Island Studies Press

08/14/2025

Callum Beck will be giving a lecture on The Belfast Riot at the Point Prim Lighthouse, this Saturday at 1pm, as part of the 180th anniversary celebrations.

The Point Prim Lighthouse Society is hosting an annual open house and barbecue at Point Prim Lighthouse starting at 11:30 am on August 16. The day will include remarks from dignitaries, a history of Point Prim and historical banner displays, a lecture on the Belfast Riot of 1847 by Professor Callum Beck, entertainment by Gordon Belsher, and door prizes. There will also be a community barbecue, mussels, and cake. Ice cream and strawberries will be served by the Point Prim and Mount Buchanan Women’s Institutes. A Ham Radio Activation event will be occurring all day as well.

Everyone is welcome to the free celebration.

08/13/2025

Thanks to Bookmark for choosing Ed MacDonald's brand new book, The Geography of Home: Poems for a Lost Time, as their pick for the Canadian Small Press Book of the Week!

08/11/2025

They're here!!! Edward MacDonald's new collection of poetry and prose, The Geography of Home, has arrived. SAVE THE DATE: Book launch is September 7 at 2 pm, Faculty Lounge, Main 201, University of Prince Edward Island. If you can't wait until then, you can pick up copies at The Bookmark starting tomorrow.

07/23/2025

Author Leonard Cusack will be giving a free lecture on Owen Connolly on August 5, at 7 pm, at the Irish Hall, 582 North River Road. It is part of the 200-year anniversary of the Benevolent Irish Society on PEI.

OWEN CONNOLLY (PEI'S MOST FAMOUS IRISH ENTREPRENEUR)

Owen Connolly immigrated to P.E.I. from Ireland in 1839. He was a teenager with very limited resources. Within two years he was a tenant farmer in Watervale where he endured the hardships of pioneer life. In 1852, Owen and his young wife Anne Hughes moved to Charlottetown where they opened a small general store and an inn. Within a short time Connolly was wholesaling goods to other merchants, especially to small rural stores. As his wealth grew, he expanded into exporting, importing, banking and branch stores. Besides his mercantile business, Connolly had the uncanny ability to accumulate property in Charlottetown and throughout eastern P.E.I. at bargain prices.

With hard work, perseverance and a brilliant business mind, Connolly became one of the wealthiest men on P.E.I. by the 1880s.When he died in 1887, Connolly’s will revealed that he wanted the profits from his estate to assist poor, Irish Catholic boys gain an education. From 1888 to the present day, trustees have operated and managed the Connolly Estate. Over this period of time the estate has paid out over $3 million to assist Irish Catholic students attending post secondary studies.

As part of the 200-Year Anniversary celebration of the Benevolent Irish Society in 2025, the Society is proud to feature at the Irish Hall a very select group of local and international speakers on Irish subjects.

07/22/2025

Thanks to guest editor Claire Campbell for her review of Joshua MacFadyen's book, Time Flies, in the latest issue of the American Review of Canadian Studies.

"The ecological riches of the shoreline, whether wild or cultivated or processed—from seaweed to mussels to lobster—were supplanted by the commodities of water views and beachfront. Coastal infrastructure, from urban infill to the Confederation Bridge, altered the silhouette of the Island. Yet even pavement is not always permanent, with roads abandoned and cracking within the national park along the Gulf shore. The environmental impact is clear; MacFadyen outlines the marked erosion that makes Prince Edward Island one of the most dramatic harbingers of climate change in the north Atlantic. With each storm surge, more of its signature red soils dissolve outward with the tide."

Be sure to check out the whole issue that focuses on Canada's Changing Atlantic and includes articles on Panmure Island by Edward MacDonald, and on our changing coastline from the Canadian Centre for Climate Change and Adaptation.

CANADA’S CHANGING ATLANTIC; Guest Editor: Claire Campbell. Volume 55, Issue 1 of American Review of Canadian Studies

07/02/2025

Hope to see you in Morell this Saturday afternoon for "Reading the Rural." This free event features local authors Barbara Palmer Rousseau and Roderick MacDonald (The Acorn Press and Pownal Street Press). Plus, Barbara's books of essays about St. Peters Harbour will be available for sale.

06/16/2025

Thanks to Atlantic Books Today for including Callum Beck's new book, The Belfast Riot of 1847, in their latest issue, which has a cover by PEI artist Erica Rutherford. Check out the article on riots, revolts, and politics on page 12. You can read the entire issue online!

Atlantic Books Today #100 publishing by the Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association, Spring/Summer 2025

06/03/2025

The Institute of Island Studies is turning forty! Come celebrate with us on Saturday, June 14, at 4 pm, in the Steel Recital Hall at UPEI.

05/20/2025

This Sunday, Callum Beck is launching The Belfast Riot of 1847 in Belfast, PE. If you are curious about this event and its impact on PEI culture and politics, be sure to check it out. Presented by the Belfast Historical Society, the event is free and all are welcome. Books will be available for sale.

05/05/2025

Looking forward to this coast-to-coast reading next Thursday at the University of Prince Edward Island. Island writers Brent MacLaine and Bren Simmers will be joined by West Coasters Jenna Butler and Karen Loucks. The event is free and all are welcome. Hope to see you there!

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03/31/2025

Callum Beck is giving a free talk on “Riots, Civil Disobedience, and Protests: Theological and Practical Reflections on the Belfast (1847) and Orange Day (1877) Riots.” He's a great speaker and an expert on the topic.

The UPEI Department of Religious Studies will present Theology on Tap on April 7, 2025, at 7:00 pm, at the Salvador Dali Cafe, The Arts Hotel, 155 Kent Street, Charlottetown.

03/25/2025

Join Callum Beck this Sunday, March 30 at 1 pm for the Summerside launch of The Belfast Riot at the Eptek Art & Culture Centre. The event is free and all are welcome. Books will be available for purchase.