It is with great sadness and deep shock that we write this message about the tragic and untimely death of Dr. Peter Hart on July 22 at the age of 46.

Peter Hart’s career as an original, spirited, and debate-inspiring Irish historian was much too short but nonetheless prodigious. 1998 saw the publication of his award-winning The IRA and its Enemies: Violence and Community in Cork, 1916-1923 with Oxford University Press. That ground-breaking work was followed by British Intelligence in Ireland 1920-21: the Final Reports (2002), The IRA at War, 1916-1921 (2003) and Mick: the Real Michael Collins (2005). In addition to numerous articles in scholarly journals and essay collections, he was also a valued book reviewer for both the Globe and Mail and the Irish Times. Peter’s work made and will continue to make significant contributions to both Irish history and our understanding of violence, revolution, and nationalism.

Born in 1963 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Peter took his BA at Queen’s University, Kingston, his MA at Yale and his PhD at Trinity College, Dublin. He worked at Queen’s University, Belfast as a research fellow and lecturer from 1997 to 2001 before returning home to St. John’s to take up the Canada Research Chair in Irish Studies at Memorial University in 2002.

Peter’s work as a scholar, researcher and teacher was defined by passion, precision, and dedication. He is remembered by his students as a gifted and inspiring role model. He is remembered by his colleagues as warm, witty and brilliant, and as an resolutely independent voice.

Peter Hart was a gentleman: generous, kindhearted, and courageous. His loss is a tragedy for his hometown and for a worldwide community of scholars and students. We offer our deepest sympathies to Peter’s family and friends and his partner, Robin Whitaker. He will be remembered much like Seamus Heaney’s Architect,
Speculating, intelligent and lanky,
Taking things in his Elysian stride,
Talking his way back into sites and truths

Marianna O’Gallagher, our friend and colleague in the Canadian Association of Irish Studies/ L’Association canadienne d’études irlandaises, died last weekend, after a short illness borne with dignity and marked by an abiding faith.

I know that you will join me and all other members of CAIS/ACEI in acknowledging the passing of a major figure in the study of the Irish in Canada, particularly in Québec, and in conveying our deep sorrow to Marianna’s family and large circle of close friends in Canada and in Ireland.

At its meeting in Halifax on Friday, 21st May, the CAIS/ACEI Executive had unanimously agreed to establish the annual Marianna O’Gallagher Lecture in Irish Studies, with the inaugural lecture to be held at the CAIS/ACEI Annual Conference at Concordia University, Montréal, in July 2011. Regrettably, we did not have the opportunity to forward this news to Marianna before her death.

Irish Studies in Canada and the gatherings of CAIS/ACEI are poorer for Marianna’s passing.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam uasal.

Pádraig Ó Siadhail
President
CAIS/ACEI
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Arrangements are as follows (thanks to the School of Canadian Irish Studies at Concordia for this information):
O’GALLAGHER, Marianna, C.M., C.Q.
1929-2010
At the ‘‘Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec (Hôpital Laval)’’, at the age of 81 years old, passed away Marianna O’Gallagher, daughter of the late Dermot I. O’Gallagher and the late Norma K. O’Neil. She lived in Québec City.

The family will receive condolences at:

Funerarium Lépine-Cloutier
1025 route de L’Église
Quebec (Quebec)  G1V 3W1

Sunday, May 30th, 2010 from 14:00 to 17:00 and from 19:00 to 22:00 as well as Monday, May 31st, 2010 from 11:30 to 13:30.

The funeral service will be held on Monday, May 31st, 2010 at 14:00 at St-Patrick’s Church, 1145 de Salaberry, Québec City.

She leaves to mourn her brothers, her sister and her brothers in-law and sisters in-lawthe late John (Nicole Paquette), the late Brendan (Dorothy T. McNeil), Patrick (Liliane Blanchard), Neil, Ellen Clare (Ken Wood) as well as many nephews, nieces and friends. She leaves to mourn cousins and relatives of the Conway, Delaney, O’Neil and Loney families.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the ‘‘Fondation de l’Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec (Hôpital Laval)’’, 2725 chemin Ste-Foy, Québec (Québec) G1V 4G5 tel : 418 656-8711 or the ‘‘St-Brigid’s Home Foundation’’, 1645 chemin St-Louis, Québec, (Québec) G1S 4M3 tel : 418 681-4687 or Irish Heritage Quebec, 1145 de Salaberry, Québec (Québec) G1R 2V7 tel : 418 527-2238.

