One Dublin One Book 2025: Dublin, written in our hearts
Published on 11th March 2025
One Dublin One Book aims to encourage everyone in Dublin to read a book connected with the capital city during the month of April every year. This annual project is a Dublin City Council initiative, led by Dublin City Libraries and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, which encourages reading for pleasure.
For the last two decades, the ‘One Dublin, One Book’ initiative by Dublin City Council has encouraged everyone in Dublin to read the same book during April.
The campaign which is led by Dublin City Libraries encourages reading for pleasure and invites readers to participate in various events organised across the city associated with the selected book.
For the 20th anniversary of the One Dublin One Book initiative, a new anthology of fiction, poetry, essays and memoir pieces collated in celebration of the city is the One Dublin One Book choice for 2025.
The book is edited by Declan Meade and published by The Stinging Fly Press and was commissioned by Dublin City Council / Dublin UNESCO city of literature for the anniversary year.
Vision Ireland have created a Braille version of Dublin, written in your hearts.
The One Dublin One Book initiative is also funded by The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media.
The Book
Dublin, written in our hearts features work from:
Kevin Barry, Estelle Birdy, Niamh Campbell, Kevin Curran, Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright, FELISPEAKS, Sarah Gilmartin, Róisín Kiberd, Caitríona Lally, Deirdre Madden, Belinda McKeon, Paula Meehan, Thomas Morris, Niamh Mulvey, Nuala O’Connor, Sean O’Reilly, Keith Ridgway, Peter Sirr, Stephen James Smith, Rere Ukponu and Karl Whitney.
The main character front and centre of the collection is Dublin. Readers are witness to the daily interactions which take place, from the lonely misfit in Caitríona Lally’s Eggshells to the loud antics of a Welsh stag party in Thomas Morris’ All the Boys to the eerie reflections of Róisín Kiberd in Night Gym. There is much in this anthology that may seem familiar, chance meetings in taxis and pubs, working in a busy restaurant, even planning for a wedding but it’s when we peel the layers back from story to story, the city reveals itself more vividly.
The book is edited by Declan Meade and published by The Stinging Fly Press and was commissioned by Dublin City Council / Dublin UNESCO city of literature for the anniversary year.
The Publisher
The Stinging Fly Press was launched in May 2005 and continues to operate alongside The Stinging Fly magazine to seek out, nurture, publish and promote the very best new writers and new writing. Over the past twenty years, the imprint has published landmark, award-winning debut story collections by Colin Barrett, Kevin Barry, Claire-Louise Bennett, Mary Costello, Wendy Erskine, Michael J Farrell, Nicole Flattery, Danielle McLaughlin, Mary O’Donoghue and Cathy Sweeney. It has re-issued the work of Maeve Brennan, while also publishing masterful new work by Sean O’Reilly and Philip Ó Ceallaigh. The Stinging Fly is funded by the Arts Council and receives additional support from the TS Eliot Foundation.
What's On?
During April, writers and poets featured in the anthology will meet to discuss, read, perform and interact with book clubs, appearing in various venues across the city as well as in Dublin City Libraries, DLR Libraries, Fingal Libraries and South Dublin Libraries.
Events will include:
A celebration of Dublin, written in our hearts with featured poets Paula Meehan and Peter Sirr and writers, Thomas Morris, Caitríona Lally and Niamh Mulvey at The Royal Academy of Music.
The changing faces of Dublin: writers Estelle Birdy, Réré Ukponu, Kevin Curran reflect on a new multi-lingual and cultural city with poet, Chandrika Narayanan – Mohan.
Dublin you are…: city inspired performances from renowned slam poets such as Emmet Kirwan, Jan Brierton, Stephen James Smith, Sheila Ryder and David Hynes.
The artist in the city: writers Deirdre Madden and Niamh Campbell discuss how artists in Dublin inspired their novels with artist Silvia Loeffler and art critic Niall McMonagle at the Hugh Lane Gallery.
Masterclasses in short-story writing with writer, Séan O’Reilly and previous editor of Stinging Fly journal.
Walking tours of city sights and neighbourhoods with Karl Whitney, Arran Henderson and Ana Kinsella.
Dublin City Librarian, Mairead Owens, remarked “libraries of the city are part of the fabric of community life, and a shared reading campaign linked to the city is a point for discussion, observation and reflection extending the reader & connecting them beyond an individual activity. I hope this edition of writing on Dublin over the first quarter of this century will serve as a focus for exploration and conversation between many readers.”
Listen back to the RTE1 Radio interview by our Dublin City Librarian HERE.
Speaking at the launch, Lord Mayor of Dublin Emma Blain said “I would like to compliment Dublin City Council on this popular initiative that has gained momentum and interest from Dublin citizens over 20 years. I particularly like the idea of this celebratory anthology of our city introducing readers to even more writers.”
“It's been a real honour engaging with writers—and their agents, editors and publishers—while putting this book together”, said the book’s editor, Declan Meade; “Now we’ll get to see how readers respond to it and I’m very excited to hear what they think. I'm sure that there’ll be plenty of lively encounters throughout the month of April.”