Wexford Episodes

In something of an epilogue to our “Lost in Belfast” series, former U.S. Congressman and U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland Joseph Kennedy III joins Irish Stew for a wide-ranging conversation on politics, peace, and public service. From the streets of Belfast to the tumult of Washington, Kennedy reflects on the lessons Northern Ireland can teach the wider world, the legacy of his famed family, and where his own journey is headed next. Joe provides his deeply personal perspective on the remar...

Join us as Larry Kirwan spins us back to the vibrant, violent New York City of the 1980s and the lives of the mostly undocumented Irish who called a patch of turf there home, in his novel Rockin’ The Bronx. Best known as the frontman for the legendary Irish-inflected rock & roll band Black 47, Larry delves into themes of immigration, Irish and Hispanic cultural intersections, the shifting fortunes of the navvies and the nannies, the unnamed scourge of AIDS, Reagan-era politics, and his creative ...

We’re not sure what’s more impressive—that Larry Kirwan originated and co-wrote the Broadway hit Paradise Square, or that his early band with Pierce Turner was banned from the notorious New York punk rock club CBGB for being “too demonic.” Larry talks of how his unusual childhood in Wexford and his need to maneuver through different points of view--Republican vs Free State, Catholicism vs Atheism, Irish vs British—laid the foundation of an artistic vision that could see the world through the pri...