The IAHC’s 2nd floor Library is the perfect place for the weekend’s books portion of iBAM 2024! Start with some literature, add in a little music, theatre, performance and history, and you’ve got a full weekend of Irish culture, set against the hallowed backdrop of the IAHC’s most beautiful room.
Don’t forget to bring your tote bag to fill it to the top with many tomes from the Library’s book sale where they practically give away books!
Saturday November 16
1pm-2pm: Reading:
Author Maureen Connolly: A Million Miles From Yesterday
Chicago author Maureen Connolly reads from her new novel, A Million Miles From Yesterday. Hank Cleary, the town doctor in Alma, Wisconsin, failed his wife when she died. In spring 1999 he struggles to climb back into life. A Chicago expatriate, he is challenged by other migrants: the Chicana owner of Livy's Bar and Café, an old man who loves jazz, a Navajo family transplanted from the Southwest, a strange woman who rarely speaks, a drifting Menominee, and the iconoclastic Bookstore Ladies. Disparate cultures rub up against each other.
When a cataclysmic fire engulfs the Alma recycling plant in mid-summer, Hank cannot resuscitate Silent Margaret, and he relives his despair at being unable to save his wife. At the turn of the millennium, healing comes in unexpected ways.
Saturday 2pm-3pm: Lecture and Performance:
Behind the Mask: Unveiling the Life and Poetry of W.B. Yeats
Join Josephine Craven of Listen to Lit for an illuminating talk on William Butler Yeats. Craven will explore Yeats’ life, loves, and the Ireland that shaped his poetry, examining how the poet used "masks" to conceal his shy and introspective nature. Throughout the talk, she will bring Yeats' words to life, performing a selection of his most beloved pieces, offering a rich, immersive experience that reveals both the man and the artist. Discover how Yeats' poetic genius was inspired by the tumultuous times he lived in and the soul and landscape of Ireland itself.
Lesson: 3pm-3:30pm: Na Gaeil Irish Language Primer
Learn a few phrases from the teachers of NaGaeil Irish Language program at the IAHC. All levels welcome!
1pm-2pm: Performance: An Afternoon of Irish Drama
Join us for a captivating afternoon as Barney Farrelly, iBAM! 2024 Volunteer of the Year, and actress, writer, and director Josephine Craven, Listen to Lit., present selected readings from some of Ireland’s most beloved plays. With decades of experience and a shared passion for Irish storytelling, these seasoned performers promise an unforgettable event filled with humor, wit, and heart.
2:30pm-3:15pm: Music,
Tenor Mark Piekarz: Love’s Old Sweet Song
Just a Song at Twilight features music with Tenor Mark Piekarz on keyboard and vocals. He performs Irish tunes, folk songs and standards. Piekarz is a classically trained tenor who has performed at the Steppenwolf Theatre, the Newberry Library, solo concerts in Polish at Prop Thtr, the Chicago Public Library, on WTTW and NPR, and has performed with the CSO under the direction of Riccardo Muti.
3:30pm-4:30pm: Lecture and Performance:
Mike Austin (right), and Jim Conway (left): The Influence of Celtic Music on American Folk Music
James Conway and Michael Austin, hosts of the Irish American Heritage Center’s
weekly music session, will discuss and demonstrate how Celtic music has influenced American folk, including Bluegrass, both in tune and song. Appalachian culture is the link, where much of America’s folk music evolved from the modal Celtic musical styles of the Scottish and Irish immigrants who settled there. One tune style, the reel in 4/4 time, usually with repeating eight-measure parts and in one of four modes, is almost interchangeable to this day thanks to Celtic emigration and the musical melting pot of Appalachia.