About this item
An intimate, lyrical look at the ancient rite of the Irish wake--and the Irish way of overcoming our fear of death Death is a whisper for most of us. Instinctively we feel we should dim the lights, pull the curtains, and speak softly. But on a remote island off the coast of Irelands County Mayo, death has a louder voice. Each day, along with reports of incoming Atlantic storms, the local radio runs a daily roll call of the recently departed. The islanders go in great numbers, young and old alike, to be with their dead. They keep vigil with the corpse and the bereaved company through the long hours of the night. They dig the grave with their own hands and carry the coffin on their own shoulders. The islanders cherish the dead--and amid the sorrow, they celebrate life, too. In My Fathers Wake, acclaimed author and award-winning filmmaker Kevin Toolis unforgettably describes his own fathers wake and explores the wider history and significance of this ancient and eternal Irish ritual. Perhaps we, too, can all find a better way to deal with our mortality -- by living and loving as the Irish do.
About the Author
Kevin Toolis is the BAFTA winning founder of Many Rivers Films, producer of the award winning MI5 spy drama Complicit and playwright of The Confessions of Gordon Brown. As a documentary director Toolis has made a number of Emmy nominated films on the Middle East, Car Bomb and Cult of the Suicide Bomber. He is a chronicler of Ireland's Troubles in Rebel Hearts: Journeys Within the IRA's Soul and an acknowledged expert on terrorism.
Toolis has reported on conflicts across the world and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Financial Times, The Observer and the Daily Mirror.
