Search Results for 'Nora Barnacle'

Nora Barnacle was born on the night of March 21/22 1884 in the maternity ward of the workhouse, part of which served as a hospital. At the time her family were living in Raleigh Row. Her parents were Thomas Barnacle, an illiterate itinerant baker whose heavy drinking kept the family in poverty, and Annie Healy, a member of a family of substance who believed in education and hard work. They married in 1881 and for the next 26 years, led a nomadic life as they moved from tenement to tenement almost with the birth of each child. They had eight children in all, one of whom, John Patrick, died in infancy.

THIS YEAR marks the centenary of the publication of James Joyce’s groundbreaking work of modernist fiction, Ulysses, but while that book, and its author, are profoundly rooted in Dublin, Joyce himself had Galway connections.

New plans projected over a 20 year period will see the inner lands of Galway harbour developed into an attractive commercial and residential area, while reclaimed land from the sea will push out harbour facilities into deep water to accommodate shipping connections to European ports and elsewhere. It is a long over due and worthwhile plan, but it pales almost into insignificance compared to the vaulting ambitions the Galway merchants schemed in the mid 19th century.

Galway Tour Guides Association in partnership with Galway City Council will see 16 tour guides telling stories on 25 walks, from Coole Park in Gort through the streets of Galway City and onto the Western Lakes Geo Park.

THE CÚIRT International Festival of Literature has begun and runs until Sunday. This year, things are a little different due to Covid-19 restrictions, so audiences are encouraged to watch at home and be part of the online festival community.

MENTION NORA Barnacle and four things come to mind: she was from Galway; she was sexually adventurous and advanced for her day; she was the partner and muse of James Joyce; and she never read a word he wrote.

MERE DAYS after the programme for the 2020 Cúirt International Festival of Literature was announced, the Republic of Ireland went into Lockdown. And yet, in the face of that unprecedented setback, Cúirt emerged triumphant.

AWARD WINNING Galway writers Elaine Feeney, Mary Costello, and Nuala O’Connor will be the focus of the opening weeks of a new online book club - Women Writers of the West.

This is the first column of 2021 and I share all of your hopes that this year will be a better year than 2020.

The Joyces finally arrived in Zurich on 17 December 1940 exhausted after weeks of torturous negotiations with the German, Vichy-French and Swiss authorities. They had sought refuge in Switzerland during World War I, now they hoped to do so again. To add to the stress of it all they had to leave their daughter Lucia behind in a psychiatric hospital in Brittany which was behind German lines. Joyce hoped that once settled in Zurich he could use all the influence he could muster to have her follow them to safety.