The Burns Library at Boston College will host a book launch on April 16 at 5 p.m. for Heroes of the Gael: A History of Fionn and the Fianna (Princeton University Press, 2026) by Natasha Sumner. Fionn macCumhaill (also known as Finn McCool) and his roving warrior band, the Fianna, are the heroes of the most prolific body of narrative in the Gaelic tradition, spanning 1,400 years of oral and written transmission. In Heroes of the Gael, Sumner–a professor at Harvard University and expert in Celtic language and literature–traces these stories across the centuries and throughout the Gaelic world, examining the fates of Fionn and the Fianna and investigating the persistent popularity of these tales. At the BC event, the author will join Geraldine Parsons (University of Glasgow), Ciara Ní Riain (Harvard University) and Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies Ray Cashman (Indiana University Bloomington) for a discussion of Irish folklore. The event is cosponsored by the Irish Studies Program and Burns Library and is free and open to the public.