A day in pictures with Colm Tóibín, Séamus Blake, Peter Quinn, and Maura Mulligan

By: Brendan Patrick Keane | Published Friday, February 19, 2010, 1:55 PM | Updated Friday, September 9, 2011, 9:31 PM

I had a wonderful day yesterday. Firstly, I visited with Séamus Blake, the host of WFUV's Míle Fáilte, and then I attended Colm Tóibín's book signing for Brooklyn at Ireland House. My meeting with Séamus was transformative and informative--what a great mind. He is a highly respected scholar of Irish literature, and it was a conversation I can not wait to continue. I'll be writing about my interview with him in the coming days. Afterwards, I ran over to Colm Tóibín's book signing when my friend Jane Kelton alerted me to it. I've read many of Tóibín's essays, his novel Blackwater Lightship and I've listened to the audio book for The Master. I don't know how I haven't read Mothers & Sons yet. I will be writing more about his funny and eventful talk next week. I didn't have a chance to meet Peter Quinn last night, but I have heard him speak, and we once had an exciting moment at the talk he gave with Pete Hamil and others on Tammany Hall, where there was some controversy about the moderator's interpretation of the analysis being offered. Peter Quinn is of course the author of Banished Children of Eve, a very important book in the canon of Irish American literature, and a book called Hour of the Cat, I have yet to read. Maura Mulligan was at the book signing too. She's an exceptional teacher and writer, who has finished a book. I look forward to reading it. Fine fine day.