others: $10 donation. In order to ensure a seat, please RSVP to 212-998-3950 (option 3) or email ireland.house@nyu.edu.
Thursday, October 8, 7:00 p.m. Professor James Silas Rogers discusses “The Green in the Gray Flannel Suit: Irish America at Mid-century” at Glucksman Ireland House NYU. Professor of the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN), co-editor with Matthew J. O’Brien of the recently published “After the Flood: Irish-America 1945-1960,” speaks on the Irish-American community during the postwar years — its political views, its progress in economic and social terms, the impact of the surge in immigration from Ireland, and the pursuit, often in deflected and subtle ways, of what was distinctive about being Irish in America. Admission is free for members of Glucksman Ireland House and for students/faculty with a valid NYU I.D. card. For all others: $10 donation. In order to ensure a seat, please RSVP to 212-998-3950 (option 3) or email ireland.house@nyu.edu.
Friday, October 9, 7:00 p.m. “Travels With My Harp” with singer and harpist Mary O’Hara, at Glucksman Ireland House. This will be a rare opportunity to spend an intimate evening with iconic singer and harpist Mary O’Hara. By a couple of years, she preceded the folk era that many associate with Joan Baez, The Clancy Brothers, and Bob Dylan. Liam Clancy in his 2002 autobiography, “Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour,” writes about how the singing of Mary O’Hara had inspired him and others of the period. Her harp-playing revived the tradition of the Irish harp as an accompanying instrument - a tradition dead in Ireland by the 1950s. Mary O’Hara retired from performing in 1996 and, two years later, moved to Africa. She had done the same almost three decades earlier after the sudden death of her young poet husband, Richard Selig. At that time, however, she joined a contemplative order of nuns, emerging after twelve years to take up her musical career, recording thirteen more records, hosting a series on the BBC and on ITV in the UK, and writing three best-selling books, including her autobiography, The Scent of the Roses. Admission is free for members of Glucksman Ireland House and for students/faculty with a valid NYU I.D. card. For all others: $10 donation. In order to ensure a seat, please RSVP to 212-998-3950 (option 3) or email ireland.house@nyu.edu.
Other upcoming events at Glucksman Ireland House NYU include:
Thursday, October 15, 7:00 p.m. The Irish Institute of New York Lecture: Grammy-winning composer Bill Whelan on “Irish Music and Identity: A Window and a Mirror.”
Thursday, October 22, 7:00 p.m. Crime novelist John Connolly reads from The Gates.
Thursday, October 15, 7:00 p.m. Screening of documentary “Of Blood and Lost Things” about crime novelist John Connolly.
For more information, visit the Ireland House website.