Parc Commemoratif La Souvenance
For information:  (418) 529-3371
Fax:  (418) 529-9506
Email:  lc@lepinecloutier.com

A memorial register is available for signature at:   www.lepinecloutier.com
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The editor of the CAIS newsletter, Michael Quigley, has the following request:
We solicit for the Newsletter recollections, reflections, tributes to Marianna from our members.  Given that almost all of our distribution is by email, length will be no great concern.  A bibliography of her works will also be included.
Please send to michaelquigley@sympatico.ca

CAIS Registration form 2010

The Irish Studies Programme at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, will be hosting CAIS/ACEI’s annual conference from May 19 to May 22, 2010. The theme of the conference is “Ireland and its Discontents: Success and Failure in Modern Ireland” and will include lively academic sessions and literary and cultural events.

Information about the conference can also be accessed through Saint Mary’s website

Professor Clair Wills will give a keynote lecture, there will be readings by the internationally-acclaimed poet, Micheal O’Siadhail, and the Irish-language writer, Micheál Ó Conghaile, and a concert featuring the Aran Island-singer, Lasairfhíona Ní Chonaola. Moreover, the conference is partnering with the Ireland Canada University Foundation to bring the Government of Ireland’s ICUF Irish language scholars to Halifax for a roundtable discussion on teaching Irish in Canada.

You will find below information about conference registration, including a registration form, accommodation options, and Halifax.

Here are a couple of useful links:

Campus map: http://www.smu.ca/administration/admiss/campustour/campus-map.pdf
Weather network: http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/cans0057?ref=homecity
Airport information: http://www.flyhalifax.ca/

CAIS Conference 2010: Main Guests

Clair Wills is Professor of Irish Literature at Queen Mary University of London. She has published widely on Irish poetry and literary culture. Her study of Ireland during the war years, That Neutral Island: A History of Ireland during the Second World War (2007), won the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize for History. Her most recent book is Dublin 1916: The Siege of the GPO.

Micheal O’Siadhail (www.osiadhail.com) was born in 1947. He was educated at Clongowes Wood College, Trinity College Dublin, and the University of Oslo. A full-time writer, he has published twelve collections of poetry. He was awarded an Irish American Cultural Institute prize for poetry in 1982, the Marten Toonder prize for literature in 1998 and The Gossamer Wall was short-listed for Wingate Jewish Quarterly Prize (2003). His poem suites The Naked Flame, Summerfest, Earlsfort Suite and Dublin Spring were commissioned and set to music for performance and broadcasting. He has given poetry readings and broadcast extensively in Ireland, Britain, Europe, North America and Japan. In 1985 he was invited to give the Vernam Hull Lecture at Harvard and the Trumbull Lecture at Yale University. He represented Ireland at the Poetry Society’s European Poetry Festival in London in 1981 and at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1997. He was writer-in-residence at the Yeats Summer School in 1991.
Micheal O’Siadhail was a member of the Arts Council of the Republic of Ireland (1988-93) and of the Advisory Committee on Cultural Relations (1989 -97), a founder member of Aosdána and a former editor of Poetry Ireland Review. He was the founding chairman of ILE (Ireland Literature Exchange). Several of his books have been translated into Japanese and German.

Micheál Ó Conghaile was born in 1962. He is from Inis Treabhair originally, but now living in Indreabhán, Co. Galway. He established the publishing company Cló Iar-Chonnachta (www.cic.ie) in 1985 and the company has since published over 300 books and 200 traditional Irish music albums.
A prolific and talented writer, he has published poetry, short stories, a novel, a play, and a novella, and has also done some translation work. In 1997 the Irish American Cultural Institute awarded him The Butler Literary Award. The same year his second collection of short stories, An Fear a Phléasc (The Man Who Exploded), was published and received much critical acclaim. His short story ‘Athair,’ (Father), from that collection, was awarded the Hennessy Literary Award that year, and he was also awarded the Hennessy Young Irish Writer of the Year Award. In 1998 he was elected to Aosdána for his “outstanding contribution to the Arts in Ireland.” His first novel, Sna Fir, (Among Men), was published in 1999, and was shortlisted for The Irish Times Literature Awards 2001. His works have been translated into various languages, including Romanian, Croatian, Albanian, Slovenian, German, Polish and English. Micheál Ó Conghaile’s third collection of short stories, An Fear nach nDéanann Gáire (The Man who Never Laughs), was published in 2003 and his first play Cúigear Chonamara was staged at An Taibhdhearc Theatre, Galway, in October, 2003 and was awarded the Stewart Parker/BBC Ulster Award, an Oireachtas Award and a Writers Week/Listowel Award. He was writer in Residence at Queen’s University, Belfast and at the University of Ulster, Coleraine, 1999–2002. His second play, Jude, was produced at An Taibhdhearc in Galway in March 2007, as was his third play, Go dTaga do Ríocht, in July 2008.

