RTE recently highlighted The Irish Civil War Fatalities project at UCC led by Andy Bielenberg and John Dorney, both of whom have spoken at previous Festivals. It is the first systematic attempt to investigate the number of people killed in the Irish Civil War between 28 June 1922 and 24 May 1923. More about the project on the UCC website. The striking pro-Treaty cartoon featured is from the National Library of Ireland. It's by Ernest Forbes ('Shemus') and shows Hibernia prostrate with grief after the death of Michael Collins - the broken columns represent lives cut short.
The Guardian had an article recently on Ireland and wine - one of the themes of our 2023 Festival. You can see Tara McConnell's talk - entitled 'Prodigious Fine Dinners: Dining with Jonathan Swift’ - at that Festival, which included a discussion of wine consumption in 18th century Ireland.
We loved this interactive map from Women On the Move documenting memorials to women migrants across Europe. There are six in Ireland, including the statue to Cork-born Annie Moore in Cobh.
The always brilliant Irish-American Civil War website featured some extraordinary and rare photos of an Irish immigrant Civil War soldier with his family - Captain Thomas David Norris with wife Ann and children Mary Ann, Ann Eliza & John, probably taken in 1863-4. Norris was from Killarney in Kerry while Ann was originally from Limerick. The photos, one of which can be seen below, are from the US National Archives.
This provides a nice link to one of the themes of our 2024 Festival - Diaspora. Details of our 2024 programme are now up on our website now - click here to find out more. One of our speakers, Catherine Bateson, is a contributor to the Irish-American Civil War website mentioned above.
