I’ve been busy doing interviews, podcasts, lectures, chats recently about everything from historical fiction to the murder of Dr Cronin in Chicago in 1889, to the history of Kilmainham Gaol, to creating an exhibition, to all sorts of stories about misery, death and museums to how I actually go about writing!
I keep forgetting to put them up online, but I’ve finally got around to it and you can find links to them all here:
Come and join Michael Staunton and myself as we chat about Ireland’s obsession with death & darkness (there will be lighter moments too!)
The event is free & online at 7pm on Sunday 26 September
More information & link to booking tickets is here: Dublin Festival of History: https://dublinfestivalofhistory.ie/event/the-darkness-echoing-exploring-irelands-places-of-famine-death-and-rebellion-gillian-obrien-in-conversation-with-michael-staunton/
A few weeks ago I chatted with Danielle O’Donovan, Programme Manager at Nano Nagle Place, about The Darkness Echoing. We discusses the importance of museums and heritage sites, getting accidentally locked into one of them & lots of amazing places that people can go and visit now that lockdown has eased.
On Thursday at 5.00pm I’ll be chatting to Danielle O’Donovan about writing The Darkness Echoing: Exploring Ireland’s Places of Famine, Death & Rebellion as part of Cork World Book Fest. We’ll be talking about Dark Tourism and the Irish tendency to focus on the bleak and miserable aspects of our past. Why do we love going to prison museums and graveyards as part of a ‘fun’ day out? Why do we talk about death and funerals as easily as we talk about the weather?
As part of my research for The Darkness Echoing I visited over 200 museums and historic sites across Ireland. I’ll also chat to Danielle about some of the well-known (and not so well-known) sites so you can get planning trips just as soon as that’s allowed!
The talk is free and open to all but you need to register to attend. Click here to register: Cork World Book Fest Event
I’m often asked about what I write, but very rarely asked about how I write. So, I was delighted to be asked to be a guest on ‘The Five Rules of Writing’ podcast.
I got to talk about why I feel more at home in mud cabins than I do in castles, about how difficult I found it to put myself in the story and why Twitter has stunted our ability to debate issues in a nuanced and balanced way.
If you want to hear what it’s like to write a book this may be the podcast for you! As a sneak preview here are my Five Rules:
The podcast can be listened to here: The Five Rules of Writing
For anyone who is thinking about buying The Darkness Echoing John Gibney gave the book a glowing review in History Ireland. He wrote that the book
“is provocative without being polemical. O’Brien is unafraid to offer both laconic asides and trenchant critiques, but as she writes as both a practitioner of public history and an academic her book has a refreshingly open-minded tone that offers historical complexity without hectoring. She has tried to do something different and has succeeded admirably; in doing so she has written as significant a commentary on Irish history as any that has appeared in recent years. The Darkness Echoing is a hugely enjoyable, thought-provoking and informative work; for anyone involved in Irish history or heritage it is an essential read.”
If I had to choose a favourite site of the 200 that I visited while researching The Darkness Echoing it would have to be Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin. I recently spoke about the reasons why (and lots of other things) with Donal Fallon for his great podcast, Three Castles Burning. You can listen to the podcast here: THREE CASTLES BURNING
I also spoke to Pat Kenny on NewsTalk about funerals – both traditional funerals (and the preparation for them) and those taking place during the pandemic: When Can We Grieve Normally Again?
The Darkness Echoing was published on 1 October.
I don’t recommend publishing a book in the midst of a global pandemic. While it’s great to see the finished book (and the publishers have done a wonderful job both in terms of design, but also in terms of promoting it) there is something a little bit sad about doing all the promotion at a remove. I miss the chat and the craic and the debates and the conversations that usually come with a new publication.
One of the things I wanted to do with The Darkness Echoing was to spark conversations about how we learn about the past – both formally and informally. I want to open up discussions about our museums, our heritage, our school curriculum, government funding and support (or lack thereof) of our heritage. I’m sure those conversations, discussions, disagreements will happen in time…but it would have been nice to begin them now. There is no time like the present to talk about the past!
I have largely migrated all my research and writing information over to a new website: www.gillianobrien.net where there are lots of photos of the sites I visited on my travels around Ireland and lots more information about the book (and other things that I’m currently working on).
And the book can be bought in all good bookshops! I’m a fan of the independent bookshop, but a sales a sale so buy wherever takes your fancy.
If you’re in Ireland the cheapest out there at the moment is Kenny’s in Galway
And in the UK the new bookshop.org.uk will send it on its merry way.
And while it’s not published yet in the US Blackwell’s will post it from the UK to the US for free!
After many years of thinking, reading and writing about Irish history and after two years of lapping the country visiting all 32 counties and well over 200 museums, heritage sites & memorials The Darkness Echoing is here (or at least very nearly in bookshops…but I have a copy so I know it’s really real!)
Sadly, because of the pandemic there can’t be a traditional book launch where I could cajole people into buying copies by providing lots of lukewarm wine and overcooked cocktail sausages. But on the plus side both Easons and Dubray bookshops are offering incentives to pre-order the book.
Easons will enter you into a draw to win 2 nights in Cobh, while Dubray have a draw for an OPW Famine Heritage Card which gives free entry into all OPW sites including Kilmainham Gaol, Newgrange, Cahir Castle, Charles Fort and lots more (which is nice, but nowhere near as good as a lukewarm glass of wine I know!)