Lasairfhíona (pronounced Lah-sah-reena), the young singer/songwriter from the West of Ireland has made quite an impression on the folk and world music scene in recent years (www. Aransinger.com). Deeply rooted in the sean-nós singing style of her native Inis Oírr on the Aran Islands, she is equally at home in a more innovative approach to Irish music. Lasairfhíona’s new slant on traditional singing makes her endeavors very appealing, culminating, as one critic noted ‘in a magical mosaic of sound, as refreshing and as unpredictable as a showery day inside in Aran.’ She is a native Irish speaker and learnt many original songs from her family, thus continuing the rich singing tradition of the Aran Islands. Described by fRoots magazine as “one of the most sumptuous traditional albums to have emerged for sometime,” Lasairfhíona’s debut album An Raicín Álainn (pronounced An Rackeen Ah-lyn), launched in 2002 at the Festival Interceltique in Lorient, Brittany, generated a very favourable response in Ireland and abroad. Appropriately called Flame of Wine, a literal translation of her name, her second solo album was released in 2005 and was also well received; tracks from Flame of Wine were used on the award winning BBC programme Coast. Lasairfhíona appeared on television programmes, such as The Late Late Show, Up For The Match and she was also the subject of a special television documentary called Léargas. Her singing can be heard on IBM’s Porto Media web documentary called Stories of Innovation.

CAIS/ ACEI Conference 2010: Registration

CAIS Registration form 2010 for this year’s CAIS/ ACEI conference in Halifax.

The Conference organizers will acknowledge all registrations in a timely manner. For planning reasons, we encourage you to register by May 10, 2010.

Please download, fill out the form and email completed form to: irishstudies@smu.ca

The organizers have tried to keep the registration fees as modest as possible. The Regular and the Student rates include not just the opening reception, coffee breaks and concert but also three lunches in the Saint Mary’s University Dockside Dining Hall (“All-you-care-to-eat”). As usual the conference will conclude with the CAIS/ACEI banquet. Please note that there is a separate charge for the banquet.
Regrettably, Saint Mary’s University does not offer online registration for conferences (don’t blame the CAIS Conference organizers: they tried!). Thus, we are offering a number of options for registration:
(1) Mail the enclosed registration form with the appropriate payment — cheque or money order (Canadian funds only) or with the credit card section completed — to Pádraig Ó Siadhail, Irish Studies, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 3C3.
Or
(2) Fax the registration form with the credit card section completed to Pádraig Ó Siadhail , Irish Studies, at (902) 420-5110.

We look forward to welcoming you to Halifax in May.

CAIS/ ACEI Conference 2010: Accommodation

CAIS/ACEI for the 2010 Annual Conference is offering three suggestions for accommodation. Please see below for the following information.

Saint Mary’s University
The least expensive option is the student residence on Saint Mary’s University campus. Please note that the campus residence includes breakfast. For additional details, please see the attached form (SMUResidence2010). Mail the completed form to Conference Service at Saint Mary’s University or call their toll free number at 1-888-347-5555 for bookings.

RESIDENCE RATES – 2010
Total
(With Taxes & Breakfast)
Single $42.00
Twin $65.00

The Lord Nelson Hotel & Suites
Corner of Spring Garden Road and South Park Street in downtown Halifax. 15 minute walk to university. Overlooks the Public Gardens Park.

The Lord Nelson Hotel & Suites is pleased to offer delegates attending The CAIS/ACEI Annual Conference the following special rate: $155.00/day + applicable taxes for a Classic Guest Room during May 18-23, 2010. All guest room rates include complimentary high speed internet access and are based on availability. To book your reservation, simply e-mail the Reservations Department at ask@lordnelsonhotel.com or call 1-800-565-2020 and quote #19531 to receive your special rate.
For more information please view this website: http://www.lordnelsonhotel.com/index.asp

The Halliburton
Located on Morris Street between Barrington Street and Hollis Street in downtown Halifax.
15-20 minute walk to university.

