Blogs

Dublin City Council announces 2021 Dublin Literary Award Longlist of Library Nominations. Four novels from Ireland are among the 49 books nominated by libraries around the world for the 2021 Dublin Literary Award, which is sponsored by Dublin City Council.

Free Online lecture. The 3rd Annual Dublin UNESCO City of Literature Lecture 2021, presented by Professor Chris Morash. Booking required.

Dublin City Library and Archive is pleased to present its latest exhibition which launches on Wednesday 6th November at 6pm in Pearse Street Library. The exhibition will be opened by Joe Conlan, who plays Widow Twankey in this year’s Gaiety production of Aladdin.It takes audiences down memory lane with material relating to the Theatre Royal and the Queen’s Theatre, as well as from the collections of Jimmy O’Dea, Vernon Hayden, Cecil Sheridan and Noel Purcell. This colourful exhibition traces the history of the pantomime tradition in our capital city, through the stories of its theatres and its entertainers.There will also be lots for the younger audience with features on more recent heroes, such as Twink,  Jedward and Joe Conlan.  There will be costumes and props, film, events and prizes.The exhibition will be based in the Dublin Room of Pearse Street Library (138-144 Pearse Street) and will open to the public on Thursday 7 November, running until the end of January 2020.  Opening hours: Monday-Thursday 10am-8pm Friday-Saturday 10am -5pm and admission is free of charge.Free tours can be arranged for groups on demand. If you’d like to find out more about booking a tour, please email us at: [email protected] or call us on (01) 674 4997. 

This Culture Night marks the beginning of a fantastic opportunity for teenagers to borrow a musical instrument from Dublin City Libraries. Dublin City Libraries and Girls Rock Dublin are proud to present “GRD Gear Library”, the gear loan service designed for teenagers under 18 and launching on Culture Night with “Instrument Carousel”. Girls Rock Dublin is a non-profit, volunteer-led organisation that builds girls’ self-esteem through music creation and performance. On 20 September at 6pm 16 teenagers will take over Pearse Street Library in a fun and loud experiment involving electric guitars, basses, synths, keyboards, ukulele, glockenspiel, pedal effects and drums. By moving through different rooms and engaging with GRD coaches, participants will learn a song on each instrument, and finish by performing the song together. This is open to teenagers of all genders. From Culture Night any teenager who is a member of Dublin City Libraries can borrow their preferred instrument for three weeks. All you need is your   library card! . Dublin City Libraries are free, fun and easy to use. Joining is easy and completely free. Get  access  to  great  online  resources, borrow  books, DVDs and now musical instruments. There are no fines and you can use your card in any library in Ireland.The GRD Gear Library is a collection of instruments, amplifiers and musical accessories that Girls Rock Dublin use for their summer camp and events and are now making available throughout Dublin City Libraries all year round. Teenagers will need the signature of a parent or guardian when completing the membership form. Their parent or guardian will need to bring photo I.D. and proof of address.Take a look at the instrument gallery, then call into Pearse Street library and borrow what you need! Email Pearse Street Library to make a booking.The collection is made up of donated instruments from people in the community who value the work of Girls Rock Dublin and purchases made through funding from ​Reverb.com​.It's is an ongoing project so donations are welcome! 

