Tag Archives: yeats

A Dublin City University professor has spent the past five years on the trail of an illustrious South Galway family. His journey, and that of the O’Shaughnessys, reaches from the ruins of the old homestead in Newhall to Illinois, Missouri and New York. In his new book, An Irish-American Odyssey: The Remarkable Rise of the O’Shaughnessy Brothers, Colum Kenny, journalist and DCU professor of communications, details the struggle and success of the family between 1860 and 1950. The O’Shaughnessys had been tenants of the Gregorys of Kiltartan. The father of the titular siblings was born in Newhall, outside Gort, within sight of Ballylee Tower, long before its Yeats’ association. He left for Boston during the Great Famine, settling eventually in Missouri, where he named his home Newhall. The extraordinary upward trajectory of the brothers’ fortunes saw one become the first CEO of the American Association of Advertising Agencies in New York, another establish himself as Chicago’s leading Gaelic Revival artist …

To celebrate the 149th anniversary of WB Yeats’ birth, the Lady Gregory Yeats Trail group and Coole Music are holding an evening of poetry, song, anecdote, harp and traditional music in Loughrea. Words and music from the West: poetry by WB Yeats and music by Turlough O’Carolan will be performed by Tale of the Gael. At the event, which will take place in Loughrea Library this Saturday, art work of Jack B, Lilly, and Lolly Yeats will be on display and a short talk will be given on the Loughrea-Yeats connection. The programme combines the works of 18th century Irish composer of harp music Turlough O’ Carolan and poet WB Yeats in a way that reveals similarities in the lives of both. The musical group Tale of the Gael, has an international reputation for setting some of Ireland’s most beautiful music into historic context, and has represented Ireland abroad on several occasions, most recently at European Culture Week Strasbourg in …