An Epic Story of the Famine Irish

Peter Quinn, the acclaimed author, talks to Mary Pat Kelly about the new edition of his groundbreaking book, "Banished Children of Eve."

A crowd of admirers awaited Peter Quinn when he came to Glucksman Ireland House, NYU on October 16th to launch Overlook Press's new edition of his award winning novel, "Banished Children of Eve," the tale of Irish-Americans in New York during the Civil War.

Many had read the much praised novel that celebrated writer William Kennedy called "terrific ... an ebullient mingling of fiction and history," and the esteemed author Thomas Flanagan judged "one of the very very best of modern historical novels."

Professor Joe Lee, Director of Ireland House, said "Banished Children of Eve" showed how a historical novel could be significant in both literature and history.

"It's a landmark book," he said. "Peter Quinn was able to blend history and literature, to transcend them into something beyond them both."

In his talk that followed, Peter Quinn blended humor and erudition to elicit both laughter and thoughtful attention from his audience. He will be speaking in various venues, so readers can consult the schedule on the Overlook Press website for the chance to hear him.

In this interview, Peter Quinn went behind-the-book to explore the process of writing "Banished Children of Eve" and his non-fiction exploration of Irish-American life, "Looking for Jimmy."

"I grew up in an Irish-American family in the Bronx, but we really didn't know that much about Ireland, and we didn't know that much about ourselves. My first ancestors came over in 1847. I had this general story of our family beginning on the Lower East Side, but I never thought of it as anything very epic. Ireland was way in the background. We were more Catholic than anything else. That's what it meant to be Irish in the Bronx: identification with your parish, your school, knowing you were Irish but not knowing much about it.

"In the sixties I was a Vista volunteer in Kansas City, an education teacher, thinking I would go live in California. It was the first time I ever turned around and said, 'I'm leaving all of this - but I don't know what it is.'

"Everything was going down in the Bronx in the '60s. People were moving, the buildings were burning down, the church was changing. And I thought, I've got to go back and find out something about it.

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