SOFEIR conference in University College Cork (UCC)

The 2025 SOFEIR (Société Française d'Études Irlandaises / French Society of Irish Studies) conference was held in University College Cork on 21-22 March 2025. SOFEIR was founded in Rennes in 1981 and brings together academics who work in the broad interdisciplinary field of Irish studies in France. This was (I think) the second time that the conference was held in Ireland.

The theme for the conference was 'Ireland and Transnational Solidarities'. Academics and researchers came from Ireland, France and the UK to present papers on various topics from Palestine, Algeria and India to herbal medicine, Irish literature and surfing. 

 

Getting the Dr Dora Allman room in the Hub ready for the conference.

I delivered a paper on Etiennette Beuque (d. 1949), a Frenchwoman who wrote numerous books on Ireland in the 1920s and 1930s. She became interested in Ireland around the time of the push for Irish independence 100 years ago. Her books focused on Irish history and contemporary Irish politics. She also wrote poetry and a couple of books of fiction based on Ireland (particularly the Terence MacSwiney hunger strike and the Easter Rising).

The photograph above shows a packed audience listening to Prof Dónal Hassett deliver a keynote speech on the experience of Irish peasants who were sent to set up home in French controlled Algeria in the 1800s. It ended in disaster and the Irish people that went there eventually made their way back to Ireland.

A library exhibition was organised by Prof Patrick O'Donovan (Dept. of French, UCC) and Luke Watson (School of History, UCC) to run alongside the conference in the UCC Boole Library. Entitled 'Ireland and France: Transnational Nations', conference attendees were able to view the exhibition during the conference. It included a wide range of exhibits from the library's holdings. Below are some examples of the kind of material (a French map of Ireland and a photograph of Samuel Beckett in Paris) that was on display as part of the exhibition.

Bloomsday in Cork - 16 June

The 16th of June is now celebrated around the world every year as 'Bloomsday'. It marks the day that Leopold Bloom, the fictional character in James Joyce's modernist novel Ulysses, wandered through the streets of Dublin city. 

 

Signpost in Nano Nagle Place.

 

Bloomsday Conference, Nano Nagle Place, Cork, 17 June 2023.

This year, for the first time in many years, an event was held in Cork. Organised by the Joycean scholar, Dr Flicka Small, it took place in Nano Nagle Place. It is fitting that an event was held in Cork, as it is the birthplace of James Joyce's father, John Stanislaus Joyce (1849-1931). It is also fitting that it took place in Nano Nagle Place, as Joyce's maternal grandmother (Ellen O'Connell) and her sister (Alicia) were educated in the South Presentation Convent (now Nano Nagle Place). You can read about this and the other links between Joyce and Nano Nagle Place here.

Speakers at the conference came from all over Ireland to talk about James Joyce, Cork, the Joyce family and of course, Ulysses. Local historians and residents of the South Parish, where James Joyce's father was born, discussed the history of the Joyce family in Cork.

 

Garden in Nano Nagle Place, Cork.

Other events held in Cork this year to mark Bloomsday include a presentation in the Crawford Art Gallery of the work of the artist Angie Shanahan and a discussion with Dr Flicka Small about art in Joyce. In the Cork City Library, former Irish diplomat, Daniel Mulhall, read from his book about Ulysses and from Ulysses itself.

Well done to all involved in the Cork Bloomsday 23 events. Looking forward to next year's Bloomsday already.

Newspaper history conference - Belfast, Nov. 2019

The 2019 Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (NPHFI) conference will take place in the Institute of Irish Studies in Queen's University, Belfast on Friday 8th and Friday 9th November 2019.

Speakers from universities in Ireland, UK, USA, India and Turkey will address the theme of 'The Press and Divided Societies'. The keynote address will be given by Andy Pollak, who has worked as a journalist, editor and writer.

Draft 2019 Conference poster.

Call for Papers - 'The Press and Divided Societies', Belfast Nov. 2019.

