James MacKillop (author)
James MacKillop is an American professor and scholar of Celtic and Irish studies and an arts journalist. A child of Gaelic-speaking Highland emigrants, he has lived in Upstate New York since the late 1960s.
Early life and education
MacKillop was raised in Southeast Michigan and attended the University of Detroit High School and Wayne State University . At Wayne, he wrote for the Daily Collegian and captained the university team on the GE College Bowl television program. He received a Ph.D. from Syracuse University and was a visiting fellow in Celtic Languages at Harvard University.Career
MacKillop taught for more than forty years at various universities. Appointments include Michigan Technological University,Onondaga Community College, State University of New York College at Cortland and the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He also held a year's appointment as Professeur Invité at the University of Rennes 1 in France. He was awarded the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence.
MacKillop has published ten books, dozens of scholarly articles, and thousands of newspaper items. These include The Dictionary of Celtic Mythology and Myth & Legends of the Celts. His Irish Literature: A Reader, with Maureen Murphy is used in some university Irish literature courses. Speaking of Words was co-edited with Donna Woolfolk Cross. Writing for newspapers since college years, MacKillop has been the drama critic with the Syracuse New Times for decades, winning the Syracuse Press Club Award for criticism sixteen times.
Joining as a graduate student, MacKillop served on the executive committee of the American Conference for Irish Studies for ten years, organizing three national conventions, and serving as president, 1995–97.
Publications
Books
- With Donna Woolfolk Cross, Speaking of Words: A Language Reader New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1978, 1982, 1986
- With Thomas Friedmann, The Copy Book New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1980Fionn mac Cumhaill: Celtic Myth in English Literature Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1986, 2001
- With Maureen O'Rourke Murphy, Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1987. Revised as An Irish Literature Reader. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005Dictionary of Celtic Mythology Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998Contemporary Irish Cinema: From the Quiet Man to Dancing at Lughnasa Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1999Myths and Legends of the Celts London: Penguin Books, 2005
- 2012
- Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2018
- Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland and Company, 2023