14 November 2015: History Ireland ‘Hedge School’: ‘The people of 1916’, Dublin Book Festival, Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin 8

On Saturday 14 November a History Ireland Hedge School debate on ‘The people of 1916’ took place as part of the Dublin Book Festival. In conversation with History Ireland editor Tommy Graham, the panel explored the people of 1916, from the famous personalities to the women and children of the rising. Turtle Bunbury discussed his new book Easter Dawn: The 1916 Rising (Mercier Press). Fearghal McGarry discussed the subjects of his recent The Abbey Rebels of Easter 1916: A Lost Revolution (Gill & Macmillan), which explores how seven rebels from the Abbey Theatre experienced the Irish revolution and its aftermath. Lucy McDiarmid’s At Home in the Revolution: What Women said and did in 1916 (Royal Irish Academy) addresses the lives of women during the Rising. Finally, Felicity Hayes-McCoye drew on her new memoir A Woven Silence: Memory, History & Remembrance (Collins Press) to explore how personal and public history since 1916 have been affected by censorship and mixed messages.