The Call for Papers for the 2019 Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (NPHFI) conference has just been released. This year's conference theme is 'The Press and Divided Societies'.

It will take place in the Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University, Belfast on Friday 8 and Saturday 9 November 2019.

Send your abstracts to the NPHFI Secretary, Ray Burke, at nphficonference@gmail.com by 7 June 2019.

Call for Papers, 2019 NPHFI Conference.

The Press and the vote - NPHFI 2018 Conference NUIG

The 2018 annual conference of the Newspaper and Periodical History Forum (NPHFI) took place in the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th of November. This was a fitting venue as this is where the first conference took place in 2008.

Entrance to quadrangle at National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG).

The conference theme was 'The press and the vote'. Researchers and academics from universities in Ireland, South Africa and right across the UK came to discus the theme. We heard about a wide range of periodicals, geographic locations and time periods from local, national and niche newspapers, from Ireland, Europe, North America and South Africa and from the 18th right up to the 20th century.

Presenting a paper on Le Monde's coverage of Irish politics in the 1990s.

I presented a paper on Le Monde's coverage of politics in Ireland in the 1990s. The period was one of great change both politically and socially. We only have to think of the election of the first female president, the Irish constitutional referenda on abortion, divorce and the Good Friday Agreement, the legalisation of contraceptives and the decriminalisation of homosexuality to see that the 1990s was a time of change.

Le Monde covered these events and more with their correspondent in London and local journalists such as Joe Mulholland and John Horgan, who wrote about events as and when they happened. The question is why was Le Monde so interested in reporting on these events. The answer is in the title of my paper, more to follow... Well done to the committee and the local organisers for putting together a great conference.

ADEFFI 20th Anniversary Conference - UCD 19-20 October 2018.

The Association des Études Françaises et Francophones d'Irlande (ADEFFI)'s 20th anniversary conference will take place in University College Dublin (UCD) on the 19th and 20th of October 2018.

The theme of this year's conference is: 'États Présents États Futurs: French and Francophone Studies in the 21st Century'.

ADEFFI 2018 conference poster.

The Press and the Vote - 2018 NPHFI conference, 9-10 Nov. 2018

The 2018 Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (NPHFI) conference will take place in  NUI, Galway, Ireland on Friday and Saturday 9 & 10 November 2018. This year's conference theme is 'The Press and the Vote'.

Speakers from all over Ireland, the UK and further afield will discuss how the Fourth Estate and democracy and elections have cross paths over the last 100 years. The keynote speech will be given by Professor Louise Ryan of the University of Sheffield - 'The Irish Citizen as an archive of feminist history - reading the past through a newspaper'.

Keep up to date - A conference programme will be available on the Forum's website in due course and updates will be posted on the Forum's Twitter and Facebook accounts. If you have any questions, or would like to register for the conference, contact the Forum's Secretary, Dr James O'Donnell at nphficonference@gmail.com

2018 Conference Poster. Designed by Joe Breen.

Call for papers - 'The Press and the vote', NUIG 9-10 November 2018.

The 2018 annual conference of the Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland will take place in NUI, Galway on 9-10 November 2018.

The theme for this year's conference is: 'The Press and the vote' and the keynote speaker is Professor Louise Ryan.

Please send your abstracts to the secretary, Dr James O'Donnell at nphficonference@gmail.com by 7 June 2018.

Call for papers - NPHFI 2018.

You can download a PDF version of the call for papers from the NPHFI website here.

2018 Franco-Irish Literary Festival

Upper Yard, Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland.

I really enjoyed the 2018 Franco-Irish Literary Festival. I could not attend the whole festival, but got to listen to some of the writers and poets that were on the programme. It took place in Dublin Castle and the Alliance Française on Kildare Street from 23-25 March 2018.

The theme for this year's festival was 'Sex and Sensibility'. Writers and poets from France, Ireland and Québec addressed how the theme shows up in their work. As ever, it was really good to hear the speakers answer questions from the moderators and the audience while engaging with each other in French and English.

