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​An evening of Irish music & mystery featuring author Erin Hart and musician Paddy O’Brien

Event details:
Thursday, May 1, 2014, 7:00 p.m.
Shambaugh Auditorium, Main Library

Erin Hart is a mystery writer married to Paddy O’Brien, an internationally known accordionist and Irish musician, photographed in their St. Paul home

Hart and O’Brien in their St. Paul home. [Image via twincities.com]

 Celebrate 30 years of conservation at the University of Iowa with an evening of Irish music and mystery. Detective fiction writer Erin Hart will share how the discovery of the ninth century Fadden More Psalter inspired her latest novel.

The Psalter is an ancient religious text recently discovered in an Irish peat bog. Written at an estimated 1,000 years ago, the book is a significant archaelogical find because of its age and incredible condition and because it is bound in papyrus, which suggests a link between ancient Irish and Mediterranean cultures. Hart worked with preservationists, conservationists, and scholars to incorporate this element of Irish history into her fiction.

Participants will also enjoy a tour of the University Conservation Lab and the Iowa Women’s Archives. Musical accompaniment will be performed by Paddy O’Brien, a distinguished Irish musician who is currently at work on the third volume of The Paddy O’Brien Tune Collection: A Personal Treasury of Irish Traditional Music.