Mary Pat Kelly Galway Bay Book

On my way from Three Lakes, Wisconsin to Milwaukee for Irish Fest. Had a wonderful family reunion on our beautiful Medicine Lake in Three Lakes. Thought how pleased Honora would be to see her great great great great grandchildren splashing in the clear water. A touch of Galway Bay. Mayor Ed Kelly of Chicago, Honora's grandson and a featured character in the sequel I'm working on called "Kelly Green", had a house in Eagle River, WI. I plan to set some scenes there so am doing research.

I'll be doing events in October and November. So please watch this space. Hope to see some of you in Milwaukee! I'm in the vendors tent with The Irish Boutique aka Paddy on the Square from Long Grove, Ill. signing books. What great supporters of Galway Bay. I think they have sold over 700 copies! And in February the trade paperback is due. I'm on the bus going south on Route 51. Wisconsin is almost as green as Ireland!! Slainte!!!!

Sorry to be behind on my blogs but Irishamerica.com will bring you to the article Returning to Ireland I wrote for Irish America Magazine about the group who traveled with me to Galway and Connemara to visit the places that inspired scenes in Galway Bay. We're thinking of doing another trip in May 2011 so let me know if you'd be interested! This issue of the magazine focuses on The Great Starvation and has some very beautiful pieces.

In Ireland snowdrops and primroses are blooming and the Celtic calendar says Imbolc - Spring – which began on February 1st, St. Brigid's Feast. Both blacksmiths and poets claim the great Irishwoman as their patron which seems appropriate to me as I work on the sequel to Galway Bay. Sometimes as I write I do feel as if I'm hammering away. But then I think of you. Readers! You're my reward! Because of you Galway Bay is in its fourth printing. THANKS.

Could I ask a favor? St. Patrick's Day turns booksellers' attention towards things Irish. Would you please encourage a book store near you to add copies of Galway Bay to their St. Patrick's Day displays? I've found that individual managers do respond when asked to stock the book. And, as always you can buy Galway Bay on Amazon or through my website as a St. Patrick's Day Gift for a favorite Irish Person.

Also, I'll be doing a number of events during the St. Patrick's Day season, for more information check for dates and times here.

Grand Central Publishing has issued a fourth printing of Galway Bay, just in time for stores to start ordering for Saint Patrick's Day. I'll have lots of fun events around that time, check back here for more information on events and book signings. Also as noted in an earlier blog, I will be leading a Galway Bay tour to Ireland April 27 to May 7. Let me know if you're interested. You can email me here. SLAINTE!

Saturday November 7th. I spoke at the second annual Irish College Day at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn sponsored by The Wild Geese. I will keep you informed about new events sponsored by them.

Also, I will be leading a Galway Bay tour to Ireland April 27 to May 7. Let me know if you're interested. You can email me here.

I was at another great Catholic University, Villanova with Professor James Murphy, head of the Irish Studies Program. We talked about the incredible achievements of the Irish Augustinians who founded Villanova in the 1840's. How did they do it? How did the Holy Cross Fathers at Notre Dame manage or the Sisters of Providence at St Mary-of-the Woods. Pioneers all and full of those who had escaped oppression and the Great Starvation and then had gone right on create these institutions. Such determination. I guess the hunger for education among the Irish immigrants, who'd been forbidden by law to go to school, was as strong as the need for food and shelter and work.

At Villanova I heard the students in Professor Murphy's class talk with passion about Queen Maeve and Sweeney, the Chieftain Seamus Heaney made so real in Sweeney Astray. The old stories in this new setting--alive. How happy our ancestors must be!

At my presentation we had a Galway Bay moment. I was talking about how a sister at the Presentation Convent in Galway had helped me and the odd coincidence that two of her aunts had left Donegal in the 1880's and joined the Sisters of Providence in Indiana, the community in which I had spent six years. A man raised his hand. "Was the name MacNaillis?" he asked." Yes!" He was a cousin and had heard the story though he didn't know Sister Maire in Galway. Made me think of connections and cousins I have discovered. Did I write about the astounding moment when I met cousins I had never known existed at a book signing at the parish I where I grew up-- Queen of All Saints? If not it's because I'm still reeling. Nicole and her aunt Mary Anne Grennan and uncle Tom Grennan came up at the end. They are the descendants of Luke Kelly, the brother of my great grandmother Bridget Kelly who married Patrick Kelly. A Kelly marrying a Kelly. We had a fine reunion and then they brought other cousins to meet my Aunt Marge Kelly McGuire who is now the most senior member of the Clan and the only one from that generation. We have only begun to connect those dots!

After Villanova I signed at the Warrington Borders. That invitation came from Jim Dowling who I met on Cape Cod because he is a friend of Elizabeth Merrill who hosted me when I signed at her book store Titcombs where a dear friend from Connecticut Dick Whitcomb brought his friend who turned out to be a cousin who girls I went to High school with in Chicago. Got it? Do you see why my blogging lags behind?