Bridgewater State University Irish Studies

03/16/2026

Please join BSU Irish Studies on Thursday, March 19 for presentations at 2 pm and 5 pm by Dr. Barry Houlihan, University Archivist at the University of Galway.

Dr. Houlihan will discuss Northern Ireland today through the lens of literature and film to unveil legacies of the Troubles. Examining work by Seamus Heaney, Louise Kennedy, Brian Friel, and considering popular television, such as Derry Girls, Dr. Houlihan will discuss the role archives play in preserving and protecting historical memory by giving voice to the voiceless and to those censored by authoritative power.

He will be joined by Dr. Ellen Scheible, Dr. Orson Kingsley, and Professor John Mulrooney in a panel discussion after the 5pm event.

2:00 - 3:15 pm: 'Say Nothing’: Excavating Silence and Memory in Contemporary Irish Culture (Dr. Barry Houlihan)

5:00 - 6:00 pm: Censorship and Power: Marginalized Voices from the Archives (Dr. Barry Houlihan in discussion with Ellen Scheible, John Mulrooney, and Orson Kingsley)

6:00-7:00 pm: Live Irish music with Stephen Lindsay

Both events are open to the public and food and beverages will be available. For additional information please contact Orson Kingsley at [email protected].

10/31/2025

Postgraduate scholarship applications for IASIL in Budapest are now open. Scholarship deadline is March 1, 2026. Conference is July 6-10, 2026.

Please encourage all PhD students to apply!

https://www.iasil.org/iasil-2026-pg-conference-travel-scholarship/

10/20/2025

I am excited to announce that I will be launching my monograph, Body Politics in Contemporary Irish Women's Fiction: The Literary Legacy of Mother Ireland, at Glucksman Ireland House NYU on Thursday, November 13, 7pm.

Anna Teekell and I will also launch our new critical edition of The Dark that same evening. Please join us!

Register here: https://as.nyu.edu/research-centers/irelandhouse/events/fall-20250/domestic-demons-in-irish-fiction.html

You can order Body Politics here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/body-politics-in-contemporary-irish-womens-fiction-9781350429109/

You can order The Dark: A Critical Edition here:
https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/8085/dark-the/

09/29/2025

Please join Bridgewater State University and Bridgewater State University Irish Studies for our annual Irish Heritage Day on Thursday, October 2, at 5 pm in the Maxwell Library Heritage Room.

Our keynote speaker is Dr. Amy E. Martin. Dr. Martin will deliver an exciting talk entitled "Horrors of the Prison Machine: Exposing colonial carceral practices in late 19th and early 20th century Irish prison writings." She will examine the prison narratives of Irish anticolonial activists and show how these writers reveal the violence of incarceration and internment as a global phenomenon in the British Empire.

Dr. Martin is the Director of the Weissman Center for Leadership and Professor of English on the Emma B. Kennedy Foundation at Mount Holyoke College.

From 6 to 7pm we will enjoy Irish Music with Matt and Shannon Heaton, a Boston-based band that play traditional Irish music and more on flute, accordion, guitar, bouzouki, and voices. Shannon co-founded Boston’s Celtic music fest and served on its board for 15 years. She also runs the Irish Music Stories podcast, where she focuses on culture, history, and art exploration through an Irish music lens.

The event will be held in the Maxwell Library Heritage Room on the BSU campus and is open to the public. Food and beverages will be available. For additional information please contact Orson Kingsley at [email protected].

07/18/2025

Dr. Barry Devine and I will be launching Teaching James Joyce in the Twenty-First Century on Friday, December 12 from 12:30-2pm online via Zoom. Thanks to the James Joyce Society, New York for sponsoring the event. Please join us!

Please join the James Joyce Society for our latest installment in our Lunchtime Launch Series : Teaching James Joyce in the Twenty-First Century , edited by Barry Devine and Ellen Scheible This event will meet over Zoom. RSVP link to come. Teaching James Joyce in the Twenty-First Century