Happy St. Patrick's Day from Overlook!

It's Irish Book Day! We’re a proud sponsor of Irish Book Day in New York again this year, a city-wide celebration of Irish books hosted by our friends at the Irish Arts Center. This year we are offering lucky readers a hard-boiled Irish-American crime caper from the bestselling pen of Eoin Colfer, pride of County Wexford and author of the Artemis Fowl books for young adults. Plugged is decidedly NOT for young adults, and we nominate Eoin as Irishman of the Year for the most creative and humorous use of profanity in a novel. If you loved Plugged, get ready for the continuing adventures of Daniel McEvoy in Screwed, coming in 2013. Pictured here is NYC Council Member Diana Reyner with a lucky reader!

And with St. Patrick's Day tomorrow, we must also raise a glass to our friend Peter Quinn - historian, essayist, novelist and raconteur – who Irish America magazine calls one of the most influential Irish-Americans in the country. Quinn, a Bronx native, is the co-founder and past president of the Irish American Writers and Artists, Inc., and last week served as Grand Marshall of the 2012 St. Pat’s for All Parade in Sunnyside/Woodside, Queens. Overlook is the proud publisher of all of Peter Quinn’s books: the award-winning Banished Children of Eve, the acclaimed collection of essays Looking for Jimmy, and his two brilliant novels featuring the Irish-American sleuth, Fintan Dunne.

One of the biggest books of last season was Deadline Artists, an anthology of America’s greatest newspaper columns. This marvelous collection includes contributions from many Irish-American writers and journalists: Jimmy Breslin, Pete Hamill, Maureen Dowd, Jim Murray, and many more.

In October 2012, Overlook will publish another extraordinary new book of Irish-American interest: Circles Around the Sun by Molly McCloskey. Born and raised in America, Molly has spent the last 20 years in Ireland, where she published two acclaimed short story collections, a novel, and most recently a memoir, that will mark her first American publication. Circles Around the Sun is a poignant investigation of mental illness and a work of extraordinary intensity, as Molly pieces together her family history and her older brother's battle with schizophrenia, her own life in Ireland begins to unravel.

"Every once in a while, a writer's voice hits such a clear note, the resulting book has the kind of sweetness that makes you hold it in your hands a moment before finding a place for it on your shelves. Circles Around the Sun is this kind of book: it's a keeper." - Anne Enright, Guardian

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig!

Meet Peter Quinn, Author of THE MAN WHO NEVER RETURNED, at Book Expo America on May 26

Attention BEA Attendees! Peter Quinn, author of the forthcoming novel The Man Who Never Returned, will autograph advance reading copies on Wednesday, May 26, 1pm, at the BEA Autographing Area, Table 9.

Novelist, political historian, and foremost chronicler of New York City, Peter Quinn is the author of Banished Children of Eve, Hour of the Cat, and a collection of essays, Looking for Jimmy: In Search of Irish America.

Quinn co-wrote the script for the 1987 television documentary “McSorley’s New York,” which was awarded a New York-area Emmy for “Outstanding Historical Programming.” He has participated as a guest commentator in several PBS documentaries, including “The Irish in America;” “New York: A Documentary Film;” “The Life and Times of Stephen Foster,” as well as the Academy Award-nominated film, “The Passion of Sister Rose.” He was an advisor on Martin Scorcese’s film “Gangs of New York.” He helped conceive and script the six-part documentary “The Road to the White House,” which aired on TG4, in Ireland, in 2009.

Along with his book writing, Quinn was the editor of The Recorder: The Journal of the American Irish Historical Society from 1986 to 1993. He has published articles and reviews in The New York Times, Commonweal, America, American Heritage, The Catholic Historical Review, The Philadelphia Enquirer, The L.A. Times, Eiré-Ireland, and in numerous other newspapers and journals. At present, Quinn is on the advisory boards of the American Irish Historical Society, NYU’s Glucksman Ireland House, the Tenement Museum and the New York City Landmark Conservancy.

In 1979, Quinn was appointed to the staff of Governor Hugh Carey as chief speechwriter. He continued in that role under Governor Mario Cuomo, helping craft the Governor’s 1984 Democratic Convention speech and his address on religion and politics at Notre Dame University.

