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‘Nora’, an excerpt, as read by its author Nuala O’Connor
This week on Trasna we are very pleased to present writer, Nuala O’Connor, reading an excerpt from her most recent novel, NORA. The eponymous Nora was, of course, Nora Barnacle, lover, wife and soulmate to writer James Joyce. In her novel O’Connor gives us Nora’s distinctive character, voice and original…
Read More »The Poetry of Chath pierSath: South Asia Globe Review
A painting by Chath pierSath One of our regular contributors, Chath pierSath of Bolton, Mass., who one time lived in Lowell and earned a master’s degree in community social psychology from UMass Lowell, is featured in a review of his latest book, ON EARTH BENEATH SKY, in the South Asia…
Read More »Paul Marion: ‘Relay to Home on Daniel’s Throw from Left Field’
That’s me taking a swing for Dracut High baseball in 1972 in a collage in one of my notebooks. That’s Yaz coming in to score for the Sox and at bottom left Gerry Cheevers kicking out a shot for the Bruins. Nice peg, Dave. Oh, man, I like…
Read More »Triple Play
David Daniel reminds us that it’s time for baseball with these memories from local sandlots: Triple Play By David Daniel Chatter Surround sound. C’um baby C’um baby No batter No batter On the mound it reaches you from behind, an infield arc of voices. Chuck hard, baby, chuck hard From…
Read More »Book ideas for spring, pt 2 – fiction by Marjorie Arons-Barron
The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons Barron’s own blog. Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips is a first novel set in the isolated Russian peninsular community of KamChatka, after the demise of the Soviet Union. It’s hard-scrabble living even in its principal city of Petropavlovsk. The story grabs…
Read More »Echoes of today’s politics in Civil War letter
Yesterday I wrote a profile of Gustavus Fox, a Lowell resident who served as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Civil War. In composing that article, I came across a letter from Montgomery Blair to Fox dated January 31, 1861. Blair, who Lincoln would appoint to his cabinet…
Read More »Lowell People: Gustavus Fox
Gustavus Vasa Fox (1821-1883) was born and raised in Massachusetts and spent much of his life in Lowell. He was a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and served as an officer in the Navy from 1841 to 1856. After his resignation from the service, he returned to Massachusetts…
Read More »‘Hope against Hope’ a Historical Novel by Sheena Wilkinson
Trasna is pleased to present a work of historical fiction, ‘Hope against Hope’ by Sheena Wilkinson. This is the third outstanding work of historical fiction by the multi-award-winning Sheena Wilkinson. It follows the fantastically successful ‘Star by Star’, which won the Children’s Books Ireland Honour Award for Fiction in 2018…
Read More »Book ideas for spring, pt. 1 – non-fiction by Marjorie Arons-Barron
The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Will in the World : How Shakespeare became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt This impeccably researched book has been called one of the best books ever about William Shakespeare. I haven’t read them all, or even most. Still, I can…
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