Bridgewater State University Irish Studies

10/15/2026

Dr. Molly Ferguson gave a brilliant lecture on the stray sod for Bridgewater State University Irish Studies last evening!

09/30/2026

The BSU Irish Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Programs will co-sponsor a two tiered Irish cultural event on Wednesday October 14th.

Dr. Molly Ferguson, of Ball State University, author of “Banshees, Hags, and Changelings: Feminist Folklore Transformations in Irish Writing,” out this year from Syracuse University Press, will offer an interactive presentation on Wednesday October 14th, at 2:00- 3:30 pm In Weygand 1047, titled "Why we Tell Stories: Supernatural Tales in the Irish Folklore Archive"

Dr. Ferguson will expand upon these themes in another talk, that evening at 5:00-7:00 pm in the Small Ballroom Demonstration Room (RSU 208). The title of her evening talk is "Going ‘Astray’: The Stray Sod and Buried Trauma.”

BSU alum and Irish fiddler Michael McCarthy will provide musical entertainment for the evening portion. Information about Irish Study Abroad opportunities and the Irish Studies Program will be available at both events. Refreshments will be served.

03/16/2026

Please join BSU Irish Studies on Thursday, March 19 for presentations at 2 pm and 5 pm by Dr. Barry Houlihan, University Archivist at the University of Galway.

Dr. Houlihan will discuss Northern Ireland today through the lens of literature and film to unveil legacies of the Troubles. Examining work by Seamus Heaney, Louise Kennedy, Brian Friel, and considering popular television, such as Derry Girls, Dr. Houlihan will discuss the role archives play in preserving and protecting historical memory by giving voice to the voiceless and to those censored by authoritative power.

He will be joined by Dr. Ellen Scheible, Dr. Orson Kingsley, and Professor John Mulrooney in a panel discussion after the 5pm event.

2:00 - 3:15 pm: 'Say Nothing’: Excavating Silence and Memory in Contemporary Irish Culture (Dr. Barry Houlihan)

5:00 - 6:00 pm: Censorship and Power: Marginalized Voices from the Archives (Dr. Barry Houlihan in discussion with Ellen Scheible, John Mulrooney, and Orson Kingsley)

6:00-7:00 pm: Live Irish music with Stephen Lindsay

Both events are open to the public and food and beverages will be available. For additional information please contact Orson Kingsley at [email protected].

10/31/2025

Postgraduate scholarship applications for IASIL in Budapest are now open. Scholarship deadline is March 1, 2026. Conference is July 6-10, 2026.

Please encourage all PhD students to apply!

https://www.iasil.org/iasil-2026-pg-conference-travel-scholarship/

10/20/2025

I am excited to announce that I will be launching my monograph, Body Politics in Contemporary Irish Women's Fiction: The Literary Legacy of Mother Ireland, at Glucksman Ireland House NYU on Thursday, November 13, 7pm.

Anna Teekell and I will also launch our new critical edition of The Dark that same evening. Please join us!

Register here: https://as.nyu.edu/research-centers/irelandhouse/events/fall-20250/domestic-demons-in-irish-fiction.html

You can order Body Politics here: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/body-politics-in-contemporary-irish-womens-fiction-9781350429109/

You can order The Dark: A Critical Edition here:
https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/8085/dark-the/

09/29/2025

Please join Bridgewater State University and Bridgewater State University Irish Studies for our annual Irish Heritage Day on Thursday, October 2, at 5 pm in the Maxwell Library Heritage Room.

Our keynote speaker is Dr. Amy E. Martin. Dr. Martin will deliver an exciting talk entitled "Horrors of the Prison Machine: Exposing colonial carceral practices in late 19th and early 20th century Irish prison writings." She will examine the prison narratives of Irish anticolonial activists and show how these writers reveal the violence of incarceration and internment as a global phenomenon in the British Empire.

Dr. Martin is the Director of the Weissman Center for Leadership and Professor of English on the Emma B. Kennedy Foundation at Mount Holyoke College.

From 6 to 7pm we will enjoy Irish Music with Matt and Shannon Heaton, a Boston-based band that play traditional Irish music and more on flute, accordion, guitar, bouzouki, and voices. Shannon co-founded Boston’s Celtic music fest and served on its board for 15 years. She also runs the Irish Music Stories podcast, where she focuses on culture, history, and art exploration through an Irish music lens.

The event will be held in the Maxwell Library Heritage Room on the BSU campus and is open to the public. Food and beverages will be available. For additional information please contact Orson Kingsley at [email protected].

07/18/2025

Dr. Barry Devine and I will be launching Teaching James Joyce in the Twenty-First Century on Friday, December 12 from 12:30-2pm online via Zoom. Thanks to the James Joyce Society, New York for sponsoring the event. Please join us!

Please join the James Joyce Society for our latest installment in our Lunchtime Launch Series : Teaching James Joyce in the Twenty-First Century , edited by Barry Devine and Ellen Scheible This event will meet over Zoom. RSVP link to come. Teaching James Joyce in the Twenty-First Century

05/20/2025

For the past year, Dr. Scheible has been co-leading a reading group with BSU Archivist, Orson Kingsley, on James Joyce's Ulysses at the Worcester Art Museum. To celebrate the culmination of this unique reading experience, the museum is hosting a Bloomsday event on Sunday, June 15. Here is the link to the celebration. The schedule is exciting and has many events for children. Please bring your families!

Join us for a day-long Irish festival filled with art and events for the whole family, from step dancing and live music to wh***ey tastings and poetry readings. Bloomsday is an Irish holiday celebrating the life and work of James Joyce on the day of the events of his iconic novel, Ulysses. Journey t...

04/03/2025

TONIGHT: Spring Irish Cultural Heritage Day at BSU begins at 4:30 pm, Maxwell Library Heritage Room.

Highlights include an unveiling of our new Charles Fanning collection and a talk by UConn's Dr. Mary Burke on Grace Kelly and the Kennedys.

Open to the public. Heavy appetizers and cash bar. Contact Orson Kingsley for more information.

03/17/2025

Last week, Dr Ellen Scheible was interviewed by the New books Network. She discussed her recent book, Body Politics in Contemporary Women's Fiction: The Literary Legacy of Mother Ireland. Check out the interview below!

An interview with Ellen Scheible