Csilla Toldy

Emigration and displacement have been a common theme in Europe for centuries. Borders have been moved and still, they are being reconsidered. People migrated for work, to flee hostile regimes, to find a better life for themselves and their families, and to settle in a new home.

The Emigrant Woman’s Tale is the story of one such woman told through poetry and song as she finds a way across borders out of Communist Hungary and on to a different life, eventually settling in Northern Ireland.  

It is juxtaposed with the story of another woman who grew up on the border in Ireland at approximately the same time.  When their paths crossed they discovered similarities - she, too, left home to study and later for work in the Middle East and in England, but the difference was, her family knew where she was going and she was able to return home.  

The Emigrant Woman’s Tale brings together these parallel stories in a concert to celebrate the life changing choices women make and the friendships that can arise out of these. The Book and CD complements the concert with memoir, short fiction, songs and poems.

Poetry by Csilla Toldy, Music by Fil Campbell

March 2015