On Thursday, March 18th at 8PM, Brooklyn Reading Works presents Blarneypalooza, a literary celebration of Irish writers, music and influence planned with Saint Patrick’s Day in mind.

The following artists will read/perform at the historic Old Stone House in Washington Park on Fifth Avenue and Third Street in Park Slope: Ann Beirne, Jill Eisenstadt, Barbara O’Dair, David Freiman, Greg Fuchs, Patrick Brian Smith, and Michele Madigan Somerville.

The New York Sun called Ann Beirne “a sweet Fiordiligi with a well-rounded voice” in a recent production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte. Her other Mozart roles include Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni.  She has portrayed Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen and Musetta in Puccini’s La Boheme. She starred as Florence Vassy in Chess at SUNY Binghamton,and appeared in supporting roles in Hair, Into the Woods, and Assassins, and was a repertory artist at the Amato Opera Theater since 1999.

Jill Eisenstadt is the author of two Knopf novels, From Rockaway and Kiss Out. Shorter work has appeared or been anthologized in The New York Times, New York magazine, Vogue, Elle, Bomb, Queens Noir, Best of the City Section & American Sex Writing 2009 among other places. She is not Irish. The sonnets she will be reading are part of a forthcoming book called Forgotten Borough. (SUNY Press)

David Freiman is a native New Yorker. A cellist, he received his musical training at the University of Michigan. He was an associate conductor with the renowned Amato Opera Theater in New York’s East Village for eighteen years where he conducted more than a dozen standard repertory operas. Most recently he conducted and directed Amahl and the Night Visitors at St. Augustine Church in Brooklyn.  In Ann Arbor, Michigan, he directed productions of Ruddigore, Showboat, and Hair and was assistant stage director at Michigan Opera Theater (Detroit) and Dayton  Opera (Ohio).

Greg Fuchs is the author of Board of Education, Came Like It Went, Metropolitan Transit, New Orleans Xmas, Rolling Papers, and Temporary. He is a member of Subpress publishing collective. He is co-editor of Open 24 Hours, which publishes poetry in the spirit of the mimeo-revolution of the 1960s. Fuchs serves as the President of the Board of Directors of the Poetry Project.

Quincy R. Lehr lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he teaches history. His work has appeared in numerous journals in the U.S., Britain, Ireland, Australia, and the Czech Republic, including Cordite Poetry Review, Crannóg, The Chimaera, The Dark Horse, Measure, Other Poetry, and Revival, among many others. His first collection, Across the Grid of Streets, was published in Dublin in 2008. He is the co-curator of the long-running Carmine Street Metrics series in New York City, and he is the associate editor of The Raintown Review.

Barbara O’Dair. She has edited two collections of writings, Caught Looking: Feminism, Pornography and Censorship, and Trouble Girls: The Rolling Stone Book of Women in Rock. In 2002, as the editor of Teen People, she instituted a regular poetry column and contest. Currently, as the executive editor for Reader’s Digest, she oversees poetry in the magazine. Her journalism, essays and poetry have been published in many magazines, newspapers, journals and online publications.

Patrick Brian Smith, born on St. Patrick’s Day, is a playwright, poet and former editor of the Time magazine Letters column. His play Driving Around the House has been produced around the country and is published by New Rivers Press. Pat is the Communications Director for the PSC-CUNY Welfare Fund, a health benefits organization. He regularly posts new poems on his very entertaining blog, Not in the News Today.

Poet Michele Madigan Somerville is the author of Black Irish (2009) and WISEGAL (2001).  Her verse has appeared in many literary journals. 

Michael Sweeney a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, earned his M.F.A. from Brooklyn College and teaches at Fairfield University. In Memory of the Fast Break (Plain View Press, 2008).