News and Events

Fall 2018

2018 San Francisco Irish Film Festival
Irish Studies is pleased to sponsor the 15th annual SF Irish Film Festival on the theme of "Inclusion". Attendees can look forward to a stirring program of contemporary films that feature characters in search of friendship, love, and acceptance after being alienated from their loved ones and communities.
September 27-29
Delancey Street Theatre
600 Embarcadero, San Francisco
For more information on films, schedule and tickets, visit www.sfirishfilm.com, or the Festival Facebook page. Tickets now on sale! 
Festival Trailer Here

An Evening with Paul Muldoon
Thursday, October 11 | 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Maude Fife Room, Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley
Co-presented with the Irish Arts & Writers Festival
Free and open to the public - Details here
 

New Frontiers in Language Technology for Minority Languages
Lunch and Learn with Kevin Scannell (Computer Science, Saint Louis University)
Friday, September 7 | 12-2 p.m.
201 Moses Hall, UC Berkeley
 

The Present and Future of the Irish Language: A Panel Discussion
Thursday, September 6 | 5:00-7:30 p.m.
Geballe Room, Townsend Center for the Humanities, UC Berkeley

 

Past Events

Spring 2018

A Conversation with John Connolly
Famed detective writer John Connolly met with Berkeley students to discuss his writing career and his new novel, he.

False Comfort: Sex, Prayer, and Modernism in Eimear McBride's A Girl is a Half-formed Thing
Lecture by Paige Reynolds, Professor of English, College of the Holy Cross

Irish Connections: Celebrating the Contributions of Robert and Rebecca Tracy to Irish Studies at Berkeley and in the Bay Area
March 22, 2018

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Fall 2017

A screening of In the Name of Peace: John Hume in America, Maurice Fitzpatrick's documentary about Nobel Laureate John Hume and the Peace Process in Northern Ireland. Followed by a discussion with the filmmaker in conversation with Robert O'Driscoll, Consul General of Ireland.

The Los Gatos Irish Writers' Fest
Seamus Heaney: The Berkeley Years.
Carriage House Theater, Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga

Arriving from Northern Ireland in the 1970s at time of the Northern Irish conflict, the Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney was faced with a campus stirred by anti-war protest. Heaney’s son, Michael, joined a discussion with UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus, Robert Tracy, who worked alongside Heaney during his Berkeley years. Visiting poets offer tributes, and we share stories and insights into Heaney’s work and influences during his time in the Bay Area. Music by Fintan Vallely, Irish traditional flute player, researcher and writer. Moderated by Conor Howard, Anna Livia Books

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Spring 2017

Ireland - The EU – Brexit
A conversation with Mark Bevir, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for British Studies at U.C. Berkeley; and Colum Hatchell, Vice Consul of the Consulate General of Ireland in San Francisco

Twentieth Anniversary Edition of Professor Nancy Scheper-Hughes' groundbreaking study, Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics: Mental Illness in Rural Ireland

That Other Irish Literature: The Best Books in Irish 1893-2016
A lecture by Philip O’Leary, Professor of English, Boston College

A lecture by the acclaimed poet Louis de Paor, Director, Centre for Irish Studies, National University of Ireland, Galway

The 39th California Celtic Conference
Sponsored by the Celtic Studies Program, with co-sponsorship from the Irish Studies Program, the Dean of Arts and Humanities, and the English Department.

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Fall 2016

An Evening of Stories for Eddie Stack (1950-2016)
Eddie Stack, a beloved teacher and friend, admired writer, and talented musician, left us on July 4, 2016. The Program in Celtic Studies and the Irish Studies Program, together with the Irish Literary and Historical Society of San Francisco, held an evening of story-telling in his memory. Stories about Eddie, stories we heard Eddie tell, stories Eddie would have liked.  There were invited storytellers, an open mic, and refreshments.

A Poetry Reading by Trevor Joyce
The Irish Studies Program and the English Department at U.C. Berkeley welcomed Trevor Joyce back to campus.  Joyce is one of the most important Irish poets of the postwar period, and one of the major figures within Irish experimental literature. 

Reframing 1916
The Irish Studies Program presented "Reframing 1916," a screening of the documentary, 1916 The Irish Rebellion, followed by a conversation with the film's executive producers, Christopher Fox and Bríona Nic Dhiarmada.

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Spring 2016 

A Reading By Eddie Stack
To celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, the Irish Studies Program and the Celtic Studies Program hosted a reading by Eddie Stack, who read from his final book, Doolin: People, Place & Culture. 

Reflecting on the Rising: The 1916 Centenary
This event, co-sponsored by the Celtic Studies Program, the Irish Studies Program, and the English Department, featured a roundtable discussion of the 1916 Rising and its legacy by U.C. Berkeley faculty and invited guests.