Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies
burns library
The Burns Library Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies Chair was established in 1989 by a generous gift of the Burns Foundation of San Francisco, California. The Foundation was set up by the family of the Honorable John J. Burns, for whom the library is named. A distinguished scholar, writer or artist who has made significant contributions to Irish cultural or intellectual life is brought to Boston College for either a semester or full academic year. The Burns Scholar uses the library's renowned Irish Book and Manuscript Collection for his or her research. The chairholder also teaches one course per semester and delivers two public lectures on an Irish Studies related topic.
Current Burns Library Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies (Fall 2012 - Spring 2013)
Peter Fallon
Poet and publisher
Peter Fallon, poet and publisher, is the Burns Library Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies for this academic year. Fallon lives in Loughcrew County Meath, Ireland. He is an Honors Graduate of Trinity College, Dublin.
Fallon, at the age of eighteen, founded The Gallery Press which has published more than four hundred books of poems and plays by Ireland’s preeminent writers. Included in this distinguished list are Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, Derek Mahon, John Montague, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Ciaran Carson, Medbh McGuckian, John Banville, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Michael Hartnett.
Fallon has given more than 200 readings at universities and colleges in the US and has read in a dozen countries in Europe as well as in Canada and Japan. In addition to readings he has conducted workshops at The Irish Writers’ Centre, Cúirt (The International Writers’ Festival, Galway) and the Yeats International Summer School.
This fall he is teaching a graduate seminar on Seamus Heaney and Brian Friel. In the spring semester he will conduct a writing workshop on poetry for undergraduates.
Fallon’s collections of poems include The Speaking Stones (1978), Winter Work (1983), The News and Weather (1987) and Eye to Eye (1992). His selected poems, News of the World, were published in the US by Wake Forest University Press in 1993. An expanded edition, News of the World: Selected and New Poems, was published in Ireland in 1998, included in the Irish Times’ ‘Books of the Year’, and reprinted twice. His poems have been translated into French, German, Irish and Japanese and volumes of Selected Poems have been published in Romanian and Hungarian.
In addition to his own publications, he edited, with Derek Mahon, the best-selling anthology The Penguin Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry and was a contributor to The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing: 550 A.D. to the present.
Previous Burns Library Visiting Scholars in Irish Studies 1991-2012
Dermot Keogh (2011-2012)
Head of the Department of History at University College Cork
Listen to a lecture [1 hr 45 min] Dermot Keogh gave at the Burns Library on Mar. 28, 2012 entitled "Contrasting Studies of Irish Catholic Intellectuals in a Revolutionary Age, 1908-1919." Introductory remarks [approx. 3 min] were given by Thomas E. Hachey, Ph.D., University Professor of History and Executive Director of the Center for Irish Programs at Boston College. Response by Professor Joseph Lee, Glucksman Chair of Irish Studies and Director of Glucksman Ireland House at NYU.
Listen to a lecture [1 hr 32 min] Dermot Keogh gave at the Burns Library on Nov. 16, 2011 entitled "Ireland’s Relationship with the Holy See Reconsidered – From the End of the Civil War (1923) to the Papal Visit in 1979." Introductory remarks [approx. 3 min] were given by Thomas E. Hachey, Ph.D., University Professor of History and Executive Director of the Center for Irish Programs at Boston College. Response by Reverend Liam Bergin, Rector, Pontifical Irish College, Rome.
Nicholas Allen (Spring 2011)
Moore Institute Professor, National University of Ireland, Galway
Below, you can listen to a lecture [51 min] Nicholas Allen gave at the Burns Library on March 1, 2011 entitled "Jack Yeats and the Picture of Ireland." Introductory remarks [approx. 5 min] were given by Robert K. O'Neill, Ph.D., director of the John J. Burns Library at Boston College.
Francis Carroll (Fall 2010)
Professor Emeritus of History, National University of Manitoba
Below, listen to a lecture [61 min] Francis Carroll gave at the Burns Library on November 1, 2010, entitled " 'I thank God I have lived to see this day': The Official Visit of the First Irish Free State Leader, W. T. Cosgrave, to the United States in 1928." Introductory remarks [2 min] were given by Dr. Michael Cronin, Academic Director of Boston College -- Ireland.
Thomas Bartlett (2009-2010)
Professor of History, National University of Ireland
Video from Front Row: Ireland and the British Empire, 1690-1800
Diarmaid Ferriter (2008-2009)
Historian
Video from Front Row: Unfulfilled Promise; Sex and the Archbishop
John F. Deane (Spring 2008)
Irish Poet and Fiction Writer
Below, listen to a poetry reading [1 hr] John Deane gave at the Burns Library on April 8, 2008. Introductory remarks [6 min] were given by Robert K. O'Neill, Ph.D., director of the John J. Burns Library at Boston College.
Brendan Kennelly (Fall 2007)
Irish poet
Listen to a poetry reading [1 hr]* Brendan Kennelly gave at the Burns Library in October 2007. Introductory remarks were given by Robert K. O'Neill, Ph.D.
Tom Garvin (2006-2007)
Professor of Politics, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin.
View video from Front Row.
Maria Luddy (2005-2006)
Professor of History at the University of Warwick.
View video from Front Row.
Gerald Dawe (Spring 2005)
Poet literary critic; Director of Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing, Trinity College, Dublin.
View video from Front Row.
Mick Moloney (Fall 2004)
Professor of Music and the Irish Studies, New York University
Peter Gray (Spring 2004)
Senior Lecturer in History, University of Southampton
Margaret Kelleher (2002-2003)
Senior Lecturer, Department of English, National University of Ireland - Maynooth
Breandán Ó Buachalla (2001-2002)
Formerly of University College, Dublin
Patricia Donlon (2000-2001)
Former Director of the National Library of Ireland
Paul Bew (1999-2000)
Historian, Political Scientist, The Queen's University Belfast
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill (1998-1999)
Irish poet, author
Bernard Meehan (Spring 1998)
Keeper of Manuscripts, Trinity College, Dublin
Alvin Jackson (1996-1997)
Historian, The Queen's University Belfast
Kevin Whelan (1996-1997)
Historian, geographer; Director of the Keogh Center for Irish Studies, University of Notre Dame
Timothy O'Neill (Spring 1995)
Calligrapher, historian
Seán Ó Tuama (Fall 1994)
Irish language scholar, National University of Ireland, Cork
Maurice Harmon (1993-1994)
University College, Dublin, Professor of Literature, literary critic and author
Margaret MacCurtain O. P. (1992-1993)
Historian, National University of Ireland, Dublin
Alf Mac Lochlainn (1991-1992)
Film and literary critic, bibliographer, cultural historian and novelist who served as director of the National Library of Ireland
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