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the fifth province
In Irish folklore, the “fifth province” refers to an imaginative, symbolic space beyond the four traditional provinces—Leinster, Munster, Connacht, and Ulster.
Traditionally situated in the centre of the island (Mide or Meath), it was a place for the rulers of various kingdoms to come together. During the period of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Seamus Heaney and Brian Friel held the Fifth Province as a kind of neutral territory where people of different persuasions could meet and reconcile.
We think there is urgent need to reinvent the Fifth Province to protect and promote the arts against the encroachment of artificial intelligence and a shrinking creative ecosystem.
The fifth province is for everyone.
FOUNDER & EDITOR
Mary Hatfield is a historian by trade whose work has appeared with Oxford University Press and Liverpool University Press. She has held fellowships at Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, and the University of Oxford.
Academic credentials aside, she maintains a longstanding fascination with the Kennedys and has, to her embarrassment, acquired a respectable working knowledge of wine thanks to YouTube's unnervingly effective recommendation algorithm. She insists neither hobby reflects particularly well on her.
FOUNDER & EDITOR
Thomas Geeley is a data analyst by profession. When not wrestling with datasets, he can be found revisiting the great American films of the 1970s, arguing that cinema peaked somewhere between The French Connection and All the President's Men. Please don't ask him anything about any of The Godfathers unless you want a lecture. Friends have long since learned not to ask for "just a quick film recommendation."
Coming soon