We don't often have the opportunity to meet and listen to so many writers discuss their work and read from their own work in such a convivial setting. So well done to the Alliance Française for organising it and long may it continue!

 Full house for Welcome Address by Frédérique Tarride (French Embassy).

First panel discussion with Julie Rodgers (moderator), Rob Doyle, Dairena Ní Chinnéide, Marie-Chistine Pinel.

 

Second panel discussion with Dominique Le Meur (moderator), Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Myriam Gallot and Paul McVeigh.

'Fake News' - NPHFI 2017 Conference, Newcastle

The 2017 conference of the Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (NPHFI) took place in Newcastle University on 10 and 11 November 2017. The theme of the conference was 'Fake News! An Historical Perspective'. A timely theme given how much it has featured in the international media in the last 12 months. 'Fake News has even been voted 'word of the year' by the Collins Dictionary. More information.

'Fake news' is Collins Dictionary's word of the year for 2017.

Although, as we found out at the conference - fake news is nothing new. Prof Aled Gruffydd Jones of Panteion University, Athens gave a brilliant keynote address on the historical perspective. Apparently, the earliest recorded newspaper reference to 'fake news' or 'false news' and truth dates from at least 1731 when the integrity of news was discussed in the UK House of Commons. 

Newcastle University building.

Sixteen speakers from universities in Ireland, UK, Canada, USA, France, and Greece addressed the theme of fake news through conference papers based on French, Irish, Russian, British, and American journalists, editors and newspapers. I gave paper based on one of the French journalists that I have been researching as part of my post graduate studies.

2017 Conference Poster, designed by Joe Breen.

Well done to the NPHFI secretary, Dr James O'Donnell (Moore Institute, NUI Galway), the local organiser Dr Joan Allen (School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Newcastle University), Dr Richard Allen, and the rest of the NPHFI committee members who helped to make it such a success.

Richmond Barracks - Dublin

I was in Richmond Barracks in Inchicore, Dublin recently when I attended the Connexions 2017 forum on culture, education and digital technology (29 Sept. - 1 Oct. 2017). The forum brought together people involved with education, the arts, and business to discuss how they currently use digital technology and how they could get more benefit from digital technology. Big data, smart cities and e-education were some of the main themes discussed.

The venue, Richmond Barracks, was very interesting to me because of all the history it contains. I had not known anything about it before my visit, which made it all the more interesting as I learned little bits of information through the artifacts on display and the posters on the walls. As you can see below, I took a few photos to show some of the history of the place and the material on display.

The above photo explains that the barracks was built in response to 'A Threat from France'. The barracks welcomed its first British army troops in 1814. It was a British military barracks for 108 years and because Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom at the time, Richmond Barracks is important from the perspective of Irish history, British history, and also world history. Troops left from here to fight in the Crimean War, Boer War and the First World War.

As you can see from the photo of the plaque below (which is written in Irish), it was to Richmond Barracks that many of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, including Patrick Pearse, Eamon de Valera, WT Cosgrave and Constance Markeivicz, were taken after the Rising.

The building was taken over by the Free State government in 1922 and renamed Keogh Barracks. It was subsequently used as housing - Keogh Square and St. Michael's Estate (both now demolished). There was also a school on the site, which is now closed. Richmond Barracks was taken over by Dublin City Council and refurbished. It was opened in May 2016. Below are photos of a scale model of how it looked in 1916 and photos of how it looks today.

The restoration work is very impressive and I hope the "new" Richmond Barracks receives the attention it deserves.

Fake news! Newspaper history conference. Nov. 2017.

The theme of the 2017 Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (NPHFI) is: 'Fake News!: An Historical Perspective'.

The conference will take place in Newcastle University, UK on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th of November 2017. It promises to be a really interesting conference with papers on a wide range of newspapers from different time periods from all over the world.

See the poster below for more information and follow NPHFI on Twitter, Facebook for updates.

