Showing results by narrator "Kevin Toolis" in All Categories

The writer and filmmaker Kevin Toolis joins Holly Newson in the Audible Studios to discuss his book, My Father's Wake: How the Irish Teach Us to Live, Love and Die. In this intimate and original memoir, Kevin gives us an insight into the history of the Irish wake amongst the backdrop of the death and wake of his father. Kevin tells Holly about the inspiration of the book as well as the process of researching the history of the Irish wake.

Death is a whisper in the Anglo-Saxon world. But on a remote island off the coast of Co. Mayo, it has a louder voice. Along with reports of incoming Atlantic storms, the local radio station runs a thrice daily roll call of ordinary deaths. The islanders go in great numbers, often with young children, to wake with their dead. They keep the corpse and the bereaved company through the long hours of the night. They dig the grave with their own hands. It is a communal triumph in overcoming the death of the individual.