Peter Quinn joined Time Inc. as the chief speechwriter in 1985 and retired as corporate editorial director for Time Warner at the end of 2007. He received a B.A. from Manhattan College in 1969, an M.A. in history from Fordham University in 1974 and completed all the requirements for a doctorate except the dissertation. He was awarded a Ph.D., honoris causa, by Manhattan College in 2002.

Peter Quinn's classic novel of Civil War New York, BANISHED CHILDREN OF EVE, Read at the Irish Repertory Theater in NYC

Tomorrow, June 5, the Irish Repertory Theater in New York will stage a reading of playwright Kelly Younger's adaptation of Peter Quinn's Banished Children of Eve, available in paperback from Overlook.

Directed by Ciaran O'Reilly, the reading of Banished Children of Eve will be presented as the culmination of a two-day developmental workshop. The play will be read by Fred Applegate (Happiness, Young Frankenstein), David Wilson Barnes (Becky Shaw, The Lieutenant of Inishmore), Muiris Crowley (The Yeats Project), Mark Hartman* (Avenue Q, Finian's Rainbow), Michelle Hurst ("SherryBaby," The Story), Nicola Murphy (The Yeats Project), Aaron Shaw ("In Treatment") and Tracie Thoms* (10 Things To Do Before I Die, Rent).

Set in New York City during the Civil War years, Banished Children of Eve echoes with Stephen Foster songs and the disparate voices of immigrants, minstrel actors, hucksters, and domestic servants whose lives all intersect. As tensions surrounding emigration, war, and racial strife reach a flashpoint and rush toward the fatal Draft Riots, the characters are drawn together in a net of violence and fear, longing and hope.

The reading is open to public. Friday, June 5, 3pm, Irish Repertory Theater, 132 West 22nd Street, New York.

Peter Quinn and Mick Moloney Pay Tribute to Danny Cassidy on March 3 in NYC

Overlook author Peter Quinn, author of Looking for Jimmy: A Search for Irish America, and legendary musician Mick Moloney salute the late pioneering wordsmith, Danny Cassidy (pictured above), with a night of music and memories on Tuesday, March 3, at 6:30pm at Lolita in New York City. Special guests include T.J. English, Malachy McCourt and Michael Patrick McDonald. This event is sponsored by the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

This very special evening pays tribute to the life of Danny Cassidy, musician, labor activist, writer, and author of the groundbreaking How the Irish Invented Slang: The Secret Language of the Crossroads.

Peter Quinn's Letter to President Barack Obama in America Magazine

Peter Quinn, author of Looking for Jimmy, Banished Children of Eve, and Hour of the Cat, offers an open letter to President Barack Obama in the current issue of America magazine:

"I have not had higher hopes or greater expectations for any president since John F. Kennedy. You are every bit as intelligent, articulate and capable as he was. You seem wonderfully agreeable and genuinely decent. Your call for a new era of bipartisanship is admirable. You have set out an ambitious agenda that includes rescuing the economy, undoing the free-market idolatry that resulted in ruinous deregulation, reversing arrogant and self-defeating unilateralism in the conduct of foreign affairs, repairing the decades-long neglect of our infrastructure, instituting sane, long-range environmental protections and achieving universal health care. But do not be deceived. Great presidents must take on powerful enemies as well as tackle great crises. Lincoln had the Copperheads. Franklin D. Roosevelt had the "economic royalists.'' You will have yours, too. Sooner or later, as day follows night, the diehards will set out to frustrate any process of significant change. Be resolute. Be tough. Stick to your beliefs. Markets were made for man, not the other way around. Free enterprise is a guide, not a god. The world is now and forever interdependent. No country or society can go it alone. The environment is our home; it is not for sale. The poor will be with us always; and as always, the poorest and most vulnerable will need our help. With malice toward none, Mr. President, but with firmness to do what is right, remember you cannot make everyone a friend. Partisanship is not pleasant. But there are times when it is necessary. Sometimes a measure of a president's success is the vehemence of the enemies he makes.

-PETER QUINN, a novelist and essayist, was the speech-writer for two New York governors.

