The Writing Irish of New York

In the ten years following the Great Famine, Irish flooded into New York at an astonishing rate.  By 1860 one in every four New Yorkers was Irish, and by the 1920s Irish-American authors like Eugene O’Neill and F. Scott Fitzgerald had transformed the American literary landscape and laid the foundation for a century that would put Irish writing at the forefront of American letters.

This series of essays by and about Irish-American writers traces that heritage from it’s humble origins through the twentieth century. Editor Colin Broderick provides background essays on Brendan Behan’s New York, Maeve Brennan’s heartbreaking decent into madness, Frank McCourt’s rise from school teacher to literary phenomenon, and 23 of today’s top Irish-American authors provide personal accounts of how they found their voices in the Big Apple. Taken together, the stories provide a vivid portrait of a community of authors who continue to fight for Ireland’s place at the top of literary canon.

"This collection of essays and remembrances is bursting at the seams with talent. Irish writers finding their voice in New York City is a long and revered tradition, and this book shows that tradition to be alive and well in the new century. If it’s wit, wisdom and dazzling prose that you’re looking for, The Writing Irish of New York will not disappoint." --T.J. English, New York Times bestselling author of The Savage City

"This is a fascinating book which I read at one sitting—containing no end of insight, with chunks of unanticipated wisdom and the finest of contemporary writing. A delicious feast." --Patrick McCabe, author of The Butcher Boy and Breakfast on Pluto

Editor Colin Broderick was raised Irish Catholic in Northern Ireland, moving to New York at the age of twenty. Author of two ground-breaking memoirs-That's That, the story of his childhood in Northern Ireland, and Orangutan, which chronicles his life in New York after moving there in 1988-he also writes screenplays (Emerald City, 2018), and his articles have appeared in The Irish Echo, The Irish Voice, and The New York Times.

Colum McCann is the internationally bestselling author of the novels Zoli, Dancer, This Side of Brightness, and Songdogs, as well as two critically acclaimed story collections. His fiction has been published in thirty languages. He has been a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and was the inaugural winner of the Ireland Fund of Monaco Literary Award in Memory of Princess Grace. He has been named one of Esquire's "Best and Brightest," and his short film Everything in This Country Must was nominated for an Oscar in 2005. A contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Paris Review, he teaches in the Hunter College MFA Creative Writing Program. He lives in New York City with his wife and their three children.

Luanne Rice is the New York Times bestselling author of 32 novels, which have been translated into 24 languages. The author of Dream Country, Beach Girls, The Secret Language of Sisters and others, Rice often writes about love, family, nature, and the sea. She received the 2014 Connecticut Governor's Arts Award for excellence and lifetime achievement in the Literary Arts category. Several of Rice's novels have been adapted for television, including Crazy in Love for TNT, Blue Moon for CBS, Follow the Stars Home and Silver Bells for the Hallmark Hall of Fame, and Beach Girls for Lifetime. Rice is an avid environmentalist and advocate for families affected by domestic violence and people who have experienced depression. She divides her time between New York City and Old Lyme, Connecticut.