Scotland and the Easter Rising: Fresh Perspectives on 1916

by Willy Maley (Editor)

The story of the Rising is still being told, and in these pages the reader will find much to ponder, much to discuss, and much to disagree with. - from the Introduction by Kirsty Lusk and Willy Maley.

On Easter Monday 1916, leaders of a rebellion against British rule over Ireland proclaimed the establishment of an Irish Republic. Lasting only six days before surrender to the British, this landmark event nevertheless laid the foundations for Ireland s violent path to Independence. It is little known that James Connolly, one of the rebellion s leaders, was born in Edinburgh s Cowgate, at the time nicknamed Little Ireland, or that another key figure in the events of Easter 1916 was a young woman from Coatbridge, Margaret Skinnider. These and other surprising Scottish connections are explored in Scotland and the Easter Rising, as Kirsty Lusk and Willy Maley gather together a rich grouping of writers, journalists and academics to examine, for the first time, the Scottish dimension to the events of 1916 and its continued resonance in Scotland today.

ALLAN ARMSTRONG RICHARD BARLOW IAN BELL ALAN BISSETT JOSEPH M. BRADLEY RAY BURNETT STUART CHRISTIE HELEN CLARK MARIA-DANIELLA DICK DES DILLON PETER GEOGHEGAN PEARSE HUTCHINSON SHAUN KAVANAGH BILLY KAY PHIL KELLY AARON KELLY JAMES KELMAN KIRSTY LUSK KEVIN MCKENNA WILLY MALEY NIALL O GALLAGHER ALISON O MALLEY-YOUNGER ALAN RIACH KEVIN ROONEY MICHAEL SHAW IRVINE WELSH OWEN DUDLEY EDWARDS

Featuring a mix of memoir, essays, poetry and fiction this book provides a thought-provoking and necessary negotiation of historical and contemporary Irish-Scottish relations, and explores the Easter Rising s intersections with other movements, from Women s Suffrage to the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum."

Genres: Ireland, Nonfiction, History

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

William Timothy "Willy" Maley is a Scottish literary critic, editor, teacher and writer. He was Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Glasgow, and founder, with Philip Hobsbaum, of Glasgow's Creative Writing programme. He retired from the university in 2024. He is a Fellow of the English Association (FEA). He writes on early modern English literature from Spenser to Milton, and on modern Scottish and Irish writing.

Reviews

[Ewan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixture of academic articles, short personal essays and a couple of creative writing sections - all in, a study of something I never learned at school in the west of Scotland: the influence of Scots and Irish in each other countries in the past 100 years. Members of the same family joined rebel armies and trained police, good background for understanding the here and now, as well as the opinions and sentiments I've heard so far in my life. Like any history, it's partial but there's good writing and details that are new to me.

[Graeme · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book of essays examining various aspects of Scotland's interaction with the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916 is a very mixed bag. Highlights are Michael Shaw's essay on 'Home Rule and the Celtic Revival' and Owen Dudley Edwards' masterly afterword reflecting on the lessons of the Rising for Scotland in 2015.