Acclaimed poet Leanne O’Sullivan walks us through the landscape that shaped her imagination.
Leanne talks about The Hag.
Above Eyeries. (In summer)
The Village of Eyeries, in West Cork.
Grottoes such as this, outside Castletownbere on Beara, can be found throughout Ireland. Most were erected in the Marian year of 1954.
Irish friends. (Beara summer.)
Frederick Douglass visited Ireland in 1845. Colum McCann’s wonderful novel, TRANSATLANTIC begins with that moment.
Muhammad Ali had Irish roots. His great grandfather was from Ennis.
Meeting Kevin Barry in Westport, near where Beatlebone is set. Kevin is a leading light of Irish fiction. We were thrilled he came to meet with us and read from his work.
Clew Bay Bike Trail with some non-climber.
If people did not climb on wet or foggy days, would anyone ever get to heaven?
Nearly there. Celestial inspiration.
Started at the bottom …
No comment.
I don’t know about the indulgence, but I sure earned this sandwich after making it up Croagh Patrick.
Climbing Croagh Patrick with our dear friend Mary, from the Clew Bay Hotel. Mary is a member of the Mayo Mountain Rescue Team.
Cliffs of Moher. (Skip the parking lot and park at a local farm.)
A summer visit to Newgrange.
Newgrange in winter.
Archeologist Padraig Meehan @ Carrowmore, County Sligo.
The Yeats Experience, County Sligo.
Grianán of Aileach. An ancient fort, partially restored, in Donegal (just outside Derry). Seamus Deane writes memorably of this place in his autobiographical novel READING IN THE DARK.
These cliffs at Slieve League in Donegal are less visited than the Cliffs of Moher, and they are every bit as breath-taking.
Slieve League winter.
Above Slieve League, County Donegal.
At Giant’s Causeway on a day when it looked like California.
Father Tom McElligott has taken hundreds of Saint Mary’s students to Ireland.
We take the Jarvey; the Jarvey takes us.
Ross Castle, Killarney, in The Kingdom of Kerry
Upper Lake, Glendalough, County Wicklow.
St. Kevin’s Church. Glendalough. (The Kevin of Heaney’s “St. Kevin and the Blackbird.”
The Long Room gets me every time. Trinity College.
Sister Aloyisius’s windows at The Playhouse of Derry. Originally a hotel, then a convent, The Playhouse buildings foster art of all kinds in Derry.
Tyrone Guthrie left his family’s estate to Ireland (The Republic and the North) for artists and writers.
The House at Annaghmakerrig.
My view from The Butler Room.
Actually my idea of heaven.
Never gets old.
I rarely find myself stuck when writing at Annamakerrig. But when I am, I walk to Poets’ Corner in the main house.
The roads and drumlins around Annamakerrig also provide stuck writers inspiration.
This is my favorite view in on the roadway outside Annamakerrig.
After a long day of writing, a dip in the lake at Annamakerrig.
And at the end of a long day writing, walking, swimming.
Since 2012, I’ve made many trips to Ireland. Some of these have been in the company of my students, some with my family, and some on my own for research and writing. You can read the blog created by my most recent student group here.
