The Maud Gonne Society, founded by Irish author Orna Ross, will be launched at two events in December and January. The society seeks to raise awareness of Maud Gonne’s important contributions to Irish history and culture through the installation of a statue of Gonne in Dublin’s city centre.
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These events will bring together researchers, fans and descendants of Maud Gonne to open up a dialogue about her impact on Irish history, culture, politics and society. Both events will feature a panel discussion and audience Q&A session with three leading historians: Dr Sinéad McCoole, Dr Karen Steele and Dr Margaret Ward, who will address Gonne’s sociopolitical influence and the complex legacy she left behind.
Birth of the Maud Gonne Society
The Maud Gonne Society was the brainchild of Irish bestselling author Orna Ross. While conducting research for her upcoming Gonne-Yeats biographical-fiction series, Ross was struck by how Gonne’s contributions to Ireland’s history and culture had been sidelined during the recent Decade of Centenary commemorative events programme.
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Ross notes, “Gonne was never a passive muse to a love poet”. She had dedicated her life to giving a voice to the voiceless and advocating for true freedom for the Irish people, especially women, children and prisoners.
“Culturally, she actively participated in the Irish literary renaissance as a theatre performer, producer and patron. Politically, she was a freethinker who moved from supporting violent guerrilla warfare in her youth to pacifist resistance into her old age.”
Ross found a growing community of historians, artists and writers who shared her concerns about Gonne’s underrepresentation in recent commemorations. This led to the foundation of the Maud Gonne Society, as well as a crowdfunding campaign to support the Statue for Maud Gonne project, which aims to restore Gonne’s place in public memory.
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A statue of Maud Gonne on O’Connell Street
The society’s first major undertaking is a campaign to erect a statue of Maud Gonne in Dublin city, ideally on O’Connell Street, where she would join the very small number of real, historically significant women currently commemorated in statue form in public spaces across the city.
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Crowdfunding
A Kickstarter campaign launched in August this year has already raised over €19,000. Ross donated profits from a special edition of her first novella in the Gonne-Yeats novel series (due out in April 2025) to support the initiative. Late pledges of various amounts are still being accepted for both the book and society membership. As well as supporting the statue campaign, these funds will help create a dedicated society website.
Maud Gonne Society membership
The Maud Gonne Society is currently offering membership through its Kickstarter campaign. Membership grants access to a wide range of resources, including exclusive events, articles, photographs and multimedia content related to Gonne. One-year membership is currently available for the special price of £29 (GBP) and a limited number of lifetime memberships are offered at £129 (GBP). For more information, visit the campaign page on Kickstarter here.
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