Mary Burke | Lightnews

Mary M. Burke

@maryburke.bsky.social

3.3K followers 1.9K following 330 posts

"Race Politics & Irish America" (Oxford UP bit.ly/3XKj0nn) Winner: 2025 Sharon Harris Book Award. Excerpt: bit.ly/3FuH1sa Podcast: bit.ly/3ZT7pnW Juanita Casey "Horse of Selene" Afterword: bit.ly/3QTOlSo Page: https://english.uconn.edu/person/mary-burk .. more

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Mary M. Burke @maryburke.bsky.social · May 1

Thanks to @uconnhumanities.bsky.social & the Sharon Harris Award committee for this honor!

University of Connecticut Humanities Institute @uconnhumanities.bsky.social · May 1

We are honored to announce the Sharon Harris Book Award winners for 2025. The award committee has chosen Mary Burke’s *Race, Politics, and Irish America* (@oxunipress.bsky.social) and Frank Costigliola’s *Kennan: A Life Between Worlds* (@princetonupress.bsky.social). Congrats!!

The 2025 Sharon Harris Book Award | Humanities Institute

The award committee has named Mary Burke’s Race, Politics, and Irish America: A Gothic History and Frank Costigliola’s Kennan: A Life Between Worlds co-reci ...

buff.ly

Mary M. Burke @maryburke.bsky.social · 1d

www.iasil.org/2026/02/cfp-...

CFP: The Multiple Representations of the Spanish and Irish Mother in Contemporary Literature – International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures

www.iasil.org

Mary M. Burke @maryburke.bsky.social · 1d

Gorgeous poster

poster Call For Papers 7 and 8 of May 2026 University of Almeria “The Multiple Representations of the Irish and Spanish Mother in Contemporary Literature”

Mary M. Burke @maryburke.bsky.social · 2d

“Carlos thought the book was
supposed to be empty that way.” Love it!

Reposted by Mary Burke

Jonathan Edward Durham @thisone0verhere.bsky.social · 2d

Really the hardest part of writing a book is just sitting down and starting it and also finishing it and also the middle bit too

Reposted by Claire Connolly, Mary Burke

Tina Morin @drtinamorin.bsky.social · 3d

In case you didn't catch it in last Saturday's print edition, my review of Irish Romanticism: A Literary History by Claire Connolly is now up on the Irish Times website.

www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

Irish Romanticism: A Literary History by Claire Connolly – A lively tradition that still has much to teach us

Claire Connolly’s ambitious study captures well both the gradual development of Irish Romanticism and its ‘copiousness’

www.irishtimes.com

Reposted by Mary Burke

casual-friday.bsky.social @casual-friday.bsky.social · 3d

"Judge not, lest ye be judged."
—A cat, probably

Reposted by Joanna Bourke, Mary Burke

Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 3d

I don't really care much about the Olympics, but Haiti's uniforms take winterwear to epic new levels of awesomeness. The only hand-painted uniforms in the games, for a nation (to quote designer Stella Jean) 'that refuses to disappear.

hand painted uniforms, green leaves, red horse, a puffy skirt, gorgeous green head wrap. My god they are beautiful.

Reposted by Gillian Rose, Mary Burke

Dictionary of Irish Biography @dib.ie · 3d

#NewDIBLives As a geographer, Dr Anne Buttimer placed human lived experiences at the centre of geographical studies. Amongst many other honours and awards, in 2012 she won the Vautrin Lud prize, widely regarded as the discipline of geography’s equivalent of a Nobel prize. www.dib.ie/biography/bu...

Reposted by Mary Burke

Kate Costello-Sullivan @costelkh.bsky.social · 5d

Many congratulations to Molly Ferguson on her new book!

Reposted by Mary Burke

Nicholas Allen @dedalusdenaries.bsky.social · 6d

I thought I’d share the list of events I have coming up for my book, with details to be added for the Dublin launch on Tuesday 3 March. I promise that’ll be it after this. They’ll mostly be conversations, and I’d be glad to meet old friends and new. Thank you for sharing, and please do join us.

Mary M. Burke @maryburke.bsky.social · 7d

New novel set in 19th-c. Ireland sevenstories.com/books/4772-f...

Field Notes from an Extinction

Fast-paced and funny. Scientific and tender. A literary thriller featuring Auks. As if Hilary Mantel’s The Giant, O’Brien met Robinson Crusoe, here is a story of one man’s growing humanity amidst fami...

sevenstories.com

Reposted by Mary Burke

British Association for Modernist Studies (BAMS) @modernistudies.bsky.social · 7d

For the first #ModWrite Monday in February we are pleased to share #TheModernistReview58! Our first issue of 2026 celebrates the 34th Anuual International Conference on Virginia Woolf. Check it out here: modernistreviewcouk.wordpress.com/2026/02/02/t...