2017 NPHFI conference poster.

Paper at the 2017 AFIS Conference

Patrimoine / heritage was the theme of the 12th annual Association of Franco-Irish Studies (AFIS) conference. The conference took place on the 19th & 20th of May 2017 in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. 44 speakers from Ireland, UK, France, USA addressed the theme and spoke on a diverse range of topics from literature to gastronomy, history, travel and culture. I chose to speak about the residence of the French Ambassador to Ireland on Dublin's Ailesbury Road. 

The building was acquired by the French Government in 1930 for the new Legation and as the residence of the first French Minister to the Irish Free State, M. Charles Alphand. Contemporary newspaper reports say that 1.9 million French Francs or £12,400 was set aside by the French Government to purchase the property and renovate it. 

In my paper, I briefly discussed the history of Franco-Irish diplomatic relations, but the main focus was on how the building was renovated to showcase the very best of French and Irish furniture and materials. It was intended to act both as a symbol of French patrimoine and prestige and also to highlight how the two countries could co-operate in the future.  

Photograph of me delivering my paper at the conference.

2017 Assoc. of Franco-Irish Studies Conference

The 2017 Association of Franco-Irish Studies Conference will take place in Mary Immaculate College, Limerick on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 May.

The theme of this year's conference is: Patrimoine / Cultural Heritage in France and / or Ireland.

A draft programme is attached below and as you can see various topics will be discussed ranging across Irish and French literature, history and culture. I will be speaking about the French Ambassador to Ireland's residence and how it represents French heritage in Ireland.

The first French Minister to the Irish Free State, Charles Alphand, took up office on 29 July 1930. The Minister and his staff operated from offices on St. Stephen's Green while the building on Dublin's Ailesbury Road was being refurbished. The legation was officially opened on 11 May 1931. I am really looking forward to the conference.

 

For more information on the conference, go to the following website http://arrow.dit.ie/afis/

CFP - ‘Fake News!’: An Historical Perspective

The call for papers for the 2017 Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (NPHFI) conference has just been released (see below).

The theme is: 'Fake News!': An Historical Perspective.

The 10th annual conference will take place in Newcastle University, Newscastle-upon-Tyne, UK on Friday 10 and Saturday 11 November 2017. More information will be added to the Forum's website http://newspapersperiodicals.org/ as and when it becomes available.

Get you abstracts in as soon as you can, the deadline is 31 May. Email nphficonference@gmail.com

French cultural events taking place in Ireland in March 2017

Le Mois de la Francophonie takes place in venues around Ireland during the month of March 2017. Full details are available on their website: http://www.ambafrance-ie.org/The-Month-of-La-Francophonie-in-Ireland-2017-Programme

The 28th Cork French Film Festival will take place in Cork from Sunday 5th to Sunday 12th of March 2017. See their website for more information: http://corkfrenchfilmfestival.com/

The Franco-Irish Literary Festival will take place in various venues in Dublin from 30 March - 2 April 2017. 'Style & Stylistics' is the 2017 theme. Full details are available on their website: http://www.francoirishliteraryfestival.com/

The March Newsletter of the French Embassy's Cultural Service lists many other events taking place in Ireland in March.

2016 Newspaper & Periodical History Forum Conference

The 2016 Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (NPHFI) conference took place in the National Library of Ireland on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 November 2016. This was the Forum's ninth annual conference and the theme was 'Freedom of Speech in France, Germany, and Ireland in Time of Conflict'.

Entrance to the National Library of Ireland (as seen from the National Museum of Ireland). 

Eighteen researchers and academics from Ireland, France, Germany, United Kingdom and Canada addressed the conference theme with papers on freedom of speech during conflict ranging from the French Revolution of 1848 and the Paris Commune of 1871 to the First and Second World Wars and right up to the fall of the Berlin Wall. We learned about the power of caricature in newspapers and periodicals during wartime and the difficulties of keeping the press going during wartime censorship and how samizdat publications survived.

The keynote speech, entitled 'Liberty and Licence: the rise of the political press in Europe from the Enlightenment to the age of mass journalism', was delivered by Prof Hugh Gough, Emeritus professor of history at University College Dublin (UCD).

