Mary Pat Kelly Galway Bay Book

I am sitting here waiting for Sharkey to cut my hair. His shop I Style is an Upper West Side favorite and I'm a regular. BUT today is unique because on the other side of Broadway in Barnes and Noble (my Barnes and Noble) there's a poster in the window with the cover of Galway Bay and my picture announcing that I'll be reading from the book on Monday February 9, the date of publication. It is especially exciting because I have spent so much time in that store over the years. I know the booksellers -- Pat, whose family roots are in Galway too, Barbara, who wrote a wonderful comic novel, Lou, the community relations manager, whose book on William Randolph Hearst is a classic (he was delighted to hear that I live in an apartment building Hearst built) and Lou's colleague Anne, a playwright I see at Church.

While writing Galway Bay, when I needed to be sustained I imagined it finished, published, and the poster announcing a book signing hanging in the window of this very Barnes and Noble. Well the day is here. Join me Monday February 9th at 7 pm for a short reading and book signing, and after a stop at The Parlour to raise a pint to Galway Bay.

Oops Sharkey's calling me. One thing's for sure I'll have a good haircut on the day.

Labels: Barnes and Noble, Book signing, Galway Bay, The Parlour, Upper West Side, William Randolph Hearst

Growing up in a big Irish Catholic family in Chicago, I was very proud of my heritage but really did not connect myself to Ireland which seemed very far away. For me being Irish was more about John F. Kennedy and Notre Dame than my own roots. While backpacking through Europe in 1969, I added Ireland to the itinerary because I wanted to see Peter O'Toole in Waiting for Godot; I was drawn more by his blue eyes than Samuel Beckett. On the way in to Dublin from the airport I was scrambling to find bus fare, I had come from London where bus conductors were very intimating. But the Irish conductor smiled and said "Would you ever relax--you're home." I was! Thus began the exploration that has culminated in Galway Bay. I cranked my way through many rolls of microfilm until I was able to combine a sense of Irish history and literature with my own family story.

Much of the joy of writing Galway Bay came from the amazing stories and facts I discovered through more than 30 years of reading texts of all kinds in libraries big and small. I found wonderful local histories, typed lovingly in manuscript form, in local libraries in Ireland and in collections of papers such as those in the Chicago History Museum.

And now with the advent of the Internet, you can begin your own journey of discovery. Visit my research page for links to many of the sites that can help you get started. And of course, feel free to post any questions or stories of your own you want to share.

- Mary Pat Kelly

Labels: Chicago, Dublin, Galway Bay, History, Ireland, Irish, research, travel