Keough Institute to host major Irish studies conference

Author: Michael O. Garvey

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The University of Notre Dames Keough Institute for Irish Studies will host the annual meeting of the American Conference for Irish Studies from April 13 to 17 (Wednesday to Sunday).

The five-day meeting, entitledIreland Beyond Borders,will be the largest gathering of Irish studies scholars ever held, bringing some 300 speakers to campus for nearly 100 discussions on a wide variety of subjects, including globalization, partition, the Internet age, gender and sexuality, critical race theory, sport, popular culture, music and dance, the visual arts, contemporary literature, the Irish and English languages, and Irish studies as an academic discipline.

The conference will include lectures by Seamus Deane, Keough Professor of Irish Studies at Notre Dame, and numerous other Irish writers, including Tom Kilroy, Nuala O’Faolain, Angela Bourke, Joep Leerssen, Cathal Ó Searcaigh, David Roediger, James R. Barrett and Katie Trumpener.

At theDeBartoloCenterfor the Performing Arts, there will be performances by Irish dancer Jean Butler and the traditional Irish music group Altan, and an Irish film series hosted by Luke Gibbons, Keough Family Professor of Irish Studies.

The Snite Museum of Art will feature an exhibition of paintings by the Irish artist Margaret Corcoran, and the Hesburgh Library Special Collections department will exhibit rare books from its Loeber Collection of Irish Fiction.The Hesburgh Library also will feature an Irish government-sponsored exhibition on the life and writings of James Joyce.

The Ireland Beyond Borders conference is being co-sponsored by the American Conference for Irish Studies, Údarás na Gaeltachta, theUniversityofWisconsin Pressand numerous departments and centers at Notre Dame.

For more information and a schedule, visit the conference web site at http://www.nd.edu/~irishstu/conferences.html

* Contact: * _Éamonn O Ciardha, program coordinator of the Keough Institute, at 574-631-6250 or OCiardha.1@nd.edu _

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