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2011 - 8th ANNUAL CROSSROADS IRISH-AMERICAN FESTIVAL
CELEBRATES ITS SUCCESS
The 8th Annual Crossroads Irish-American Festival – March 4-25, 2011 - was a tremendous success as we hosted an unprecedented lineup of events over a 21-day period. We proudly hosted eleven remarkable events showcasing an astoundingly broad array of voices from literature, music, dance, theater, and spoken word. These voices ranged from internationally award-winning musicians to those of men and women from our own local communities! It featured Irish-American literature and oral history as our particular focus.
Please view the five-minute video below that demonstrates the breadth and depth of the 8th Annual Crossroads Irish-American Festival.
In this unprecedented lineup of events, we highlighted oral history alongside the Irish-American literary tradition because we understand that the oral tradition is a foundation of Irish-American cultural expression. Through the events of this year's Festival, we aimed to explore the unique arc of Irish-American literary history, and the link between the oral tradition and the written word. In addition, we were pleased to bring forward the voices of men and women who have participated in the newly launched Crossroads Irish Oral History Archive of the San Francisco Bay Area.
FRIDAY, MARCH 4th
OPENING NIGHT
Liz Carroll in Solo Concert
Grammy nominated fiddler and composer, Liz Carroll, opens the Crossroads Irish-American Festival with a rare solo appearance. Liz, a well-respected composer celebrated for invigorating the traditional styles of Irish music, is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Irish Traditional Musician of the Year award and a National Heritage Award. Her most recent album, Double Play, was nominated for a Grammy in 2010.
In addition to these accolades, Liz Carroll has won the TG4 "Traditional Composer of the Year Award" for 2011. She is the first Irish-American to receive this honor.
Cost: $18/advance or $20/door.
Advance Tickets Available at The Plough & Stars or click here to buy tickets online.
Time: 8:00 PM
Location: The Plough and the Stars Pub, 116 Clement Street @ 2nd Avenue, San Francisco.
MUNI: Bus Lines 2, 44, 38, 33
SATURDAY, MARCH 5th
IRISH AMERICAN LITERATURE AND ORAL HISTORY
The Crossroads Irish-American Festival gratefully acknowledges the generous underwriting sponsorship for events at the Main Public Library by
Ranger Pipelines, Inc. of San Francisco.
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Children's Hour with Celtic Harp and Irish Dancers
Patrick Ball, a premiere Celtic harp player and captivating storyteller in the Celtic tradition, tells tales with a rhythmic charm that serves up a feast for the mind of children. As an accompaniment to these tales, Patrick plays the Celtic harp and offers the children an introduction to this rare, legendary instrument, its music, its playing technique and its place in Irish culture and folklore.
The Murphy Irish Dancers will also perform jigs, reels, and other high-kicking dance steps!
Time: 11:30 AM -12:30pm
Location: Fisher Children's Center, Main Public Library, 100 Larkin Street @ Grove, San Francisco.
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Imagining Irish America: 250 Years of Literature and Counting
Special thanks for support from the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.
Time: 1:00 - 4:00 PM
Location: Koret Auditorium, Main Public Library, 100 Larkin Street @ Grove, San Francisco.
Event Times:
*1:00 - 1:30 PM
Musical Interlude - Enjoy traditional Irish music performed by Autumn Rhodes playing flute and concertina and Darcy Noonan playing fiddle.
*1:30 - 4:00 PM
Imagining Irish America: 250 Years of Literature and Counting.
This gathering of leading voices in Irish-American literature will explore the enduring history and contemporary impact of Irish-American literature, including readings from their most recent works.
Charles Fanning writes that an Irish-American voice can first be found in a broadside that appeared on the streets of New York in 1789. Wave upon wave of immigration from Ireland has continually influenced the literary voice of the Irish in America, always reflecting the energy of the newest arrivals as well as their efforts to adapt to this new land. Please join us for a lively conversation about the past and present importance of the Irish-American literary tradition.
- Charles Fanning, author of the Irish Voice in America: 250 Years of Irish-American Fiction and Mapping Norwood: An Irish-American Memoir.
- Kathleen Hill, author of the novels, Who Occupies This House and Still Waters in Niger.
- Caledonia Kearns, editor of Cabbage and Bones: An Anthology of Irish-American Women's Fiction and Motherland: Writings by Irish-American Women about Mothers and Daughters.
 
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Parking: Civic Center Garage, 355 McAllister Street, San Francisco
MUNI: Underground: Civic Center, F Line and Market Street Buses
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SATURDAY, MARCH 5th - 8:00pm
Liz Carroll in Concert with Jake Charron
Grammy nominated fiddler and composer, Liz Carroll, in concert with Jake Charron, one of Canada’s finest accompanists for fiddle music.
