Kildare author launches fifth book

Rathangan author Seamus Kelly is launching his fifth book on June 24, entitled John Ennis and his Piper Son Tom. The launch will be at Leixlip parish centre at 7.30pm.

Seamus has a co-author on this book in the form of Aileen Saunders who he found at the beginning of this process that kicked off their writing journey together and this is Aileen’s first endeavour book writing.

Seamus said of the origin of the book, “I was in Australia with my son when I typed in ‘Kildare’ to an Australian library search engine. Up came this ballad from 1798 written by a Kildare man. The next day I was on KFM talking about it and asking if anyone knew anything about it.

“Aileen (Saunders) got in touch and explained that she was a descendant of John Ennis. It all came from there and we have written this full biography together.”

An incredible way to meet and equal amounts unlikely that Aileen managed to catch Seamus’ call to action. Seamus had found in Aileen a historian and relation of the poet and dancer he was trying to find out about. Months later, they had a book together.

The biography of John and Tom Ennis tells the story of the father-son duo's journey, including John leaving Prosperous in Kildare and heading to Chicago where he would become a police officer and a founding member of The Irish Music Club of Chicago.

His son Tom was an uilleann piper, fiddler and dancer. His musical performances attracted the Irish diaspora across America with their music and dance. Tom Ennis recorded over 40 piper records.

The book includes the telling of two brilliant life stories and their relevant historical context. It examines both what life and the world was like at that time.

It looks at a community of Irish exiles, exploring how they spent their leisure and working hours.