Author event with Colin Barr and Eugenio Biagini

Quantity

Join us in the bookshop on Thursday 15th October 2026 at 6:30pm for an evening with authors Colin Barr and Eugenio Biagini to celebrate the launch of their brand-new books, The Irish Pope and The Minority Mind. They will be joined in conversation with Professor of Irish History, Alvin Jackson.

This event is generously supported by the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish studies at University of Notre Dame.

The Irish Pope explores how Paul Cullen was characterised by his contemporaries as an 'Italian monk' or 'the deadly foe of Irish liberty'. One frustrated contemporary called him 'the Pope of Ireland'. This study explores Cullen's early years and education in papal Rome, his career in the curia and then in Ireland, as Archbishop of Dublin, the first Irish cardinal, and author of the compromise text that defined the dogma of papal infallibility.

The Minority Mind illuminates the historical significance of religious minorities in southern Ireland at a time when the twenty-six Counties formed 'a Catholic state for a Catholic people'. Dragged into a process of nation building about which Jews and Protestants had serious reservations, they often felt like guests of an unappeasable host. Biagini's holistic account of the minority experience explains the role of entrenched diversity in shaping attitudes to civil rights and national identity.

Event Timings

6:15pm - doors open

6:30pm - talk begins

7:00pm - Q&A

7:20pm - drinks and chat

8:00pm - close

Accessibility Information

Seating is available for 40 attendees (maximum) plus standing space. Some views may be partially obstructed by architectural columns, bookshelves, etc. but we aim to minimise this where possible. Space will be made available for wheelchair users. Access is via main entrance from street level and there are not steps or ledges.

There are 2 single-person bathrooms, including one large enough to fit a wheelchair with the door closed.

Please get in touch to reserve a seat, or if you have particular needs that you would like us to consider in advance.