The Pirate Queen: Discovering Grace O'Malley

Irish-born Grace O'Malley (a.1530-1603) is one of the most famous pirates of all time. She is the subject of folk songs and sea shanties, a Broadway musical was made in her honor, and a castle in Ireland still bears her name. From the age of fourteen, she forged a career in seafaring and piracy and was considered a fierce leader at sea and a shrewd politician on land. Yet, little is known about Grace's exciting face-to-face confrontation with her nemesis, Elizabeth I of England.

In this program, Author Robin Maxwell recounts that scene and others from her novel The Wild Irish and explains her process of discovering Grace O'Malley and writing the book.


Robin Maxwell

Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean

A lecture and musical performance based on stories of Jews who took to the high seas in the aftermath of the Spanish Inquisition on ships bearing the names Prophet Samuel and Queen Esther.


Sherrie Baver, Ph.D.
Professor Baver received her Ph.D. from Columbia University (1979). She has served as the Director of the CCNY Latin American and Caribbean Studies Program. She has written Political Economy of Colonialism: The State and Industrialization in Puerto Rico (Praeger, 1993) and co-edited Latinos in New York: Communities in Transition (Notre Dame University Press, 2017 [2nd ed.]). In 2006, she co-edited (with Barbara D. Lynch), Beyond Sun and Sand: Caribbean Environmentalisms (Rutgers University Press, 2006). Her present research focuses on environmental justice/environmental democracy in Latin America. Professor Baver has received various CUNY awards and two Fulbrights to Latin America. She has recently published peer reviewed articles in Callaloo, Caribbean Studies, and Idees d'Ameriques (Paris: Sorbonne). Professor Baver has also been named "Contributing Editor" to Handbook of Latin American Studies (Library of Congress). Professor Baver participated in a 2015 summer seminar on 'Peacebuilding in Indonesia,' funded by the U.S. Department of Education.


Sarah Jacques and Ian Cook
Sarah and Ian are members of the G String Orchestra, a traditional and inspired Klezmer, Eastern European, and modal music folk band, which began as the G String Quartet in the spring of 2006. Basing themselves loosely between New Orleans and Alaska, their music has brought them to the far reaches of this planet. The band has undergone many incarnations over the years existing as a simple trio, from a five-piece band to sometimes a ten-piece ensemble, featuring instrumentation such as guitar, viola, banjo, cello, washtub bass, washboard, drums, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, and even piano. Each additional person has added their own influences and experiences to the band, giving flavors of punk, blues, Americana, and New Orleans Jazz, resulting in music to make you cry, music to make you dance, and music to get lost in the reverie.