The Modernist Review Issue #58: 34th Annual International Virginia Woolf Conference

2 February 2026 For the first issue of 2026, we are delighted to share with you a special collection for the 34th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf. This issue contains a selection …

modernistreviewcouk.wordpress.com

Reposted by Mary Burke

Uniformbooks @uniformbooks.bsky.social · 7d

Ulysseses, 2009.

Reposted by Mary Burke

Ciara | Ciaraíoch 🎨 @ciaraioch.bsky.social · 8d

For the uninitiated, these are Irish Throwing Stars, an ancient weapon wielded by St. Brigid during the 1916 Rising, striking fear into the hearts of the British, and responsible for the eventual smiting of both Cromwell and Thatcher.

A pair of St. Brigid's crosses on a countertop, next to a mug.

#SpéirGorm #SpéirGhorm #Ireland

Reposted by Mary Burke

Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland @virtualtreasury.bsky.social · 8d

St Brigid in the landscape of Irish history.
Just four of many mentions of abbeys dedicated to St Brigid from our partner's collections.
A land dispute in 1313, surrenders under Henry VIII, and a land grant c. 1619.
#Brigid #Wexford #Meath #Tipperary
See ALT text for details.

https://www.virtualtreasury.ie/item/NAI-KB-2-5-105-6-1
National Archives Ireland
Justiciary Roll, 7 Edward II, roll 105, membrane 6 dorse.
Tipperary.
The assize came to recognise whether Patrick de Caunteton and Desiderata his wife unjustly disseised the prioress of the house of the blessed Brigid of Moylagh of her free tenement in Moylagh, and whereof she complains that they disseised her of six shillings and eight pence worth of rent with the appurtenances. And Patrick and Desiderata did not come.

https://www.virtualtreasury.ie/item/PROI-PUB-Chancery1-1127
Annual report of Deputy Keeper of Public Records.
Surrender of the abbey or monastery of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of Kilcowle, etc. including:
'Surrender of the convent, or house, of St Brigid, of Molaghe, Co Tipperary, by Johanna Powere the Abbesse, with the consent of the convent...'

https://www.virtualtreasury.ie/item/RCBL-Ms-104-1-203
Representative Church Body Library, Dublin.
Co. Meath.
Surrender of convent of St Brigid of Odder by Margaret Shylke, abbess.
'A surrender by Margaret Shylke, Abbess and the convent of St Brigid of Odder of the order of St Augustine, which with their assent and consent, with deliberate minds, certain knowledge ... of their own accord have granted up and confirmed to King Hen. 8. Defender of the Faith [etc.] ... all the abbey... precinct, church, steeple, and cemetery [and list of land holdings, rents etc.].'

https://www.virtualtreasury.ie/item/NAI-Lodge-4-78
National Archives Ireland.
Co. Wexford
Grant to Sir ADAM LOFTUS of land in Wexford and Dublin.
An extensive list of lands granted, including:
'The rectories of ... St Brigid of Tamon [Taghmon], Whitchurch.'

Reposted by Mary Burke

Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 9d

Remembering Ann Lovett who tragically died 42 years ago today after giving birth alone in a grotto in Granard.

The Statue of the Virgin at Granard Speaks -Paula Meehan

"and though she cried out to me in extremis
I did not move,
I didn’t lift a finger to help her,
I didn’t intercede with heaven

Reposted by Mary Burke

Tina Morin @drtinamorin.bsky.social · 9d

Very pleased with my first piece for the @irishtimes.com - a review of @claireconnolly.bsky.social new book, Irish Romanticism: A Literary History. Thank you @martindoyle.bsky.social for the opportunity!

Pages 20-21 of the Ticket from the Irish Times with a review of Irish Romanticism: A Literary History by Claire Connolly.

Reposted by Mary Burke

Martina Devlin @martinadevlinbooks.bsky.social · 9d

Just spotted several shelves of Ukrainian #books for adults and kids in the fabulous @ravenbooks.bsky.social

Reposted by Mary Burke

Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 9d

A detail from St. Wilfrid & St. John Berchmans, a 1927 stained glass window by the inimitable Harry Clarke. Originally in the Convent of Notre Dame, Glasgow, and now in the Stained Glass Museum, Ely.

Mary M. Burke @maryburke.bsky.social · 10d

That author has thought a lot about Shelley's looks (!)

Mary M. Burke @maryburke.bsky.social · 10d

a pity "Things Can Only Get Better" was hijacked long ago..

Mary M. Burke @maryburke.bsky.social · 10d

Jennifer Johnston fans/those who see too few statues of women in Dublin: my.uplift.ie/petitions/cl...

