Photos by Dan Brown
The two Irish American Writers & Artists salons in December showcased the range of vibrant talent our members and guests bring to our events. The first was on December 3rd at the Thalia Studio, beneath Symphony Space, and the second, on December 17th at the cell, was our annual Christmas Party and salon.
In the final Salon of 2019, we had more Christmas celebrating, and marked two significant events for IAW&A: President Mary Pat Kelly’s and Salon Producer John Kearns’ ending their tenures on the Board. We celebrated them with tributes and gifts, and sincere appreciation for their roles in the success and growth of our organization and of our Salons.
IAW&A members are familiar with their many talents and accomplishments, so we’d like to highlight just one or two here: Mary Pat, a founding Board member of IAW&A, and our first woman President, presided over our tremendously successful Eugene O’Neill Award honoring Peter Quinn. John has helmed the Salons for seven years, while also serving as IAW&A Treasurer. We’re grateful for their contributions and anticipate seeing more of their creative works at Salons and in our community.
To Mary Pat and John — MÍLLE BUÍOCHAS!
William Leo Coakley’s poem celebrated our chief “Ringer of Joy” — Malachy McCourt. (William reports that he’s on the shortlist again for the Irish Times’s New Irish Writing Prize for 2020.)
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Among the literary offerings, novelist Remy Roussetzki shared a piece of memoir, “The Drifter, about his good luck in finding an apartment on Riverside Drive. Larry Kirwan read from his novel in progress, about a NYPD family in the Rockaways who lost a son on 9/11 and performed a capella “Jesus Was A Working Man.”
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Elisabeth Ness, Michael Whitney and John Kearns