More Praise for Peter Quinn's BANISHED CHILDREN OF EVE

Peter Quinn's novel Banished Children of Eve is praised in this week's Irish Voice: "As the year 1863 builds toward the draft riots in New York City, the characters in author Peter Quinn's celebrated historical novel (now in a recently released paperback reprinting) are drawn together in a maelstrom of conflict and violence. Mayhem erupts when the Union Conscription Act provides that all able-bodied males between the ages of 20 and 45 are liable for militaiy service, unless they pay the government $300 to be excused. Not surprisingly, this blatantly discriminatory, get out of the service if you can afford it legislation provoked nationwide disturbances that were most serious in New York City, where the mainly Irish mobs rioted for four days. Quinn's book ranks as one of the best historical novels of recent years, an unrivalled feat of scholarship and literary prowess." - Cahir O'Doherty

Peter Quinn Talks About BANISHED CHILDREN OF EVE at Tenement Museum in New York on October 16

Peter Quinn, author of Looking for Jimmy and Hour of the Cat, discusses his novel Banished Children of Eve at New York's Lower East Tenement Museum tonight at 6:30pm. Newly released in paperback, this critically acclaimed novel explores life amongst the Irish during the Civil War, a time when this was “the most Irish of cities in America.” The Philadelphia Inquirer called Banished Children of Eve "vividly imagined, scrupulously researched, and almost disorienting in its authenticity . . . a historical classic that is nothing short of splendid."

Meet Peter Quinn, author of LOOKING FOR JIMMY and BANISHED CHILDREN OF EVE, at Upcoming NY Area Events

Join Peter Quinn and a stellar cast of Irish American writers and artists next week in New York for an evening in tribute to Danny Cassidy, Irish-American musician, teacher, labor activist and author of How the Irish Invented Slang. The event will be held on Thursday, September 25, 7pm, at The Donaghy Theatre in Manhattan.

Peter Quinn will also give four New York area readings this Fall in support of the paperback release of Banished Children of Eve, his acclaimed novel of Civil War New York. The author will appear at the beloved Rocky Sullivan's in Brooklyn on October 8, Glucksman Ireland House on October 9, Lower East Side Tenement Museum on October 16, and Garden City Library on Long Island on November 11. And the best part is: Quinn promises to buy Jameson for anyone who whispers "Winged Elephant" in his ear at any of these events!

Peter Quinn Speaks Out on the Irish in America

Peter Quinn, novelist, historian, and Irish-American raconteur, is back from the Virginia Festival of Books and Villanova University, where he spoke about his book Looking for Jimmy: A Search for Irish America. Listen to a podcast of Peter's comments in Charlottesville, and read about his recent events with Daniel Cassidy and T.J. English. Quinn's acclaimed novel of Civil War New York, Banished Children of Eve, will be published in paperback by Overlook this summer.

Reading Green for St. Patrick's Day Weekend

It's St. Patrick's Day weekend for the Irish, and what better to way to celebrate than with Diarmaid Ferriter's magisterial study The Transformation of Ireland, now available in a new paperback edition. This indispensable guide to modern Ireland chronicles both the political history of the country and the social reaction to the events that shaped that century. Ferriter (coauthor, The Irish Famine), is lecturer in history at St. Patrick's College, Dublin City University. . . And this week's St. Patrick's Day edition of the Irish Echo includes a two-page excerpt from Peter Quinn's Looking for Jimmy: A Search for Irish America. Peter Quinn will spend March 17 in Albany, NY, where he will appear with Daniel Cassidy at a forum of Irish American Writers.

Meet Peter Quinn, author of LOOKING FOR JIMMY: A Search for Irish America

Peter Quinn, author of Looking for Jimmy, Hour of the Cat, and Banished Children of Eve, hits the road this Spring to talk about the Irish-American experience at these events and venues:

March 2: Irish Heritage Center in Chicago
March 17: New York State Writers Center in Albany, NY
March 24: Lower East Side Tenement Museum, NY
March 26: Virginia Festival of the Book, Charlottsville,VA
April 2: Villanova Irish Festival, Philadelphia
April 17: Global Irish Conference at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa

Peter Quinn to Appear at the Icons Festival 2007 August 10-12

Meet Overlook's own gentleman & scholar Peter Quinn as he presents Looking for Jimmy at this summer's Icons Festival in Canton, MA 8/10:

Irish Connections is a festival of Irish culture that has been celebrated annually in various forms, under the auspices of the Irish Cultural Centre of New England, since 1990. In 2004, its location moved from Stonehill College to the organization’s own impressive and growing campus in Canton, MA just 25 minutes south of Boston.