2016 Conference poster. We are grateful to Plantu for allowing us to reuse his cartoon.

The 2016 conference was held in association with the Embassy of France in Ireland, the Embassy of Germany in Ireland, and the National Library of Ireland. Thanks to all of these organisations for their support and assistance in helping to make the conference such a success. This is third NPHFI conference I have organised as secretary. I wish the new secretary, Dr James O'Donnell, every success in the role.

Conference - 'Paris: Capital of Irish Culture'.

I recently attended the conference 'Paris: Capital of Irish Culture' in O'Connell House, Notre-Dame Center for Irish Studies, Merrion Square, Dublin. It was part of a double-conference (the first part took place in the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris) and was organised by (amongst others) the Embassy of France in Ireland and the Embassy of Ireland in France.

Conference poster.

In seeking to highlight links between the two countries in this important centenary year, the conference addressed some of the important literary and historic links between France and Ireland. The opening lecture entitled, 'Paris, Terre promise des Irlandais', was given by the preeminent French scholar of Irish studies, Pierre Joannon. The lecture was a tour de force, covering many different aspects of the shared history between Ireland and France. For instance, we were reminded that the French writer, Honoré de Balzac, said that Irishman, Daniel O'Connell, and Napoleon were the two great men of the 19th century.

Seamus Deane spoke about the roots of Irish republicanism in France in the 19th century and specifically about the connections built up between Irishmen like Daniel O'Connell and Frenchmen, such as Lamennais, Lacordaire and Montalembert. In his lecture, Barry McCrea spoke about the similarities between the life and work of the Irish writer, James Joyce and the French writer, Marcel Proust.

The historical panel looked at several other areas that link the two countries. Topics included French newspaper reporting of the 1916 Rising, the life and work of the French academic who worked in Ireland for many years, Roger Chauviré, and the history of the Irish College in Paris (now the Centre Culturel Irlandais). The conference was very well organised and provided plenty of food for thought. I really enjoyed it.

For more information on the conference and to view the programme see: http://www.ambafrance-ie.org/Conference-Paris-Capital-of-Irish-Culture

NPHFI Conference 2015 - University College Dublin

The Eighth Annual Conference of the Newspaper and Periodical History Forum of Ireland (NPHFI) took place in the UCD Humanities Institute on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 November 2015.

This year's theme was: 'Reporting Revolution: What the papers said'. Speakers, including academics, journalists and independent scholars, came from Ireland, the UK, Canada, South Africa to present their research. A selection of photographs from the conference can be viewed on the Forum's Facebook page.

I presented a paper on the French journalist and author, Joseph Kessel (1898-1979). Kessel, who visited Dublin, Cork and Belfast during the Irish War of Independence, has been called the French Ernest Hemmingway.

Parnell Summer School 2015

I was invited to speak at the 2015 Parnell Summer School. The theme for this year was 'The French Connection: Ireland and France'. Over five days (9-13 August 2015), speakers from Ireland, UK and the USA discussed the historical and cultural ties between Ireland and France.

The Summer School was officially opened by the French Ambassador to Ireland, HE Jean-Pierre Thébault, on Sunday 9th August. The ambassador spoke about the historic links between the two countries and was greeted by a pipe band who played the two national anthems.

My presentation, entitled "'French Letters' in Irish Newspapers and Periodicals: The Epistolary Form and the Franco-Irish Relationship", was based on newspaper articles written in Paris that appeared in several Irish newspapers in the 19th and 20th centuries. The 'letter' writers that I spoke about included John Mitchel, Michael MacWhite, Stephen Gwynn and Simone Téry.

The Summer School was held in Avondale, Co. Wicklow (pictured above), the ancestral home of Charles Stewart Parnell.

I would like to thank the Parnell Society and the Academic Director of the Summer School, Felix Larkin, for their kind invitation to speak at the Summer School. Link to the 2015 Parnell Summer School programme.