Blogs

As part of Culture Night, 19 September 2008 a group of new writers read from their work at Dublin City Library and Archive, Pearse Street. You can read more of their work in Sixteen after Ten, an anthology of writing by students from the Oscar Wilde Centre and Blaiseadh Pinn : Nuascríbhneoireacht Ghaeilge, by members of Scríbhneoirí Óga and published by Cois Life.

Dublin City has a remarkable collection of historical documents, many of which are under the care of Dublin City Libraries and Archive. Dr Maighread Ní Mhurchadha has drawn on the contents of these and other records to tell the stories of some of Dublin's residents during the Renaissance period in her book Early Modern Dubliners.

Barry Cunningham and Mary Byrne presented a tips and advice session aimed at writers of children's literature in Dublin City Library and Archive on 23 February 2008. The practical advice centred on elements of successful children's literature and the publishing and marketing process. In association with the Verbal Arts Centre in Derry.Mary Byrne worked in the children's publicity department of Puffin for years and she is now a PR consultant specialising in children's books. She plans campaigns for children's writers such as Cornelia Funke, Darren Shan, Cathy Hopkins, Derek Landy and Kate Thompson. She works closely with The Chicken House, Harper Collins and Picadilly Press.Barry Cunningham was the Marketing Director for Puffin, while there he worked with many of the great names in children's publishing including Roald Dahl, Mary Norton and Spike Milligan. He then set up the children's publishing wing of Bloomsbury and while there he discovered JK Rowling. He set up his own publishing company The Chicken House in 2000. The Chicken House has published best selling books by Cornelia Funke, Kevin Brooks, Lucy Christopher and Rachel Ward and bestselling The Tunnels series by Roderick Gordon.Thank-you for listening! To hear more, please subscribe to the Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive podcast on iTunes or SoundCloud.

On 23 January 2008 the eleventh annual Sir John T. Gilbert Lecture, 'River, rivalry and revolt: history of the built fabric of Dublin City' by Dr Christine Casey was held at Dublin City Library and Archive, Pearse Street.

To celebrate the tercentenary of Charles Wesley's birth Dublin City Library presented The Underestimated Mr Wesley, a lecture by Dudley Levistone Cooney.Charles Wesley was a leader of the Methodist movement and younger brother of John Wesley. Wesley is primarily remembered as a writer of hymns including the Christmas favourite Hark! the Herald Angels Sing. He was also one of the most prolific poets in the English Language.Dudley Levistone Cooney historian and writer is President of Wesley Historical Society in Ireland and President of Old Dublin Society and author of Methodists in Ireland: a short history.TranscriptThe lecture was held in Dublin City Library and Archive, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2 on 18th December 2007, the 300th anniversary of the birth of Charles Wesley. Introduction by Alastair Smeaton, Dublin City Public Libraries.Thank-you for listening! To hear more, please subscribe to the Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive podcast on iTunes or SoundCloud.

In this podcast, entitled "Through streets broad and narrow": a history of Dublin’s trams', Michael Corcoran discusses the history of Dublin's trams, the men who drove them and how they intersected with events in Dublin's history such as the 1913 Lockout and the 1916 Rising.