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BOOK : "The Truth Commissioner" By David Park

DAVID Park's impressive new novel, "The Truth Commissioner" (Bloomsbury Press) is set in post-ceasefire Northern Ireland and asks a simple, terrifying question - how are we going to forgive?

In the aftermath of a bitter war, communities and individuals are still reeling from decades of senseless bloodshed. How can they come to terms with the suffering of the past?

Park imagines one solution by inventing a fictional truth commission, modeled after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission established in post-apartheid South Africa, to give voice to festering wounds.

Beginning with that simple premise, Park's beautifully written new book vividly reminds us that the war on the streets may have ended, but it endures in hearts and minds, and we'd be foolish to ignore the fact.

CONFERENCE : Cosmopolitical Ireland

GRIAN, the Irish studies group based at NYU's Ireland House, will present their 10th annual conference this Friday, March 14 and Saturday the 15th, from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. on both days.

The conference asks - in a society with a historical experience that produced a specific and static ideal of national identity for much of the 20th century, how does increasing contact through globalization and net migration challenge such conceptions of identity?

How did such a small country transform itself into a significant participant in the global domain, and what are the challenges and opportunities for the future?

See the Grian conference web page for a full list of panels, participants, and talks. Registration required at the door or on the Grian website at irelandhouse.fas.nyu.edu/object/grian2008.html

READING : David McWilliams

PARTICIPATING in an almost presidential style media blitz that will see him appear on Brian Lehrer's on NPR, ABC, CNN, MSNBC and more, celebrated economist (and gifted mimic) David McWilliams will give his new book The Pope's Children: The Irish Economic Triumph and the Rise of Ireland's New Elite the kind of send off that publishers dream of.

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