Ireland at 'Les Belles Etrangères' literary festival Nov. & Dec. 1989

Thirty years ago, in November and December 1989, ten Irish writers and poets were invited to France to discuss their work in front of audiences of academics and locals. Some of them were already known to French readers, as their work had previously been translated into French. I have just written an online article for the Irish Times newspaper about it. Read it here.

Painting of John Montague by Colin Davidson in University College Cork (UCC).

The literary festival, Les Belles Etrangeres, took place in France from 1987 to 2010. Each year, writers and poets from a different foreign country were invited to France to discuss their work. In 1989, Ireland was selected. 

Les Belles Etrangeres Festival Brochure 1989.

The official festival brochure was mostly written by Prof Patrick Rafroidi. He was an expert on Irish Studies in France and internationally. He was also a relation of Alfred O'Rahilly (1884-1969) (President of University College Cork, UCC). It contained information on each of the writers and also details of the French translation of their work. You can download a copy of the festival brochure here.

The festival was intended to introduce foreign writers to a French audience that might not ordinarily come across them. In the case of Ireland, it worked. Today, Irish writers are translated into French and are well known to the reading audience in France and in French speaking countries.

Samuel Beckett's letters - a glimpse into the personal world of a private man

The Irish playwright and theatre director, Samuel Beckett, was an avid letter writer. He took the time to reply to friends and family as well as to a plethora of people who wrote to him about his work. This included academics, theatre professionals and admirers from all over the world. I have just written an Irishman's Diary in the Irish Times newspaper about his letters. Read it here.

Photographs of Samuel Beckett (1906-1989). Source.

Four volumes of his correspondence have been published and the letters show that Beckett was a  kind man who valued friendship and was a loyal friend. Depending on the situation and depending on what hardships (death of loved ones, illness) they were going through, he expressed empathy or sympathy with close friends and family. 

The letters also reveal that he could be funny and had a great wit. They offer an unparalleled view into the private world of a very private individual. For instance, in a letter to an American autograph dealer, Beckett said "I have little contact with writers in Paris. It was always a place of rival cliques. I find painters better company. But generally speaking I go out very little".  

It was not all sweetness and light. Beckett could also be sarcastic. In one letter, he said that he thought that the actor, Albert Finney, was unsuited for a role in Beckett's play, Krapp's Last Tape. When the actor, Jack MacGowran, died in 1973, Beckett said that he felt as if he was being put forward as chief mourner for MacGowran He said that he felt as unsuited for the role as Finney was for his role in Krapp's Last Tape. MacGowran was a friend of Beckett's and had acted in several of his plays.

Cheers! An Irishman's Diary on Félix Kir, politican, priest and Resistance hero, who inspired a cocktail.

Félix Kir (1876-1968) was a man of many talents. During a very full life, he was a Catholic priest, Resistance hero and politician at both local and national level in France. He was Mayor of the city of  Dijon in eastern France and a member of the French national parliament from 1945 until his death in 1968. Read my Irishman's Diary in today's Irish Times newspaper about him here.

Félix Kir meeting police officers outside the Assemblée nationale in Paris. Image source.

Kir was not the only priest to sit in the Assemblée nationale in modern times. Abbé Pierre (1912-2007) also sat in the parliament from 1945 to 1951. He was a champion for the homeless and founded Emmaüs, the charity that helps those in poverty and homelessness. 

Short video (en français) about Félix Kir. Source

The alcoholic cocktail named in honour of Félix Kir is the Kir. When he was Mayor of Dijon, he used to serve a blanc-cassis (white wine and blackcurrant flavoured liqueur, crème-de-cassis) to his guests. He made such a good job of popularising the drink that authorities decided to name it after him.

Classic Kir cocktail. Image source

An Irishman's Diary on Launt Thompson

Lancelot (Launt) Thompson was born in the town of Abbeyleix in Co. Laois, Ireland in February 1833. He emigrated to America with his widowed mother in 1847. He learned how to sculpt and by the 1870s, he was one of the most sought after sculptors in America.

Read my Irishman's Diary about him in today's Irish Times newspaper here.