Cost: $18/advance or $20/door.
Advance Tickets Available at The Plough & Stars or click here to buy tickets online
Time: 8:00 PM
Location: The Plough and the Stars Pub, 116 Clement Street @ 2nd Avenue, San Francisco.
MUNI: Bus Lines 2, 44, 38, 33
TUESDAY, MARCH 8th
A Reading and Conversation with Julian Gough
In his West Coast premiere, Julian Gough, born in London, raised in Ireland, and living in Berlin, will read from his most recent book, Jude: Level 1 (2008), part of a hugely ambitious attempt to write the funniest serious novel of the new millennium. This reading will also explore how the arrival of a multicultural perspective in Ireland and Europe resembles the American experience. We will invite discussion as to how this recognition affects the definition of Irish-American experience.
This event will be moderated by the celebrated author, Yiyun Li, whose works of fiction have garnered such prizes as the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the PEN/Hemingway Award, among many others. She was also named a MacArthur Foundation fellow in 2010.
Crossroads 2011 is proud to host this event, which is supported by Imagine Ireland, an initiative of Culture Ireland, and by A Public Space, an independent magazine giving voice to the twenty-first century.
 
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: The United Irish Cultural Center, St. Francis Room, 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco.
MUNI: Underground: L Taraval and Bus Lines 23 and 18
SUNDAY, MARCH 13th
Making it Home: Irish Immigrants of the 1950's
Join us as we honor and celebrate the voices and contributions of the 1950s generation of Irish immigrants to the San Francisco Bay Area. In this event, individuals from the Crossroads Irish Oral History Archive Project of the San Francisco Bay Area will tell their stories, in their own words. To learn more about the Oral History Archive Project, please go to: San Francisco Irish
Oral History Archive Project.
Time: 2:00 - 4:00 PM
Location: The United Irish Cultural Center, St. Francis Room, 2700 45th Avenue, San Francisco.
MUNI: Underground: L Taraval and Bus Lines 23 and 18
TUESDAY, MARCH 15th
First Annual Irish-American Writing Contest Award & Reading
Crossroads 2011 is proud to present the winners of the First Annual Irish-American Writing Contest in Memoir. The aim of this contest is to support and develop the voices of Irish-American writing.
This event celebrates the winners of the Memoir contest and provides an "open mic" opportunity for writers in the community to read from their memoirs (time limited, five minutes per person) about the meaning of an Irish-American heritage. We especially welcome all individuals who submitted their work of memoir to the contest to join us!
Click here and send us an email to let us know that you wish to participate in this special event by reading from you work. All are welcome and it is not necessary to RSVP in order to read at this event. However, for the purposes of planning, it will be helpful to have an estimated number of people who wish to read. All readers will be limited to five (5) minutes.
To know more about the winners of the First Annual Crossroads Irish-American Writing Contest and future contests please click here.
A special thanks to our review panel:
Michael Patrick MacDonald, author, All Souls: A family Story From Southie and Easter Rising: A Memoir of Roots and Rebellion.
Patricia Monaghan, author, Red-Haired Girl From The Bog: The Landscape of Celtic Myth and Spirit.
James Silas Rogers, editor, New Hibernia Review: A Quarterly Record of Irish Studies.
Maureen Waters, author, Crossing Highbridge: A Memoir of Irish America.
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: St. Patrick’s Church, McKenna Hall, 756 Mission Street @ 3rd Street, San Francisco.
MUNI: Bus lines 14, 27, 30, 45, 76
BART: New Montgomery Station
PARKING: Jessie Square Garage, 223 Stevenson Street (btw 3rd & 4th Sts) and 5th and Mission Garage, Mission Street
THURSDAY, MARCH 17th
Poetry Reading and St. Patrick's Day Celebration!
Join us for a night of poetry and Irish hospitality to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! Crossroads 2011 is proud to host a reading of some of the Bay Area's finest poets.
Gillian Conoley is a Pushcart Prize-winning poet and the Poet-in-Residence and Associate Professor at Sonoma State University. Conoley is the author of four poetry collections, including the highly praised Some Gangster Pain and Tall Strange.
Kathleen Lynch
Kathleen Lynch's collection Hinge (2006) won the Black Zinnias Press National Poetry Book Competition. Her numerous award-winning chapbooks include Alterations of Rising and Kathleen Lynch - Greatest Hits. Her work (fiction and poetry) appears in several anthologies, including The Next River Over— A Collection of Irish American Writing (New Rivers Press).
