Renowned author and historian to lead The Friends of The Derry Walls lecture

The Friends of The Derry Walls have announced that their December lecture will be led by the renowned historian Breandán Mac Suibhne.

Mac Suibhne will be giving a lecture titled "What has happened to this house? Brian Friel and his Mother’s People" at The Minor Hall in Ulster University on Wednesday, 4 December.

The lecture will explore the lives of the actual people on whom the characters in Friel's 1990 play Dancing at Lughnasa are more or less based on to facilitate a wide-ranging discussion of the history of west Donegal.

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Mac Suibhne is a Professor of Modern Irish History at the University of Galway as well as an award-winning author with his 2017 book The End of Outrage which investigates land-grabbing and informing in the time of the Famine. 

Alongside critic Seamus Deane, Mac Suibhne was also a founding editor of the acclaimed journal of Irish studies Field Day Review. 

He also edited The Outer Edge of Ulster with historian David Dickson. Written by Hugh Dorian, a native of Fánaid who died in poverty in the Bogside in 1914, this book is considered the longest lower-class account of the Famine.

The lecture will take place on Wednesday, 4 December at 7:30pm at The Minor Hall in Ulster University in Derry.

Make sure to book your tickets for what is sure to be a fascinating talk.