CAIS has blocked off 10 rooms at the Halliburton. These rooms are being offered at a nightly price of $129.00/day + applicable taxes. Each room has a queen size bed. Complimentary breakfast, wireless connection, and parking will be provided to guest. The Halliburton is a historical building. Guest will require climbing one to two sets of stairs, there are no elevators. To reserve a room, simply call 1-888-512-3344 or email them at reservations@thehalliburton.com. Please request a room from the reserved block held under “CAIS”. Delegates must reserve a blocked guest room no later than April 18th, 2010. All remaining rooms will be released at that time. For more information please view this website: http://www.halliburton.ns.ca/

Other Accommodation
If the accommodation above does not meet your needs, feel free to check out this link for listings of other accommodation near the university. http://www.halifaxinfo.com/

CAIS/ ACEI Conference 2010: General Information

CAIS/ACEI for the 2010 Annual Conference has gathered additional information to help make your stay an enjoyable experience.

Saint Mary’s University
Saint Mary’s University is located on Robie Street at the junction with Inglis Street in the south end of the Halifax Peninsula, close to the city centre.

A map can be found at: http://www.smu.ca/administration/admiss/campustour/campustour.html

Halifax Stanfield International Airport
For those arriving at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, transportation is available either by taxi or regularly scheduled shuttle bus. Taxi and limousine services are available curbside in the arrivals area for all arriving flights. A one-way trip to Halifax city centre is $53.00 (Canadian) by taxi or $56.00 (Canadian) by limousine. If using Airporter shuttle services, we suggest you disembark at the Lord Nelson Hotel for closest proximity to the university, and then take a taxi (approximately seven dollars CDN). Regular fare for the Airporter is $21.00 (CDN) one way. For more information regarding Airporter, call 902-873-2091. For more information on other services available at the airport, go to: http://www.hiaa.ca

Nightlife
Check out these two websites for listings and reviews on the restaurants and nightlife in Halifax.
Restaurants: http://www.restaurantica.com/ns/Halifax/
Nightlife: http://www.10best.com/Halifax,NS/Nightlife/

Ireland and its Discontents

Success and Failure in Modern Ireland

Canadian Association for Irish Studies/ l’Association canadienne d’études irlandaises

Annual Conference, 2010

Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

19-22 May 2010

“Anyone who is failing at one thing,” psychoanalyst Adam Phillips has suggested, “is always succeeding at another.” We invite proposals for papers interrogating the relationship between success and failure in modern and contemporary Ireland, as reflected in its politics, its economic policies, its literature, and its popular culture. The Celtic Tiger is one obvious recent example of a ‘success’ narrative that was intimately linked to a series of failures on the part of Irish society to safeguard its more vulnerable communities. With the recent publication of the “Ryan Report,” to cite another example, it is clear that the success of the Catholic Church in exerting its power over Ireland’s educational and reformatory institutions came at the price of a failure to guarantee the safety and welfare of Ireland’s youth. By the same token, it might be argued that Fianna Fáil’s longtime political success depended on the failure to engage with the ‘National Question,’ i.e., Partition and Northern Ireland. Success and failure, as manifested in language revival policies, in gender-related issues, in the lives of prominent public figures, and the reality and perceptions of the Irish diaspora, including the Irish in Canada, are also topics worthy of consideration.

We welcome papers that address other topics and proposals for special panels.

Please send proposals including contact information (250 words) by e-mail to:

Pádraig Ó Siadhail, D’Arcy McGee Chair of Irish Studies, Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 3C3 (padraig.osiadhail@smu.ca) by 15 January 2010.

it's time to renew

Take a few moments and renew your membership in CAIS. Help keep the association alive and kicking. ]]> http://www.irishstudies.ca/announcements/its-that-time/feed/ 0 http://www.irishstudies.ca/announcements/the-joseph-mcgann-award/ http://www.irishstudies.ca/announcements/the-joseph-mcgann-award/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:40:38 +0000 Danine Farquharson http://v3.irishstudies.ca/?p=94 The Joseph McGann Memorial Award honours a long-standing and dedicated member of CAIS. The award is competitive and is given to the student presenting the best paper at the CAIS annual conference. The award is adjudicated by members of the CAIS executive.

Award Winners

2010: Andrea Walisser (Simon Fraser University) and Séamus Mac Floinn

2009: Annie Moore (University of California, Irvine) and Heather Macdougall (Concordia University)

2008: Megan Finley (Concordia University ) and Annie Moore (University of California, Irvine)

2007: Simon Jolivet (Concordia University)