Celebrate Jennifer Johnston

Her family, authors of this petitition, and those who admired her tremendous body of work and passion for life would like to see her celebrated  as a woman writer, all  too neglected, and as...

my.uplift.ie

Reposted by Mary Burke

Dan Sinykin @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social · 13d

forgive me but in 2026 i might be glad if we were to give up the (para)academic habit of using parentheses to say two things at once

Reposted by Mary Burke, Carmen M. Mangion

Kristof Smeyers @kristofsmeyers.bsky.social · 13d

Hi everyone, I'm organising a conference in Leuven, 4-5 June, and you're all invited*! It's called 'Performing evil: the mediation and display of diabolic spectres 1700-2000' and here is the call for papers (get in touch if you'd like a pdf!). Please share widely!

*to submit an abstract before 21/3

CALL FOR PAPERS: PERFORMING EVIL: the mediation and display of diabolic spectres, 1700-2000'. 4 & 5 June 2026, Leuven.

This conference explores the tangled histories of supernatural, diabolic evil and all kinds of spectral apparitions in the last three centuries – Walter Scott’s ‘malignant and unhappy beings’. Specifically, it is interested in how and why ghosts, spirits and related apparitional phenomena were framed as diabolic, demonic or malign manifestations from the afterlife.

Diabolic connotations of ghosts and spirits did meaningful cultural work. They were mobilised to discredit ghost beliefs and spiritual practices, to delegitimise competing beliefs, or to invest doctrinal arguments with occult authority. They could also function as tools of scepticism and ridicule as well as triggers of wonder, fear and religiosity. Put differently, the nexus of ghosts and evil is deeply historical. And it was often articulated through performative means: in gestures and expressions of (dis)belief, in visual and textual representations, in séance rooms, on the stage and on the page. Emerging from this nexus are theatrical spirits of evil, staged, embodied, and made legible through mediation and display. In this sense, every ghost is a theatrical ghost. Through the focus on the construction and staging of diabolic spirits, this conference aims to develop a methodological framework for studying historical forms of occultism and demonology more broadly in terms of performance.

Exploring how the relationship of spectrality and evil has shifted in shape over time and across different cultures, the conference invites contributions that can consider a wide range of historical actors – clerics, mediums, ghost-hunters, debunkers, necromancers, stage
performers, eyewitnesses.

This conference aims to study cultural intersections and interactions to arrive at a more granular understanding of discursive, practical and material connections between spirits and evil. At the same time this lens zooms out, making visible broader dynamics of knowledge construction in specific historical moments. How, for instance, did hauntings and possessions shape communities and audiences? How did religious or folkloric ideas about the devil inform spectral encounters?

We hope to bring together historians, art historians, theatre and literary scholars, folklorists and anthropologists from every stage in their career around the above questions. We welcome 20-minute papers on topics that include but are by no means limited to:
- making spectral evil visible: performance, arts, media, technologies, popular cultures
- making spectral evil invisible: popular and occult knowledge circulation
- performing (un)belief: practices and rhetoric, summoning and debunking on the stage (from popular stages to the lecture hall and the laboratory)
- materiality of spectres: the function of bodies and objects
- diabolic spirits and (intellectual, vernacular, theological, folkloric) ideas about morality, mortality and temporality
- occult performance and ‘cultural scripts’ of ghost encounters (from necromancy to poltergeists)
- affect and emotions: fear, grief, trauma… and hope

Send abstracts (c.250 words) and bios (c.100 words) to kristof.smeyers@kuleuven.be before 21 March 2026. Please do get in touch if you have any questions.

Reposted by Mary Burke

Danielle Clarke @rhetorician.bsky.social · 13d

Niche #earlymodern and #cake question. Does the term “fancy” mean a cake to you? (Mr Kipling’s French Fancies eg)? This meaning not recorded in OED. Ta.

Reposted by Mary Burke

Gráinne Blair @grainneblair.bsky.social · 13d

This cause is close to my heart - please sign: my.uplift.ie/petitions/cl... @uplift.ie

Celebrate Jennifer Johnston

Her family, authors of this petitition, and those who admired her tremendous body of work and passion for life would like to see her celebrated  as a woman writer, all  too neglected, and as...

my.uplift.ie

Reposted by Mary Burke

Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 13d

YDTM LIVE TOUR: Tickets now on sale!! Www.YoureDeadToMeLive.com

Mary M. Burke @maryburke.bsky.social · 14d

saw him on the street in Manhattan once and he was one of the most dapper men I have ever seen

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, Mary Bosworth, John Foot , and 3 more Jonathan Portes, Mary Bosworth, John Foot, Mary Burke, Michael Larkin, Vron Ware

Daniel Trilling @trillingual.bsky.social · 14d

Hello, I have a new book out in the spring with Picador and I would love it if you could help me spread the word.

IF WE TOLERATE THIS draws on years of work, to help readers understand why British politics is hurtling rightwards and what to do about it.

Pre-orders: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/if-w...

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