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Inside The Blanket Fort - Episode 235

Blanket Fort Radio Theater
SIU Press
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SIU Press
Inside The Blanket Fort - Episode 235 (11/6/25)

Journey back Inside The Blanket Fort as we wrap up our interviews from The 40th Annual Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago, with Sean Farrell, coauthor of The Irish in Illinois.

Today, over a million people in Illinois claim Irish ancestry and celebrate their love for Ireland. In this concise narrative history, authors Mathieu W. Billings and Sean Farrell bring together both familiar and unheralded stories of the Irish in Illinois, highlighting the critical roles these immigrants and their descendants played in the settlement and the making of the Prairie State.

Short biographies and twenty-eight photographs vividly illustrate the significance and diversity of Irish contributions to Illinois. Billings and Farrell remind us of the countless ways Irish men and women have shaped the history and culture of the state.

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Mandi is the Publications Editor for SIU Press. She is also the author of six published novels, two short fiction collections, and numerous short stories. She earned her BA and MFA in creative writing from SIU , and during her MFA studies, she worked as a producer, senior editor, and voice actor for the first season of Blanket Fort Radio Theater, A Knight of Another Sort.
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