Writer. Historian.
Storyteller.
Exploring Irish migration, cultural memory, and the
enduring legacy of the Great Irish Famine.
Books, archival research, public history, and the
recovery of lives nearly forgotten.
SELECTED WORKS
Stories rooted in history, memory, and place
The Foundling
HISTORICAL FICTION
A story of love, class, and political awakening in nineteenth-century Ireland.
Mona, The Body in the Bog
CELTIC MYSTERY
A dual-timeline mystery connecting an ancient bog body with a modern forensic investigation.
Death and the Bereavement Group
DARK COMEDY · MYSTERY
A darkly comic mystery in which grief, deception, and murder share the same room.
View of the Marine Hospital and Quarantine Grounds, Staten Island.
RESEARCH & PUBLIC HISTORY
Recovering the places where history was buried
My doctoral research at Trinity College Dublin examines how Irish Famine burial grounds in North America became contested landscapes of collective memory. Focusing on Staten Island, Deer Island, and Grosse Île, I explore how communities choose which histories are preserved, commemorated, or forgotten.
SPEAKING & MEDIA
Bringing history into public conversation.
Available for lectures, interviews, panel discussions, exhibition interpretation, and public-history programs concerning Irish migration, Famine history, collective memory, burial grounds, monuments, and commemoration.
Lectures & Presentations
Talks on Irish Famine immigration, burial grounds, collective memory, public commemoration, and the recovery of overlooked histories.
Media & Interviews
Available for print, radio, podcast, and television interviews concerning Irish Famine history, cultural memory, monuments, and public history.
Exhibitions & Public Programs
Research-led interpretation, exhibition writing, panel moderation, and public programming for museums, universities, and cultural organizations.
ABOUT LORETTO
History is never only about the past
Originally from Portumna, County Galway, Loretto Horrigan Leary is a writer, researcher, public historian, and former Language Arts teacher based in Connecticut. Her work explores Irish migration, cultural memory, and the enduring legacy of the Great Irish Famine.
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She is pursuing a PhD in History at Trinity College Dublin and is the author of Any News from Home? Irish Famine Immigrants, Essential Workers, Memory, and the Making of Irish Staten Island. Her research and public-history work encompass archival scholarship, exhibitions, lectures, journalism, and cultural programming in the United States and Ireland.
