Once upon a time in a land far far way (1884 in Thomas Street and Capel Street to be precise) Dublin's first two municipal public libraries were opened. And now, 150 years later, you're using QR codes and phones to open our website.
To show just how far we've come, we’re inviting you to check out our ebooks, audiobooks, eMagazines and eNewspapers. All for free through BorrowBox.
Whether you're already a member, or new to our libraries, everyone is welcome to explore our fantastic eResources.
Eavan Boland scoops Costa Poetry Award for her final book
The late Eavan Boland has posthumously won the Costa Poetry Award for her final collection, The Historians, described by the judges as having “some of the finest lines of poetry written this century”.
The International DUBLIN Literary Award 2020 Shortlist
Ten novels have been shortlisted for the 2020 International DUBLIN Literary Award, sponsored by Dublin City Council. The shortlist announced today includes Milkman by Irish author Anna Burns, and three novels in translation. Celebrating 25 years, this award is the world's most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English, worth €100,000 to the winner. If the book has been translated the author receives €75,000 and the translator receives €25,000.The writers, eight of whom are female, come from Canada, France, India, Iran, Ireland, Poland, the UK and the USA.The six member international judging panel, chaired by Prof. Chris Morash, will select one winner on Thursday 22nd October during the International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFDublin) reimagined 2020 festival.Shortlisted Titles1.The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker (British). Published by Hamish Hamilton Ltd.2.Milkman by Anna Burns (Irish). Published by Faber & Faber and Graywolf Press.3.Disoriental by Négar Djavadi (Iranian-French). Translated from the French by Tina Kover. Published by Europa Editions.4.Washington Black by Esi Edugyan (Canadian). Published by Serpents Tail Ltd., HarperCollins Canada and Alfred A. Knopf.5.An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (American). Published by Algonquin Books.6.History of Violence by Édouard Louis (French). Translated from the French by Lorin Stein. Published by Harvill Secker.7.The Friend by Sigrid Nunez (American). Published by Virago Press Ltd.8.There There by Tommy Orange (Native American). Published by Harvill Secker, Alfred A. Knopf and McClelland & Stewart Inc.9.All the Lives We Never Lived by Anuradha Roy (Indian). Published by MacLehose Press and Atria Books.10. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (Polish). Translated by from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. Published by Fitzcarraldo Editions.Borrow the BooksAll the novels nominated for the Award are available for readers to borrow from Dublin’s public libraries. Readers can also borrow most of the shortlisted titles on BorrowBox - eBooks and eAudiobooks for limited periods by way of digital loans. The full list of 156 titles has been published in a free newsletter, and all details are also on the newly revamped Award website at www.dublinliteraryaward.ie.
2020 International DUBLIN Literary Award Longlist Announced
Eight novels from Ireland are among 156 books nominated by libraries around the world for the 2020 International DUBLIN Literary Award. With the winner receiving €100,000, the Award is the world’s most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English.
Idaho wins the 2019 International DUBLIN Literary Award
American author Emily Ruskovich has won the 2019 International DUBLIN Literary Award for her novel Idaho. Set in the Idaho Pandandle it tells the sory of the impact of an shocking act of violence on a family. The winning novel was chosen from a total of 141 titles, nominated by libraries in 115 cities across 41 countries. Idaho was nominated by the public library in Brugge, Belgium.The Award is organised and sponsored by Dublin City Council and at €100,000 is the world’s largest prize for a single novel published in English. Emily Ruskovich is the fourth American author to win the prize in its 24-year history.Uniquely, the Award receives its nominations from public libraries in cities around the globe and recognises both writers and translators. The winner was announced at a ceremony in Dublin's Mansion House today.Emily Ruskovich grew up in the Idaho Panhandle, on Hoodoo Mountain. Her fiction has appeared in Zoetrope, One Story and the Virginia Quarterly Review. A winner of a 2015 O. Henry Award and a graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, she now teaches creative writing at the University of Colorado, Denver. Idaho is her first novel. Speaking at the winner announcement, Lord Mayor & Patron of the remarked; ‘The International DUBLIN Literary Award is a great Dublin success and a great international success - and our thanks go to all who are involved in making the Award work – writers, translators, publishers, librarians, and the administrative staff of the City Council.’The 2019 judging panel, which includes Irish author Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, commented:‘At the heart of Emily Ruskovich’s haunting debut novel is the inexplicable. A young couple, Jenny and Wade, move from the prairies to the utter loneliness and unexpected isolation of the Northern Idaho mountains where they carelessly bought a piece of wooded land on a steep mountainside. As yet, they know nothing about the winter that will entrap them: masses of snow, no plow, no neighbours, the next settlement eight miles away. This is not an idyll. Years go by. They build a house with their own hands; two children are born – May and June. Then, all of a sudden, in a brutal flash, with no warning, their happiness and their love are destroyed forever.Ruskovich’s masterful achievement is to narrate with consummate skill the complex series of events covering a time-span of more than fifty years. Empathy and love stand next to cruelty and crime. Individual guilt, trauma and pain are looming as large as eventual forgiveness and the ability to live in half-knowledge. Ultimately, Idaho evolves into a masterpiece on the redeeming and regenerative potential of music, poetry, literature and art.’ The other judges were Ge Yan, Evie Wyld, Martin Middeke and Hans-Christian Oeser. The non-voting chair was Judge Eugene Sullivan.Copies of the winner, the shortlist and the full list of novels nominated for the 2019 award available to borrow from Dublin Public libraries at https://dcpla.ie/Idaho