The Emigration Story: Irish America in the 1950s

In John Banville’s Christine Falls, while most of the action takes place in the gloomy streets of 1950s Dublin, it intersects with a parallel storyline set in Boston. What does that tell us about the post-war Irish-American experience? What were Irish-American perceptions of the ‘old country’—and vice versa? To discuss these and related questions, join Tommy Graham (History Ireland) in discussion with Dan Mulhall (former Irish Ambassador to the US), Bernadette Whelan (University of Limerick) and Michael Kennedy (Documents on Irish Foreign Policy).

Tommy Graham is a founder (1993) and editor of History Ireland magazine and convener of its lively Hedge Schools, an ongoing series of round table discussions of historical and contemporary interest, which debuted at the Electric Picnic in 2010. Since 2012 he has lectured in history and politics at Griffith College, Dublin, and is founder (1986) and director of Historical Walking Tours of Dublin. A presenter of Newstalk’s Talking History, he’s also a regular contributor to the station’s Moncrieff Show.

Dr Michael Kennedy is the Executive Editor of the Royal Irish Academy’s Documents on Irish Foreign Policy Research Programme. For over thirty years he has researched and published widely on Irish diplomatic history, covering broad themes such as Ireland’s membership of the League of Nations and the United Nations, cross border relations in Ireland and more focussed areas including Ireland’s second world war neutrality, Ireland’s relationship with Japan, and the military and diplomatic history of Ireland’s involvement in UN peacekeeping in Congo. He regularly appears on tv and radio discussing modern Irish history, and he is an active public historian.

Daniel Mulhall has been Irish Ambassador in Berlin, London and Washington. Since his retirement in 2022, he has been Global Distinguished Professor of Irish Studies at Glucksman Ireland House, New York University, Parnell Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge, a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics, Harvard University, and a consultant on international affairs. Throughout his diplomatic career, he lectured and published extensively on Irish history and literature. His most recent publications are Ulysses: A Reader’s Odyssey (New Island Books, 2022) and Pilgrim Soul: W.B. Yeats and the Ireland of his Time (New Island Books, 2023). He contributed to The Routledge History of Irish America (2024). He is a regular media commentator, essayist and book reviewer.

Dr Bernadette Whelan is professor emeritus in the School of History and Geography, University of Limerick, Ireland. She publishes extensively on American Irish relations. Among her publications are De Valera and Roosevelt. Irish and American Diplomacy in Times of Crisis, 1932-1939 (Cambridge University Press, 2021) awarded the American Conference of Irish Studies Lawrence J. McCaffrey Prize for Books on Irish America; Co-editor, Documents on Irish Foreign Policy Volume XIV 1969-1973 (Royal Irish Academy/Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, 2025); Irish First Ladies And First Gentlemen, 1919-2011 (Cork University Press, 2024). She is completing a biography of Sinéad de Valera and engaged in a future publication on the US intelligence service and Ireland. She is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and a co-editor of Documents on Irish Foreign Policy published bi-annually by the Royal Irish Academy, Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and the National Archives of Ireland.

This event is part of this year's One Dublin One Book initiative, which aims to encourage everyone in Dublin to read a designated book connected with the capital city during the month of April every year. This year's selection is Christine Falls by John Banville. This annual project is a Dublin City Council initiative, led by Dublin City Libraries and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.

See the full 2026 programme here. 

Copies of Christine Falls (Faber) are available to borrow from all Irish public libraries in physical format and in digital format as eBooks and eAudiobooks via the Borrowbox app. 

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