NEWS & PROGRAMS | WB Yeats Society of NY

Upcoming Programs

JBY and John Quinn, New Yorkers, March 20
Yeats Poetry Prize, April 2
'Taste of Yeats Summer School,' April 25

Thursday, March 20, 6 p.m. “Two Noble New Yorkers,” an illustrated talk by Andrew McGowan about the painter John Butler Yeats’s time in NYC as an important part of its artistic life until his 1922 death here. And the lawyer John Quinn, who took the old man under his wing, and who was a major manuscript and art collector. He was largely responsible for the historic “Armory Show” of 1913, which introduced European modern art to America. Stories and illustrations include such details as: when Quinn died in 1924, the fate of his holdings was in the hands of a staffer from his firm, a grandfather of the journalist Jimmy Breslin. At the American Irish Historical Society, 991 Fifth Avenue, between 80 and 81 Streets. Reception to follow. Free. Confirm attendance by email to board volunteer Don Bates -- batesdon1@msn.com.

Thursday, April 24, 6:30 p.m. Readings marking Poetry Month and presentation of the 2025 Yeats Poetry Prizes by competition January Gill O’Neil. At Barnes & Noble Union Square,33 East 17th Street between Park Avenue South and Fourth Avenue. Free.

Saturday, April 26, 10 a.m. -- 4:30 p.m.

“A Taste of the Yeats Summer School”

All-day program evoking the spirit of the school in Ireland (see below). 10:15 “Byzantium and Ireland” Prof. Robert Doggett (SUNY Geneseo) postulates that WBY’s “Sailing to Byzantium,” written when he was a senator in the new Irish Free State, aims to create a “unity of culture” for Ireland. 11:30 “Star to Star: a Musical Duet between Poets” In a recording we hear the words of WBY and his friend and fellow Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, accompanied by music and still photos. 12:15 a light lunch. 1:30 “Quotable Yeats–the Foam and the Deep” Joseph Hassett talks about the many Yeats lines that not only capture a thought suitable for a particular life occasion but also open the door to deeper understanding of his poetry. 2:30 “Wandering Stars” A staged reading of a short play by Joseph Hassett that presents a revealing conversation between WBY and James Joyce. 3:30 Social and Summer School reunion, with wine, refreshments and conversation. At NYU Glucksman Ireland House, 1 Washington Mews, on Fifth Avenue, half block south of 8th Street, just above Washington Square.

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"Taste" Reservation Form (copy, paste, mail)

Make check payable and mail to:

WB Yeats Society of NY, National Arts Club

15 Gramercy Park South, New York, NY, 10003.

Number of registrants ______

--All day + lunch & social @ $39 $ ______

--Morning only @ $20 $ ______

--Lunch @ $10 $ ______

--Afternoon only & social @ $20 $ ______

TOTAL ENCLOSED $ ______

Include name(s), address, city, state, zip code. Also, phones (optional): Home ______________ Cellphone ______________

E-mail address ______________

Confirm attendance by email to board volunteer, Don Bates -- batesdon1@msn.com

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Wednesday, July 23 - Friday, August 1 Yeats Summer School in Ireland. Presenters include: Lucy Collins (UCD) and Robert Doggett (SUNY Geneseo) co-directors; and Eric Falci (University of Califoria, Berkeley), Fran Brearton (Queen’s University Belfast), Peter McDonald (Oxford), Melinda Szuts (Budapest), Tara Stubbs (Oxford). Poetry workshop with Vona Groarke. Talks, walks, poetry, drama and music. Boat trip to Lake Isle of Innisfree, Yeats tour of Sligo, “Yeats and Magic,” video workshop, watercolor class. Visit Yeats Society, Sligo website, YeatsSociety.com, for rates for full 9-day and shorter registrations, and for information on scholarships. Inquire about a discount for WB Yeats Society of NY members. Write Yeats Society, Douglas Hyde Bridge, Sligo, Ireland or Info@YeatsSociety.com, telephone 011-353-7191-42693.

More programs to be announced later. See PAST EVENTS for list of previous programs in 2024/2025.

Yeats-Related News

When we can, we mention news of interest to Yeats Society members and Yeats fans.

If you have something specific that relates to him or his family, we'll try to mention it. Send it via email from our Contact Page form. We do not publish ads or other promotional information about Yeats, Sligo, or Irish products, services, tours, and other commercial offerings. If we did, we'd be overwhelmed. We also don't take advertising.

Canadian folksinger-songwriter Loreena McKennitt (right) visited the National Arts Club in late 2024 to hear about Yeats connections (she's a fan) to NAC and NYC from Yeats Society president Andrew McGowan (left). Here they stand with a sculpture by NAC member Paul Manship, who was one of the artists who submitted designs for the new Irish Republic's coinage, to be judged by a committee headed by Senator Yeats. That night at her concert at Town Hall, she mentioned the visit, as an introduction to her version of Yeats's "The Stolen Child."

Yeats Poem Plaque in New York City on Library Way

In the late ’90s, the Grand Central Partnership transformed East 41st Street between Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue into a dramatic promenade to the New York Public Library’s majestic Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the length of which is regularly studded with bronze sidewalk plaques featuring quotes from literature and poetry and the whole of which is now known as “Library Way.”