| On Monday evening, October 18, 2010, at 7 p.m., the Clones Library will present an entertaining talk by Laois-born novelist Tom Phelan, “The Way They Were: Life in the Irish Countryside in the 1940s.” This will be Tom’s second appearance at the Library, following his standing-room-only talk last year on Ireland’s World War I soldiers. Tom will discuss a time before the telephone, before rural electrification, a time when ass-and-cart was the major mode of transportation, women washed clothes by hand, a hospital stay was a vacation, and the most exciting day of the year for a child was not Christmas Day, but the day of the threshing. He will illustrate his talk with selections from his novel Derrycloney, originally published by Brandon and now available for the Kindle at amazon.com. Tom Phelan is a 2008-2009 Christopher Isherwood Foundation Fellow, one of only five novelists selected from hundreds. He is also the author of the novels The Canal Bridge, In the Season of the Daisies, and Iscariot. His upcoming novel Nailer deals with a man determined to achieve justice, set against the backdrop of Ireland's industrial schools and the collusion between church and state that allowed them to flourish. Tom, who was born and raised on a farm in Mountmellick, County Laois, now makes his home in New York. He is currently in residence at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Annaghmakerrig. For additional information, please see www.tomphelan.net. *** |
Wednesday, 06 October 2010 09:19