2007 will mark a re-launch and re-design of the Festival to reflect the new cultural directions of Ireland and its Diaspora. After centuries of economic difficulty and emigration, Ireland, in these early years of the 21st century, finds itself one of the most prosperous countries in the world, socially forward-thinking and increasingly diverse. This festival will celebrate the old and the new, traditional and contemporary, classic with avant-garde, how music is enjoyed in Ireland and how it is enjoyed throughout the world in the Irish style: friendly, welcoming, adventurous and spirited.

LOOKING FOR JIMMY in the NEW YORK TIMES & THE WASHINGTON POST

Excellent reviews in yesterday’s New York Times and Washington Post for Peter Quinn's Looking for Jimmy:

“Looking for Jimmy: A Search for Irish America” (Overlook, $26.95), a collection of charming essays by Peter Quinn, a former speechwriter for Governors Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo, serves as a timely reminder that controversy over immigration exists very much as part of a continuum.

"This exceptionally thoughtful and interesting inquiry into Irish America, Peter Quinn writes, "is tentative, subjective and personal." Though it reaches certain broad judgments and conclusions about the Irish American experience, and though it draws heavily on the work of others who have written about that endlessly interesting subject, its primary source is Quinn and his family..."

Peter Quinn's LOOKING FOR JIMMY

Check out the great piece in this week's IRISH VOICE on Peter Quinn's LOOKING FOR JIMMY. "A historian and a novelist with a poet's eye for metaphor, Quinn's particularly Irish blend of private humor and public history illuminate a tale of a race with such lucidity and joy in the making that it is certain this book is that rare thing, a scholarly work destined for both the best-selling lists and the academies....Looking for Jimmy is a classic in the making." Cheers!

Pete Hamill's blurb for Peter Quinn's LOOKING FOR JIMMY

Pete Hamill sent us this great blurb for Peter Quinn's forthcoming LOOKING FOR JIMMY:

"This collection of Peter Quinn’s essays is a wonderful addition to the story of the Irish in America. Everything is here: the struggle against Know Nothing hostility, the willed amnesia about the bitter Irish past, the belief in hard work, along with the consolations of faith and politics and laughter. The essays are often as personal as memoir and objective as history. They teem with deep, surprising insights. And there is one additional value to this immensely valuable book: it can help the millions of New Immigrants to learn the lessons of the Irish. Everything that is now happening to them happened first to the Irish. Peter Quinn never has to make that point. But it’s on every page of his superb book."

Cheers! This, to go with the blurb by Frank McCourt:

"Though the author may be surprised to know it, Looking for Jimmy is a book about love. It sings from every page. love of family, love of Ireland, of America, of the craziness of the human race in general. And then, inevitable in a Quinn book, there is writing so tart, so poetic, so buoyant, you will claw yourself with envy. You don't have to be Irish or Irish-American to love this book. Whoever you are, you are in it. This is the kind of book you will want to bestow on anyone with, or without, a hyphen in their history."

Look for LOOKING FOR JIMMY in February 2007! Just around the corner!

Peter Quinn profile on the AP wires

The Associated Press has a wonderful profile of Peter Quinn, author of Hour of the Cat (just out in paperback), The Banished Children of Eve, and coming up in February 2007, a collection of essays titled Looking for Jimmy: A Search for Irish America.

The profile covers Quinn's preference of longhand and legal pad over typewriters or computers when it comes to writing his books, his deep love for New York history (Martin Scorcese used him as an adviser for "Gangs of New York," and he appears in Ken Burns' excellent PBS documentary miniseries, New York), as well as his earlier career as a speechwriter for New York governors Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo.

You can check out the full text over at Newsday: Book Award Winner Peter Quinn Does Things the Old Fashioned Way.