In the late twenties, as Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky held their final debates before Trotsky’s exile, one of the Kremlin Palace translation teams was led by a middle-aged woman raised in the Wexford coastal village of Ballinesker.

In this talk, historian Maurice J. Casey explores the forgotten life of Irish translator and journalist May O’Callaghan, who lived in Moscow from 1924 to 1928. In the Soviet capital, May O’Callaghan worked as a translator in the headquarters of the Communist International and lived in the famous Hotel Lux, the ‘living quarters of the world revolution’. How did an Irish woman find herself in 1920s Russia? What were her experiences of revolution and romance in Moscow?

This talk draws on material from Maurice’s new book which traces the life of May O’Callaghan and the stories of the close friends she made while living in the Hotel Lux.

Note: Limited spaces, booking essential.