Detailed Program

All sessions held in Connolly House unless otherwise indicated.


Wednesday, April 6

5 – 7pm
Burns Library
Reception

Opening reception with Kevin Barry and Olivia Smith, with dramatic readings by David Gullette (Poets’ Theatre)

7 – 8:30pm
Gasson Hall 100
Keynote

Keynote: Kevin Barry Lowell Lecture series reading

8:30pm

Dinner on your own/pick-up groups


Thursday, April 7

9 – 9:30am
Breakfast
Connolly House

Continental breakfast (provided)

9:30 – 11:00am
Panel Session

DINEEN, DECADENCE, AND DIASPORA
Chair: Kelly Matthews (Framingham State University)
Speaker bios

Andrew Kuhn (Penn State University)
“‘The Brother’s Taken to the Books Again’: The Volumes of the Cruiskeen Lawn”

Dominic Harkin (Queen’s University Belfast) “Des Esseintes in Dublin: Flann O’Brien’s Decadent Science Fiction”

Stanley Gontarski (Florida State University)
“‘Well, cut my legs off and call me Shorty’: Flann O’Brien and the American Mythos”

11 – 11:30am
Coffee

Coffee break

11:30am – 12:30pm
Keynote

Keynote: Frank McNally (Irish Times)
“The Hiberno-Nolan Dictionary of Insult: Usage and Abusage in Ireland’s First Unofficial Language

12:30 – 1:30pm
Lunch

Lunch (provided)

1:30 – 2:00pm
Performance

“Slí na gCopaleen: Gortahork Here we Come:” with Deirdre Learmont and Oisín Ó Nualláin

2 – 3pm

Break and walk to Burns Library

3 – 3:15pm
Presentation
Burns Library

Presentation of Augmented Reality app “On the Trail of the Third Policeman”

3:15 – 4:15pm
Presentation

Burns Library Flann O’Brien archives exploration

4:15 – 5:30pm
Reception and Performance

Light refreshments and hors d’oeuvres with performed excerpts from Flann’s work by Here Comes Everybody Players

5:30pm

Speakers’ Dinner departure
Others: dinner on your own/pick-up groups


Friday, April 8

9 – 9:30am
Breakfast
Connolly House

Continental breakfast (provided)

9:30 – 11:00am
Panel Session

WIRELESS, TV, AND THE RISING TIDE
Chair: Rachael Young
Speaker bios

Tobias W. Harris and Joseph LaBine (Birkbeck; University of Ottawa)
“Brian O’Nolan and ‘Wireless Imagination’ in 1930s Ireland”

Elliott Mills (Trinity College Dublin)
“The Dead Spit of Two in One: Repackaging O’Nolan”

Germán Asensio Peral (University of Almería, Spain)
“‘… the 51st of the United States’: Cruiskeen Lawn, Seán Lemass, and John F. Kennedy”

11 – 11:30am
Coffee

Coffee break

11:30am – 12:30pm
Keynote

Keynote: Maebh Long (University of Waikato)
“Listening to Brian O’Nolan”

12:30 – 1:30pm
Lunch

Lunch (provided)

1:30 – 3:00pm
Panel Session

FRAUDULENCE, FISTICUFFS, ANDVENDETTAS
Chair: Ian Ó Caoimh (University College Dublin)
Speaker bios

Thomas O’Grady (University of Massachusetts Boston)
“A Cold Case of Irish Facts:  Re(:)visiting John Stanislaus Joyce”

Joseph LaBine (University of Ottawa)
“‘Nárbh’ é an fear bocht míámharach a scríobh é sin!’: Ó Conaire/O’Nolan, After-hours Pubs, Plays and Fisticuffs”

Deirdre Learmont (Ollscoil na mBréag) and Oisín Ó Nualláin
“Bitter Vendettas and How to Resolve Them”

3 – 3:15pm
Coffee

Coffee break

3:15 – 4:15pm
Film

An Béal Bocht screening with kind permission, Nervecentre, Derry/Londonderry, followed by discussion

4:15 – 4:30pm

Walk from Connolly House to Higgins Hall

4:30 – 6:15pm
Performance
Higgins Hall 300

Arán agus Im (“Bread and Butter”) theatrical presentation on the Irish language and breadmaking by Manchán Magan

6:15 – 6:30pm

Walk from Higgins Hall to Connolly House

6:30 – 9:00pm
Reception/Dinner
Connolly House

Conference cookout (registered attendees only) at Connolly House, with remarks by IFOBS president Paul Fagan


Saturday, April 9

9 – 9:30am
Breakfast
Connolly House

Continental breakfast (provided)

9 – 11:00am
Panel Session

SKINS, SPECIES, AND SEWER GAS
Chair: Matt Brown (University of Massachusetts, Boston)
Speaker bios

Paul Fagan (Salzburg University)
“‘A lacuna in the palimpsest’: The Nonhuman Skin of At Swim-Two-Birds

Holly Connell Schaaf (Boston University)
“Birds in At Swim-Two-Birds: Contemporary Ecology and Myths of Cross-Species Identification”

Therese Cox (Columbia University)
“Downward Houses and Machines for Living: Architecture, Infrastructure, and Invention in Cruiskeen Lawn

11 – 11:30am
Coffee

Coffee break

11:30am – 12:30pm
Keynote

Keynote: Catherine Flynn (University of California, Berkeley)
“Flann, Myles, and the Young Irish State”

12:30 – 1:30pm
Lunch

Lunch (provided)

1:30 – 2:45pm
Roundtable

“The Ethical Journalist in this Troubled Time,” discussion on ethics and newspapers today with Fintan O’Toole (Irish Times), Frank McNally (Irish Times) and Charles Sennott (Ground Truth Project), (im-)moderated by Joseph Nugent

2:45 – 3:30pm

Walk from Connolly House to McMullen Museum

3:30 – 5pm
Gallery Tour
McMullen Museum

“Fintan on Parr”: Martin Parr exhibition tour with Fintan O’Toole

5 – 6pm

Break and walk to Waterworks Museum

6 – 9:30pm
Reception
Waterworks Museum

“Third Policeman’s Ball,” closing gala reception in partnership with Consulate General of Ireland in Boston with Fintan O’Toole book launch, champion fiddle player Andrew Caden, trad musicians music by Conor O’Brien and Gregory Grene, BC Irish dancers, recitations, and more. Attendance by advance registration and invitation only.