I have recently returned from a trip to Mitchelstown, Co, Cork, and took Learning to be Irish with me.
I took my book for a trip to The Vee mountain pass, to Mt Melleray, where the abbey has recently been vacated by a diminishing number of ageing monks, and on to Cobh, where we visited the Heritage Museum, which has an exhibition about migration from Ireland. It was a wonderful trip, on which I reconnected with my roots. I was listening to Jackie Kay on This Cultural Life recently, and she talked of finding an ‘affinity with the landscape’ when she visited Nigeria, after she found her birth father. I can identify with this.
You can read more about my trip, alongside 150 Canadians commemorating 200 years since the Peter Robinson settlers migrated from small towns in Ireland like Mitchelstown to Ontario. on Substack.
‘a fascinating exploration of culture and identity’
The Frogmore Papers reviews Learning to be Irish in Issue 106, Autumn 2025:
Maria McCarthy’s account of ‘learning to be Irish’ as a child of Irish migrants, born in England, takes many forms in this entertaining and consistently engaging collection, which comprises fiction, memoir and poetry. Learning to be Irish is a fascinating exploration of culture and identity and the connexions between them, and McCarthy writes with unfailing honesty and admirable candour. Her ‘Mitchelstown’ sequence of poems concludes: I’m Irish with an English voice,/English with an Irish heart,/floating forever between Holyhead an Dun Laoghaire…
Jeremy Page
Medway River Lit events
The fabulous River Lit Festival will be returning this November, and I am taking part in two events to promote my new book, Learning to be Irish.
The first is an author talk, alongside Medway artist Simon Mills, on 8 November 2025, 1.00 – 3.30 at Rochester Library, Eastgate, Rochester.
Events are on a pay what you can basis. You can reserve a place here.
The second event is an Author Fair on 29 November 2025, 11.30 – 2.30, at Nucleus Arts, Chatham. More details here.
