October 2009 New Book on Franco-Irish Connections

His Excellency the French Ambassador, M. Yvon Roé d'Albert, has launched a new book on Franco-Irish connections in the Royal Irish Academy. Edited by Professor Jane Conroy, School of Languages, Literature and Cultures, NUI Galway, this series of essays, studies and other contributions celebrates Pierre Joannon who is well known as one of the main mediators of knowledge of Irish matters in France and co-founder of Études Irlandaises, the most respected scholarly journal of Irish studies there. According to one commentator "This is a superbly edited series of stellar contributions in honour of one man to whom the whole island of Ireland deserves an enormous debt of gratitude". The contributors to Franco-Irish Connection Essays, memoirs and poems in honour of Pierre Joannon include: Kingsley Aikins (CEO, The Ireland Funds); Professsor Tom Bartlett (University of Aberdeen); John Bruton (former Taoiseach); Professor Jane Conroy (School of Languages, Literature and Cultures, NUI Galway); Denis Corboy (Director, Caucasus Policy Institute); Professor Emeritus Louis Cullen (TCD); Michel Deon (Académie Française); Sean Donlon (Former Irish Ambassador to US); Garret FitzGerald (former Taoiseach); Jacqueline Genet (Honorary President, Caen University); Frederic Grasset (former French Ambassador to Ireland); Alice Harrison; Maurice Hayes (Chairman, National Forum on Europe); Seamus Heaney (poet, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature); John Hume (politician, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize); Professor Richard Kearney (Boston College); Brendan Kennelly (poet); Professor Dermot Keogh (UCC); Sylvie Kleinman (TCD); Louis le Brocquy (painter); Professor J.J. Lee (NYU); Michael Lillis; Anne Madden (artist—one of whose oil paintings forms the cover); Jane McKee (University of Ulster); Lara Marlowe (former Paris correspondent for the Irish Times); John Montague (poet); Professor Grace Neville (UCC); Senator David Norris; Patrick O Connor (former Irish Ambassador to France); Professor Eunan O Halpin (TCD); Seamus Smith (former Irish film censor); Professor Ben Tonra (UCD); Professor Kevin Whelan (University of Notre Dame); and C. J. Woods (historian). The book is published by Four Courts Press. -ends-