Music, Books & Film
Celtic rock, ballad singers, novelists, comic artists and the films that did or did not get made.
Writer weaves myth and truth into adventurous tales of ancient Erin
Christine Goldbeck on Morgan Llywelyn's Finn Mac Cool and Bard, two novels that treat Irish legend as the record of real people.
Visiting Morgan Llywelyn's World: Famed Irish author discusses her writings during exclusive interview
Over lunch in Philadelphia, Morgan Llywelyn explained why she told the Easter Rising through a fictional Titanic survivor, and promised two sequels.
Morgan's magnificence proven again: New title set in post-Boru Ireland
Christine Goldbeck's advance review of Pride of Lions, Morgan Llywelyn's novel of Brian Boru's son Donough in the years after Clontarf.
Morgan Llywelyn talks, with pride, of 'Lions'
Over tea in New York, Morgan Llywelyn explained why Pride of Lions is not a sequel, and why Lion of Ireland must be filmed in Ireland.
Morgan Llywelyn captures spirit of Easter Uprising in epic novel
Thomas Larkin's advance review of 1916, the Morgan Llywelyn novel that walks a Titanic survivor from a Kerry farm into the Easter Rising.
Morgan Llywelyn
The front page of the Celtic Mirror's 2003 Morgan Llywelyn feature, restored, with a reader's guide to the novels that came before and after it.
A celebration of James Joyce: Bloomsday
Every June 16, Dublin and its imitators walk the route of Leopold Bloom. Joan Farrell explains the fuss over a once-banned novel about one ordinary day.
Trinity Irish Dancers in triple triumph
In April 1998 Chicago's Trinity Academy won three gold medals at the Irish dancing world championships in Ennis, a first for an American school.
Milberg collection comes to Princeton: Opening features Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney
In April 1998 more than 1,500 people braved the rain to hear Seamus Heaney open Princeton's new Leonard L. Milberg collection of Irish poetry.
Dick Gaughan: Celtic bard and hero
On tour in New Mexico in 1998, the Leith singer talked about Braveheart, Bonnie Prince Charlie, atheism and why he never plays from a set list.
Irish dance phenomenon
Before Riverdance there was Trinity: Chicago's Mark Howard and his world-champion dancers on 'progressive Irish dance', the Mollies and turning down Flatley's rivals.
Celtic Music: A blend of old and new
Producer Brian Keane explains in 1998 why Celtic music was suddenly big business on both sides of the Atlantic, and who was carrying the tradition forward.
Black 47 ... and the roots of Celtic rock in America
Larry Kirwan of Black 47 on Paddy Reilly's, Michael Collins, Bobby Sands and why St. Patrick's Day shows in America have to be all ages.
Celtic Tattooing: Primitive art form emerges in America
From woad-stained warriors to Book of Kells knotwork inked in Seattle and Boston: a 1995 essay on why the diaspora started wearing its heritage on its skin.
Celtic characters come to life through comic book artist
Writer Michael Gallagher put Cuchulainn, Newgrange and a Celestial called Scathan into Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, then watched the title get cancelled.
'Belfast' records the city in new light
A 1995 review of Chris Hill and Jill Jennings's colour photo book, which showed Belfast's pubs, parks and opera house in the first year of ceasefire.
It's confirmed: Brad Pitt will star as Bobby Sands in film on the Irish Hunger Strike
In October 1995 inside sources promised a Jim Sheridan hunger-strike film with Brad Pitt as Bobby Sands. The film that arrived a year later looked rather different.
Wonderful characters drive adventure story
A 1995 review of John B. Keane's Durango, the Kerry playwright's comic novel of a hill farmers' cattle drive, on its American release.
Producers pull plug on Irish film: Bond between brothers subject of new release
Brando, Depp and Winger leave Ballycotton when Divine Rapture collapses; Edward Burns brings The Brothers McMullen to cinemas; two new books on Irish islands and archaeology.
Limited edition: Book of Kells prints to be released
In 1995 Trinity College Dublin licensed a numbered set of silk-screen prints from three of the Book of Kells’ most famous pages, at $6,250 a set.
Belfast talent walks familiar road: Ray Collins discusses career, new album
Belfast singer Ray Collins on the clubs that raised him, the friends he lost, and the York Street songs on his album As I Roved Back.
Mary McSweeney's Ireland: Putting a land and people in perspective
In 1995 a Killarney-born painter working outside Chicago turned from cliffs and mountains to the old Irish kitchen, and found a new audience for it.
A talk with Uris: 'Trinity' was the seed, 'Redemption' was the unplanned progeny
Leon Uris, laid up with a bad back, told us by telephone why the Larkin family saga needed a second book, and where the Larkin name came from.
'Days Like This' reviewed: Van Morrison walks a familiar road
Colin Lacey found Van Morrison's 1995 album pleasant but familiar. Its title track went on to become the soundtrack of a peace process.