Mary Pat Kelly

MARY PAT KELLY signs her novel, Galway Bay, based on the Irish Emigration to America — a story of an emigrant family who transforms Chicago from a frontier town to the City of the Century.

MARY PAT KELLY signs her novel, Galway Bay, based on the Irish Emigration to America — a story of an emigrant family who transforms Chicago from a frontier town to the City of the Century.

With her new novel, Galway Bay, Mary Pat Kelly tells the story of her own great-great-grandmother, who escaped from Ireland during the Great Starvation of the 1840’s and made her way to frontier Chicago. Come meet the author, who’s awed by and grateful to her “foremother” and talented enough ... (more)to bring her to life. Perfect as St. Patrick’s Day approaches!

In the spellbinding tradition of Colleen McCullough and Maeve Binchy comes a poignant historical family saga set against the backdrop of the Great Irish Starvation and the first mass Irish immigration to the United States. Following the Kelly family from a potato farm in Ireland to Chicago, Illinois, ... (more)as the city is transformed from a frontier town to the “City of the Century,” this breathtaking story of that epic journey reflects the experiences and ancestry of millions of Irish-Americans. Mary Gordon says, “…Galway Bay combines two traditional Irish gifts—the gift of hypnotic storytelling, and the gift of poetic language. It enables us the see the Irish, and Irish-American experience, in a way we would never have imagined.”

MARY PAT KELLY talks about her new novel, "Galway Bay", based on Irish Emigration to America - and the story of an emigrant family who transform Chicago from a frontier town to the City of the Century.
Cost: $26. Special Price for the 4 Book Stall Events: $100 for four. Call for reservations: 847-446-8880

(Tickets for each lecture are $8 and a reception follows each event.) This two-part series continues on Sunday, March 8 at 2pm and is called Galway Bay Stories, with author Mary Pat Kelly. Kelly is the author of the book, Galway Bay. Inspired by the story of her great-great-grandmother, filmmaker and ... (more)former Saturday Night Live producer Kelly recounts the triumphs and tragedies facing the Irish émigrés escaping the Great Starvation for the frontier town of Chicago. She will be joined by Chicago’s Celtic Diva, singer, Catherine O’Connell, who will perform songs from County Galway .

Author Mary Pat Kelley signing GALWAY BAY