The kernel of this diverting book, edited by Jane Conroy, is a photographic essay by the French photographer Nicolas Fève. 'Browsing Connemara' is threaded through with texts drawn from Tim Robinson's incomparable travel books, the 'Connemara Trilogy'. Robinson is a cartographer from Yorkshire who has been for many years mapping that remote, Irish-speaking region near the western seaboard. The text and photographs are introduced by American ecologist John Elder. The book closes with the treat of 'Elsewhere', three new short pieces from Tim Robinson.
About the Author: Nicolas Fève's photographic practice focuses on the relationship between text and image. His work has been exhibited in the William Frank Gallery, Dublin; the Galway City Museum (Tulca Festival of Visual Arts); the Clifden Arts Festival; the Franco-Irish Literary Festival at Dublin Castle and the Alliance Française, Dublin. His photographs have also been used on book covers, CD covers and by the Bibliothèque Mazarine, Paris. He first encountered Tim Robinson's work on his move to Ireland in 1998.Tim Robinson studied mathematics at Cambridge, taught in Istanbul, worked as a visual artist in Vienna and London, and moved to the Aran Islands in 1972, where he turned to writing and cartography. His paintings and constructions have been exhibited at IMMA and the Hugh Lane gallery. His books include Stones of Aran: Pilgrimage and Labyrinth, the Connemara trilogy, and a suite of essays, My Time in Space.From 1973 to 2010 John Elder taught English and Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, where his special interests in the classroom were American nature writing, Romantic poetry, and Japan's haiku tradition. His three most recent books - Reading the Mountains of Home, The Frog Run and Pilgrimage to Vallombrosa - each combined discussions of literature and environmental history, descriptions of the Vermont landscape and memoir. Since retirement from full-time teaching he has devoted much of his time to learning about and playing Irish traditional music.Jane Conroy is from Connemara. Having studied in NUI Galway and Paris-IV (Sorbonne) she returned to Galway, where she is Professor Emerita of French. A member of the Royal Irish Academy, her publications include works on the cultural and literary history of early modern France, French perceptions of Ireland, and the circulation of ideas through travel. A recent collaborative work is Ireland Illustrated (2014), an online database of illustrated travel accounts.