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18th Jan 2018

Cillian Murphy is launching an Irish history book in Galway on Thursday

Kate Demolder

The newly-published book includes a foreword by President Michael D. Higgins.

Acclaimed Irish actor Cillian Murphy will launch a new book on politics of memory in post-independence Ireland in Galway on Thursday afternoon.

Family Histories Of The Irish Revolution, edited by Ciara Boylan, Sarah-Anne Buckley, and Pat Dolan, and published by Four Courts Press, will be launched by Peaky Blinders star, who also boasts the title of Patron of the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre on Thursday, 1 February at 5.30pm in the auditorium of the Institute for Lifecourse and Society, NUI Galway.

However, this is strictly an invite-only event, and not open to the public.

Boylan is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Child and Family Research Centre, NUIG, Buckley is a history lecturer at NUIG and Dolan holds the UNESCO Chair in Children, Youth and Civic Engagement at NUI Galway.

The book, published back in December, is compiled of stories and testimonies from both current and retired staff at NUI Galway. It aims to shed some light on the complex politics of memory in post-independence Ireland, with thorough examinations of Peadar O’Donnell, Tom Kettle and the Sheehy-Skeffingtons among others.

The book’s contributions include accounts of both nationalists and unionists; men, women, and young people; British army soldiers and Irish Volunteers; members of Cumann na mBan and the ICA.

According to the book’s blurb;

“Through very real human experiences and personal stories, it demonstrates the complex ways in which people engaged with the events of the period and the diversity of contemporary experience.

“The contributions discuss how family history and memory was imparted and aim to explore the legacy of this on succeeding generations. As such, the volume reflects the impact of the revolutionary period on the present generation from a lifecourse perspective.”

The book includes a foreword by President Michael D. Higgins on ethics and memory, and a background chapter from Professor Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh looking at gender, memory, violence, reconciliation and family history.