And there are loads of independent bookshops out there too – and Kenny’s of Galway have it at a bargain price of €14.20. The book will be out in the UK in all good bookshops (and especially in the lovely News from Nowhere in Liverpool) It won’t be out in October in the US – am holding out for it to appear next year in the post-Trump era, but Book Depository (I know it’s Amazon in disguise, but needs must) will ship it to the US and anywhere else you fancy!
If anyone fancies a look at some of the sites mentioned in each chapter you’ll find links to images over at my website: gillianobrien.net
Today is the 130th anniversary of the murder of Dr Patrick Cronin. On 4 May 1889 an anxious young man ran in a doctor’s surgery in north Chicago. He was agitated and desperate for help. A man had been seriously injured and needed immediate attention. The doctor packed his medical case, hopped into a waiting carriage and was never seen alive again.
Continue reading
It’s mid-term break next week so it seemed like a good time to suggest some more places to visit. At the beginning of the year I recommended ten places that I think were worth a trip – A Top Ten of Irish Sites to Visit. But there are far more than 10 great museums and heritage sites scattered across the country, so here’s another selection of sites I’ve visited over the last few months that I think braving a chilly spring day for.
Cork City Gaol, Cork
I’ve been here three times in the last year and really like it. The audio tour is engaging and nicely paced (though I’d skip the exhibition on the gaol’s life as a radio station…not least because it’s said to be in the haunted part of the building!) The visit is informative and entertaining….but the real draw is the old prison itself and the chance to step inside the cold, forbidding cells and perhaps catch a glimpse of the prison’s ghost.
Adults, €10.00, Children – €6.00, Family – €30.00
King John’s Castle, Limerick
The Castle has a lot of interactive and informative, all-singing, all-dancing exhibits. It’s particularly strong on the 17th century – lots of battle and sieges, but there’s also a lot to be learnt about the history of Limerick. And you get to walk the Castle Ramparts (and see Thomand Park in the distance).
Adults, €11.70, Children – €9.50, Family – €40.50
Ulster-American Folk Park, Omagh, Co. Tyrone
Not so much a park as a village (or more than one). There are museum displays in the visitor centre where the shop and cafe also reside, but once outside you get to wander through an Ulster Village before boarding a ship and disembarking in America where you get to see the sort of houses lived in by many thousands of Irish who emigrated across the Atlantic. The costumed guides in some of houses are great – chatty and informative, without making it too interactive. It’s quite a positive spin on the emigrant experience (and refreshing for that).
Adult – £9, Children – £5.50, Family – £25
Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin
A place I return to time and time again….and not just for funerals. It’s even better now that it’s linked with the glorious Botanic Gardens. You can walk around the cemetery and gardens for free or pay for entry to the museum and a tour. There are all sorts of tours available, and if you’re feeling energetic you can even climb up the round tower that marks Daniel O’Connell’s final resting place and survey the north side of Dublin City. The cemetery contains the bodies of most of those you’ll have read about in history books from O’Connell to Parnell to Markievicz, Collins and de Valera, but it’s often the lesser known stories that are most engaging – make sure you learn about the business of grave robbing!
Ticket prices vary depending on the tour. General ticket prices are: Adults, €13, Children — €10.20, Family – €36
This is not a cheap day out, but it is really well done. I’m always amazed at the interest in the Titanic. It seems odd to commemorate a great failure – surely the shipbuilders of Belfast would rather commemorate some of their great successes, but it seems there’s no money in that! But if you’ve any interest at all in the Titanic this is the place for you (the amount of information is quite overwhelming so factor in a long coffee break afterwards!)
Adult – £18.50, Children – £8, Family – £45
1798 Rebellion Heritage Centre, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford
I hear rumours that this may be on the move from its current location so go now while you have the chance. There’s a lot of information at this site (and it feels like it’s written by a bunch of historians and as as one I can say that that’s not always a good thing!) But if you want to learn about the Rebellion this is the place to go. The recreation of the Battle of Vinegar Hill is worth the entrance price alone.
Adult – €7 Children – €3, Family – €20
St Anne’s Church, Shandon, Cork
I love this place, not only because it’s my favourite Cork landmark, but also because it hasn’t become one of those generic experiences full of interactive panels and mannequins. It’s a little rough around the edges and you’ll learn a bit about the Church, a bit about Cork and quite a lot about Campanology. But really, it’s about the climb and the bells and the view. You can ring the bells (how the good folk of Shandon put up with the incessant largely tuneless bell-ringing amazes me). If you’re claustrophobic and don’t like heights it may not be the place for you, but for everyone else it’s great. One piece of advice – go when it’s likely to be quiet as passing people on the narrow stairs isn’t fun. And make sure you find the wooden ladder that brings you out onto the balcony (no one told me it existed on my first trip!)
Adults – €5 Children – €2.50, Family – €12 (cash only)
View from the top!
King of the Vikings, Waterford
This one you’ll have to save for St Patrick’s Day or later as it’s closed until mid-March. Experience Viking Waterford in Virtual Reality. I found it fascinating, but I don’t play computer games and know little about VR so I’d be very interested in what those more au fait with computer graphics and games think of it. I’m taking my team of young museum visitors on my next trip and will report back!
No prices on the website
Fort Dunree, Inishowen Peninsula, Co. Donegal
This isn’t the best military museum you’ve every seen, but it is the most glorious location. The fort is an amazing feat of engineering and I love the dilapidated former military huts and buildings that are scattered around the site. And it has one of the most beautifully located coffee shops you’ll find anywhere in the country.
Adults, €7, Children – €5, Family – €15
murder, mayhem & shiny things 