American Wake News Today

Next week Mostrim Players take to the stage with Tom Foolery at the Folly, a drama based on historic events.  

An American Wake is an experimental feature film which was shot in Bray, Co.Wicklow. The film was made as part of a challenge to see if a full length feature film could be shot in 48 hours or less. The film follows Eric, a young twenty-something in Ireland, who is about to leave all he knows behind and travel to America for work. On the day of his departure, Eric's friends pull out all the stops for him as they prepare a massive going away party and open his eyes to the girl who desperately...

What is on Corks stages this week? Jo Kerrigan tells us the highlights

A musical exploration of the plight of women at the turn of the 20th century, it explores issues including infant mortality, prejudice and alcohol abuse, creating a moving account of life in America for an Irish immigrant.

JFKs NIECE will give a fresh insight into their family ties to Limerick at the inaugural Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Autumn School this month. Attendees will hear ...

The dozens of books that arrive at the Seven Days office in a year span a wide range of topics and genres. We receive critically...

BITTER, frustrated daughter Maureen Foley (Sarah Madigan) and age-decrepit mother Mags (Marion O’Dwyer) have grown to hate each other.

New Books by NER Authors Spring continues to be a busy season for NER authors — particularly our poets! Kerrin McCadden released American Wake (Black Sparrow Press), a book of poetry that explores the author’s Irish identity as well as “family, death and grief, apologies, and all manner of departures.” McCadden’s poem, “The Magpie: A Key” was published in Four-Legged Girl, recently published frank: sonnets(Graywolf Press). This candid collection of sonnets chronicles “a life...

As my sophomore year of high school began in 1960, the country was buzzing with the coming election. An Irish American was running for president! My Irish relatives rallied to the call and even my Italian family members supported the candidate. He might be Irish but he was Catholic too! When John F. Kennedy’s campaign came to Philadelphia, my father was one of the official photographers. Proudly, I accompanied him to the events and watched as he took pictures of the man who would become the 3...

What does the Irish term “American wake” mean? As the name suggests, an American wake is quite similar to a funeral wake, except for one key difference; the person being waked is still alive.  Facebook Comments An American wake has been synonymous with Irish emigration to the United States for over a century, but what exactly does it mean?  As the name suggests, an American wake is quite similar to a funeral wake, except for one key difference; the person being waked is ...