2 Dawson Street – Headquarters of the Irish Volunteers

Posted on 02/03/2016 by fionaconlonmckenna

2 Dawson Street Spring 2016

It’s hard to believe that this modernised building was once headquarters of the Irish Volunteers. At one stage they had over a hundred thousand members training and drilling all around Ireland.

It was in 2 Dawson Street that at Thomas MacDonagh, Sean MacDiarmada, Padraig Pearse, Joseph Plunkett and many of their friends met and made their plans for the upcoming rebellion. The building was under constant surveillance by the police, who watched and marked down the comings and goings of the rebels.

Nellie Gifford ran her small employment bureau in a room there which Thomas MacDonagh and his fellow volunteers kindly agreed to let her use. She was determined to help young Irish men avoid being conscripted in to the British army. Nellie interviewed Michael Collins in her office in January 1916 and introduced him to Joe Plunkett, who offered Collins a job to help with the financial accounts and affairs of the Plunkett family.

It is easy to pass this building on Lower Dawson Street, across from Trinity College, without any awareness of its important place in history.

I am hoping that in time Dublin City Council will mark it with a plaque or some form of recognition.

Burke Medal and Rebel Sisters – number one bestseller

Posted on 18/02/2016 by fionaconlonmckenna

I was very honoured this month to receive the Burke Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse through the Arts from the College Historical Society (the Hist) in Trinity College Dublin.

The Hist is the world’s oldest undergraduate society, and set the model for debating societies throughout the British Isles and United States; in Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Yale.

The College Historical Society was founded in 1770 and it was there that Edmund Burke, Theobald Wolfe Tone and Robert Emmet first made steps into political debate. Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett, were all former members and medallists.

The Hist is the venue for so many important speeches and debates in Trinity College and has been addressed by Douglas Hyde, Winston Churchill, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many world renowned figures.

Previous Burke Medal recipients included writers W.B Yeats, Salman Rushdie, Jung Chang and Hilary Mantel and actor Ralph Fiennes.

Standing in Trinity College surrounded by such a history, I was very proud to receive the Edmund Burke Medal. I really enjoyed meeting and talking to the students of Trinity College and members of the Hist. I will always treasure this very special medal and honour.

There was more good news at the end of last week when I discovered that my new book, Rebel Sisters, is number one in the Original Fiction bestseller list in Ireland. Thank you so much to all my readers.

Rebel Sisters Book Launch

Posted on 08/02/2016 by fionaconlonmckenna

I was very honoured to have my book launch for my big 1916 book, Rebel Sisters, held in Dublin’s National Library on Thursday 4th February 2016.

The library is one of my favourite places and so much of the research for the book was done there, that it was very fitting. Sandra Collins, the Director of the National Library of Ireland was so generous to host the launch and made everyone feel very welcome.

Eoin McHugh, head of Transworld Ireland said more kind words. I was overwhelmed by playwright and author Frank McGuinness’s praise for the book. As Frank read a chapter from Rebel Sisters, he seemed to bring the words to life and held everyone present spellbound.

I was very privileged also that some family members of those that took part in the 1916 Easter Rising also attended.

It was such a very special night with family and friends and some of my fellow writers there too. My agent Caroline Sheldon and editor Francesca Best both came over from London to join in the celebrations.

Gathered in this wonderful, much loved building, surrounded by the National Library’s 1916 Commemoration Display, which included words and photographs of so many of the people that I have written about in the book, was strangely perfect.

I found it all very emotional as my very first book Under the Hawthorn Tree was also launched in the National Library over 25 years ago.

The celebrations and party for Rebel Sisters continued in nearby Davy Byrne’s (it is mentioned in the book).

Thanks you so much to everyone for coming along. It was a wonderful night that this grateful writer will never forget!

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About Sisterland

Posted on 14/09/2015 by fionaconlonmckenna

It was lovely to go along to the Dublin’s Writers’ Centre for the launch of Martina Devlin’s thought provoking new book About Sisterland which is set in a society that is run by women.

I met lots of writers and publishing friends.

What a great way to kick-off the autumn book season by toasting Martina’s latest work!

Maebh Ruane, Marita, Claudia Carroll and June Considine

Marita, Martina Devlin and Sarah Webb

New book – Rebel Sisters

Posted on 23/07/2015 by fionaconlonmckenna

Rebel Sisters cover I am very excited to get the stunning cover design for my new book, Rebel Sisters, from Transworld, my lovely publishers in London.

The book is set during the 1916 Rising and I have been working on it over the past few years. It will be published in late January/early February 2016.

I hope all my readers will become as engrossed in the lives of three sisters – Nellie, Muriel and Grace Gifford – and their mother Isabella as I have.

They were incredible women who lived through one of the most important periods in Irish history and were involved in Ireland’s fight for freedom from British rule.