London: St Mary's to host free evening on Irish Studies

The MA Irish Studies Programme at St Mary's University, Twickenham, is hosting an evening of free public seminars on the 30th April, featuring three guest speakers. The seminars will be taking place concurrently with the University's postgraduate open evening and Irish Studies staff will be on hand to answer any questions about studying at St Mary's.

The evening will welcome Irish Studies alumni John Macdonagh and Frances Harkin and St Mary's Research Fellow Dr Keith Hopper, to speak on a variety of topics.

Programme Director in Irish Studies Dr Ivan Gibbons said: "This is an opportunity for potential students to find out from former students and staff everything they need to know about studying Irish Studies at MA level either full or part-time".

John MacDonagh's talk entitled Easter 1916: Family Remembrance and Identity: An Irish Studies Journey will discuss his experience of studying the MA in Irish Studies at St Mary's and his journey into the remembrance and identity of the grandchildren of Patrick Rankin; a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and participant in the Easter Rising of 1916.

Frances Harkin will speak on Different Shades of Green: Gaelic Games and the Irish in London. Through her talk she will discuss the recent arrival of large numbers of Irish emigrants in London and how this is indicative of a continually shifting and evolving Irish population. She will look at how the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) has become an arena through which the established Irish population in London can interact with newly arrived Irish citizens. The talk will also consider the way in which the GAA enables different individuals and groups within the wider Irish population in London including emigrants and the second-generation Irish to construct and celebrate a sense of 'Irishness' which is reflective of their sense of self.

Dr Keith Hopper will give a talk entitled WB Years and 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree' which will outline the origins and evolution of WB Yates's poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree, and consider the various ways in which it has been read and interpreted over time. The poem will also be reconsidered in the context of the real lake isle of Innisfree on Lough Gill in Sligo.

The open evening is free and open to all with no booking required, it will be held in Room D121 at St Mary's Strawberry Hill Campus from 6 to 8pm.

For further information please contact Dr Ivan Gibbons at ivan.gibbons@stmarys.ac.uk .