The Irish diaspora worldwide covered the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Few people, even in Ireland, can name the fifth destination. It was Argentina. One of the reasons for this is that so little historical fiction has been written in English about that Irish destination. Bendigo author, John A Clancy has uncovered new territory here in his novel “A Bard on the Pampas: A Story of Irish Migration to Argentina”. As Professor Juan Jose Delaney, Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires, Argentina, states:
Together with "Tales of the Pampas" (1900) by William Bulfin, and "You'll never Go Back" (1946), a novel by Kathleen Nevin, completed by her sister Winnie, “A Bard on the Pampas” by John Clancy forms part of a great English language fictional trilogy on the Irish diaspora to Argentina. Like its predecessors, this new narrative serves as an effective celebration of cultural encounter.
The peak years of this diaspora to Argentina were from about 1845 to 1870. The migration scheme was set up by a Dominican priest, Father Antonio Fahy OP, from County Galway. It seems that the Catholic Church of the Argentine Irish on the Pampas Plains was little integrated with the local Argentine hierarchy and was in a manner more under the control of the Archdiocese of Dublin. Professor David Barnwell states that “the Irish Church was perhaps the most dynamic element of nineteenth century Catholicism in Argentina”. John Clancy presents a portrait of the workings of the Irish Catholic church on the Pampas. In the third part of his novel, John presents a vivid description of the decimation of the indigenous people of central Argentina through famine, fever, and the notorious ‘campaigns of the desert’ as waged by General (later President) Julio Roca. It seems that John Clancy is the first author, writing in English, who goes into this controversial subject in any detail in a historical novel.
This novel was published by the author, through assisted self-publishing, in December of 2025. It has already received plaudits from authors and academics in Ireland, Australia and Argentina. “A Bard on the Pampas” recently received an excellent review by reviewer Linda Rooney in the Irish-Australia periodical “Tintean”. Readers can access this review at this link.
This novel can be purchased directly from the author, who will also sign the copy.
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Purchase price is $25 (PLUS $10 for packaging and postage). Free delivery / collection can be arranged for residents of Bendigo or Castlemaine, Swan Hill or Echuca.
All profits from the sale of this book will be donated by the author to the children of Ukraine or to children displaced in Nepal during the recent disaster, most likely through the medium of Caritas Australia.