Photograph of Launt Thompson (1833-1894). Image source.

Due to the devastation wrought by the Potato Famine in Ireland (1845-1849), over 1 million people left the island at around the same time as Thompson, setting up home in the United States, Canada and to a lesser extent, Australia.

However, given the fact that he became so celebrated in his new home of America and then seems to have been almost completely forgotten, Thompson's story is a little unusual.

If you would like to find out more about Thompson, list to this podcast by Miriam Nyhan Grey from the Glucksman Ireland House Radio Hour with Michael Burke.

French newspaper coverage of the death of Terence MacSwiney - 25 October 1920

Terence MacSwiney died in Brixton Prison, London, England on 25 October 1920. MacSwiney, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Ireland had been on hunger strike in the prison for seventy-four days. He was protesting against the introduction of military courts in Ireland that were brought in under the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act.

Editorial cartoon from L'Humanité (French Communist Party newspaper) showing British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, receiving an invitation to attend MacSwiney's funeral. This is just one of the cartoons that appeared in the French newspapers at the time dealing with the case.

News of MacSwiney's imprisonment and hunger strike was covered in newspapers all over Ireland and in the international press. I have already written about the hunger strike before, read my 'Irishman's Diary' on the case here.

Historian, Diarmaid Ferriter has said that MacSwiney's death was "one of the incidents that ensured international media coverage and indeed outrage".(1) Publicity for MacSwiney's plight was gained through the efforts of the Dáil Publicity Department in Dublin and through Art O'Brien who was the Dáil's London representative. O'Brien and his team were very active in contacting members of the foreign press corps in London and around the world and keeping them up to date on what was happening in Ireland during the War of Independence.

The hunger strike and subsequent death of MacSwiney was a very emotive episode in Irish and UK history. Maurice Walsh has said that when MacSwiney's body was brought through London on the way to Euston Station, it "brought the charged emotion of a distant conflict to the central streets of the metropolis".(2)

Below is a sample of a cross section of French newspapers from the time of MacSwiney's death. Ever since his arrest on 12 August 1920 and subsequent imprisonment, MacSwiney's case was closely followed in the French press. As the hunger strike progressed and as he grew more and more frail from not eating, small news stories would record his failing health and his death was predicted to come at any moment.

When he did die on 25 October 1920, it was a major news story in France and around the world. As you can see from the newspapers reproduced below, in the case of France, his death was recorded in a prominent position on the front page.

La Croix. Source

Closeup of La Croix front page.

Excelsior. Source

Excelsior closeup of front page.

L'Intransigeant. Source

Closeup of L'Intransigeant front page.

L'Humanité. Source

Closeup of L'Humanité front page.

Le Journal. Source

Closeup of Le Journal front page.

La Liberté. Source

Closeup of La Liberté front page.

Le Matin. Source

Closeup of Le Matin front page.

(1) Diarmaid Ferriter, The Transformation of Ireland, 1900-2000.
(2) Maurice Walsh, The News from Ireland.

Further reading

Pierre Joannon, 'Terence MacSwiney: la grève de la faim qui fit vaciller un empire', Etudes Irlandaises, 1979 (vol. 4), pp. 193-209 Link

Grace Neville, 'The death of Terence MacSwiney, a French persepective', Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, 2001, (vol. 106), pp. 143-166 PDF 

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.

The Tartan Pimpernel - An Irishman's Diary on Rev. Donald Caskie

Rev. Dr Donald Caskie helped to save the lives of over 2,000 Allied servicemen in France during the Second World War. I have just written an Irishman's Diary in today's Irish Times newspaper about him. Read it here.

Donald Caskie (1902-1983). Image source

Caskie was appointed as Minister in the Scots Kirk in Paris in the mid-1930s. He left the city when it was occupied by the Nazis in June 1940. He moved to Marseille and became part of an underground escape route that was organised by British intelligence.

They helped to hide stranded Allied servicemen and women and arrange their escape from France (usually over the Pyrenees to neutral Spain). He wrote about his wartime experiences in the book, The Tartan Pimpernel, which was published in 1957. It is a truly remarkable story of courage.