John Kearns ’82 

John Kearns ’82 has published a new book, Worlds, which depicts four generations of a family as they move from Ireland to New York City over more than a century. There will be a book launch celebration tonight at the New York Irish Center (INFO).

Through the lens of the Seven Deadly Sins/Lively Virtues, Worlds examines these representatives of four generations of Logans from Ireland in 1870 to New York City in 1998: 

Worlds was a finalist in the 2018 William Wisdom - William Faulkner Creative Writing Competition in New Orleans. An early excerpt from Worlds was a finalist for the 2002 New Century Writers’ Award. Another excerpt was named a finalist for the 2012 James Hearst Poetry Prize and published in the North American Review. The Danse Macabre online literary magazine has published four additional excerpts from Worlds.

 

Kearns is the author of a short-story collection, Dreams and Dull Realities, and a novel, The World as well as a playwright of dramas including “In the Wilderness” and “Boann and the Well of Wisdom.” His fiction has appeared in The Medulla Review, Danse Macabre, and The Irish Echo. His poems have appeared in such journals as the North American Review, the Grey Sparrow Journal, and The Razor’s Wine. His play, "Sons of Molly Maguire", was produced in Dublin’s Liberty Hall in May 2017. John was the Treasurer and Salon Producer for Irish American Writers and Artists for 7 years. He has a Masters Degree in Irish Literature from the Catholic University of America.

 

“The Prep prepared me for a career in writing in a few ways,” says Kearns. “I believe the Jesuit practice of looking at both sides of an issue helps me to depict people and situations in my literary fiction. (One of the four main characters in Worlds is a Jesuit.) The Latin and Greek I studied at the Prep encouraged and helped me develop a precision with language.  My AP English class with published poet, Paul Grillo, got me started in keeping a journal and on the path of serious, literary writing.”