Volunteer Coordinator: Robert Finnigan

Robert first developed his re-awakened passion for Irish literature, while attending Alison O’Malley- Younger’s Irish Drama module as an undergraduate, where he challenged the notion Alison was making regarding a mythical figure- (hopefully Alison was impressed). Since then Robert has been involved with NEICN and Irish Studies at the University of Sunderland in many ways, along with Alison O’Malley- Younger and especially Colin Younger, in helping promote and encourage research into the various characteristics of Irish culture and society.

Robert’s main areas of interests lye in the realms of Irish mythology, folklore and legends, particularly tales of heroic battles, creatures of old and the myths of origin. He also possess a passion for Irish drama, in both English and Gaelic, while enjoying poetry by Irish authors, especially the works of Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, W. B. Yeats, Charlotte Brooke and Seamus Heaney; it is drama and theatre that Robert finds his spirit lies.

Recently, Robert has begun to explore his taste for gothic literature, literature that emphasises mystery and horror, texts filled with ghost-haunted rooms, underground passages, and secret stairways, monsters of a time long forgotten and death. Although, it is particularly Irish gothic writers such as Sheridan Le Fanu, Charles Maturin, Maria Edgeworth and Bram Stoker that have become the focus his research. Ultimately it is the Irish Vampire in particular that appears to have captured his imagination.