Gwynn O'Gara is Sonoma County's sixth poet laureate (2010 - 2011) and is a teacher for California Poets in the Schools. She is the author of three chapbooks of poetry, Winter at Green Haven, Fixer Upper, and Snake Woman Poems. Gwynn is a lifetime poet.
Host: Katherine Hastings is the author of Fog & Light, Updraft, and Sidhe. She is the founder of the WordTemple Poetry Series in Sonoma County and the host of radio show WordTemple on the NPR affiliate, KRCB-FM. www.wordtemple.com
 
 
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: BookShop West Portal, 80 West Portal Avenue @ Vicente Street, San Francisco.
MUNI: Underground: K, L, M and Bus lines 48, 17
SATURDAY, MARCH 19th -- RAIN OR SHINE
Irish Labor History in San Francisco: A Walking Tour along the Waterfront.
Join veteran City Guide tour guide, Peter O'Driscoll, along with historian and author, Lawrence H. Shoup, for a fascinating tour illuminating the history of San Francisco's famed waterfront, with a particular focus on its Irish and Irish-American workers, leaders, and martyrs. The tour will include the sculpture dedicated to the waterfront strikers of 1934 and other historic markers along the way. The tour will end inside Rincon Center discussing the historic murals dedicated to the labor movement in San Francisco. Wear comfortable walking shoes! This event is wheel chair accessible.
MEETING TIME: 11am
TOUR LENGTH: 60-90 minutes
MEETING LOCATION: Walking Tour will meet at Hills Plaza Entrance Steps, 75 Folsom Street @ The Embarcadero, San Francisco.
MUNI: Underground: N and T
SUNDAY, MARCH 20th
Special thanks for support from the Irish Government’s Emigrant Support Programme (ESP).
Telling it at the Crossroads: Transforming Personal Stories into Theatre
Crossroads 2011 is pleased to introduce The Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble to Festival audiences. Believing that moments of our lives can be touchstones, full of power and significance, The Living Arts Playback Theatre transforms personal stories told by audience members into theatre pieces using movement, ritual, music, and spoken improvisation.
We invite you to share your stories of Irish-American heritage at this event,
which will then be transformed into theater by this remarkable ensemble. Crossroads extends a special invitation to those who emigrated from Ireland to the San Francisco Bay Area as part of the 1950's generation, and their Irish-American counterparts to share their stories at this event. This event is open to the public.
To know more about the The Living Arts Playback Theatre Ensemble click here.
Cost: $10/advance or $12/door.
Click here to buy your tickets online.
TIME: Performance: 2-4pm. Doors: 1:30 pm.
LOCATION: Delancey Street Theater, 600 The Embarcadero @ Brannan Street, San Francisco.
PARKING: Pier 32, approximately $6.00
MUNI: Underground N and T
FRIDAY, MARCH 25th
Patrick Ball in Concert at St. Patrick's Church
Come join us for a unique opportunity to hear Patrick Ball, one of the world's premiere Celtic harp players and a captivating spoken word artist, perform in concert in the sanctuary of St. Patrick's Church.
Patrick Ball is one of the premier Celtic harp players in the world.
In playing the ancient, legendary brass-strung harp of Ireland with its crystalline, bell-like voice, and in performing marvelous tales of wit and enchantment, he not only brings new life to two cherished traditions, but blends them in concert to create "a richly theatrical and hauntingly beautiful performance."
Cost: $18/advance or $20/door.
Click here to buy your tickets online
TIME: Performance: 7:00pm. Doors: 6:30 pm.
LOCATION: St. Patrick's Church, The Sanctuary, 756 Mission Street @ 3rd Street, San Francisco. (Side entrance only).
MUNI: Bus lines 14, 27, 30, 45, 76
BART: New Montgomery Station
PARKING: Jessie Square Garage, 223 Stevenson Street (btw 3rd & 4th Sts) and 5th and Mission Garage, Mission Street.
About St. Patrick's Church in San Francisco
2011 marks the 160th anniversary of the foundation of St. Patrick's Church by the Irish community in San Francisco. This year, St. Patrick's Church invites the Irish community, and those with affinity to the Irish, to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by attending the events on March 12th including 9 a.m. Mass (before the St. Patrick’s Day Parade) and the St. Patrick's Dinner Dance and Bonanza at 6:30 pm (Donation: $25). For more information, please call: (415) 421-3730 or please visit: www.spcsf.org.
All Events are free to the public unless otherwise indicated.
For more information, please call (415) 810-3774
or email info@irishamericancrossroads.org
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