15 June 2019

Irish Tales & Tunes

Orland Park Public Library

Press release for "Irish Tales & Tunes" program at the library, issued February 19, 2019.

Full Text: 

Irish Tales & Tunes with Author Mary Pat Kelly and Vocalist Catherine O’Connell at OPPL Orland Park, IL (Feb. 19, 2019) – Best-selling author Mary Pat Kelly will share tales from her newest novel, Irish Above All, with music by Catherine O’Connell on Monday, March 4 at 7 pm at the Orland Park Public Library. Kelly will read from Irish Above All, which tells the Irish American story through her own family’s saga, which is set in Chicago during the era of the Great Depression and World War II. Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event. O’Connell, one of Chicago’s favorite Irish singers, will entertain with Irish tunes and songs. Refreshments will be served including corned beef sandwiches provided by event sponsor Square Celt Ale House & Grill in Orland Park. In Irish Above All, the final novel in the trilogy of historical fiction, Chicago-born, Irish-American Nora Kelly is at last returning home after 10 years studying photography in Paris. Her skill as a photographer will help her cousin Ed Kelly in his rise to Mayor of Chicago (1933-1947). But when she captures the moment an assassin’s bullet narrowly misses President-elect Franklin Roosevelt and strikes Anton Cermak in February 1933, she enters a world of international intrigue and danger. Galway Bay, Kelly’s first book in the series, was published in 2009, and the follow-up Of Irish Blood, in 2015. She has also written nonfiction works on subjects as varied as Martin Scorsese and Air Force fighter pilot Scott O’Grady’s rescue from Bosnia. As a filmmaker and screenwriter, she has also been an associate producer with Good Morning America and Saturday Night Live. An Irish-American born and raised in Chicago, Kelly resides in New York City with her Irish husband Martin Sheerin. A graduate of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana, she received her doctoral degree in English from The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. For more information, visit orlandparklibrary.org or call 708-428-5100. The Orland Park Public Library is located at 14921 Ravinia Ave. in Orland Park. Hours are Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Caption for MPK Headshot: Mary Pat Kelly.