This spring children in Dublin are urged to keep their eyes peeled for mysterious aliens at their local library as Bumpfizzle – the Best on Planet Earth by Patricia Forde, has been chosen for the 2019 Citywide Reading Campaign for Children.Bumpfizzle is an alien, sent to Earth from Planet Plonk on a research mission. Or is he really just a ten-year-old boy who is feeling a bit disgruntled at all the attention his parents are lavishing on The Baby? It is up to readers to make up their own minds. The author, Patricia Forde, has published numerous books for children in English and in Irish, two plays, in addition to several television drama series for children and teenagers. She has worked as a writer on both English and Irish language soap operas. In another life, she was a primary school teacher and the artistic director of Galway Arts Festival.The illustrator Elīna Brasliņa is an illustrator from Riga, Latvia. She has illustrated fifteen titles to date, most of them picturebooks, children’s books and young adult novels. Her work has been nominated for many local awards as well as the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal. She has twice received the Zelta Abele Award for Book Design, as well as the Janis Baltvilks Baltic Sea Region Award (2017).This is the eighth year of the city wide reading initiative. Previous books selected for the Citywide Reading Campaign in previous years include; Arthur Quinn and the World Serpent by Alan Early, The Nightmare Club series featuring Annie Graves, The Powers by Kevin Stevens, Danger is Everywhere by David O’Doherty and Chris Judge, The Book of Learning by E.R. Murray, Knights of the Borrowed Dark by Dave Rudden and last year’s book was Making Millions by Erika McGann. The aim of the campaign is to encourage children to read for pleasure. There will be author visits to many Dublin City Council branch libraries as well as city-centre based events in bookshops, the National Library of Ireland and Dublin City Gallery – Hugh Lane. The campaign ends with fun events based on the book, as part of the St. Patrick’s Festival’s in Merrion Square. Copies of the book are available in all Dublin City Public Libraries as well as in all good bookshops.  Dublin City Council Library stock can be borrowed from libraries nationwide.Key Events;•    Author visits to Dublin City Public Library branches between January and March. Class visits booked locally at branch libraries.•    Cabra Library, Navan Road, Dublin 7, Tuesday 29th January at 3.30pm (Booking Essential; [email protected] or ph. 8691414).•    The National Library of Ireland, Kildare St, Dublin 2. Thursday 7th February at 10am (Booking required: Contact Bríd O’Sullivan  [email protected])•    Dublin City Gallery - The Hugh Lane, Charlemont House, Parnell Square North, Dublin 1 Saturday 16th March 11am-12pmAuthor Patricia Forde says: “I am delighted and very excited that Bumpfizzle The Best on Planet Earth is the 2019 Citywide Read.  Bumpfizzle is an alien- which may attract some funny business from other planets - but I think Dublin children are up for that. I sincerely hope so.  We may need heroes before this is over.”(Dublin City Public Library Staff, Patricia Forde and Kids at Launch)(Photo Credit Fennell Photography)You can download a Reading Guide to the book, suitable for teachers and parents at http://www.dublincityofliterature.ie/projects/citywide-read/The campaign is run by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and Dublin City Council Public Libraries, in partnership with Little Island Books, and is funded by Dublin City Council’s Public Library Service and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. 

This fab exhibition, on display in Charleville Mall Library from 1 July  to 10 August, tells a multitude of Irish women’s stories during the First World War from Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses to munitions workers, home front volunteers, anti-enlistment activists and separation women. It draws on the archival records of the Royal Dublin Fusilers Association Archive and is curated by Dublin City Library and Archive and funded by Dublin City Council Decade of Commemoration.Speaking about the exhibition senior archivist Ellen Murphy said  "The role of Irish women in World War 1 is a story that is yet to be fully told. Against the backdrop of the campaign for female suffrage and the struggle for Irish Independence, this exhibition explores how the First World War impacted the lives of Irish women and greatly accelerated the changes which had been slowly taking place in society before the outbreak of war.

"Doing their bit": Irish women and the First World War’ is a new exhibition in Dublin City Library and Archive in Pearse Street. The exhibition centres on the impact that the First World War had on the lives of Irish women and the new opportunities that opened up for them.Speaking about the exhibition senior archivist Ellen Murphy said  "The role of Irish women in World War 1 is a story that is yet to be fully told. Against the backdrop of the campaign for female suffrage and the struggle for Irish Independence, this exhibition explores how the First World War impacted the lives of Irish women and greatly accelerated the changes which had been slowly taking place in society before the outbreak of war.  By 1918 Constance Markievicz was the first woman elected to the British House of Commons and many Irish women had experienced new economic or social freedoms through the employment and volunteer opportunities offered by the war."Two notable women are highlighted in the exhibition; Kate Middleton Curtis a distinguished member of St John Ambulance in Dublin who referred to herself as ‘The oldest ambulance lady in Ireland’ and Monica Roberts, a young Stillorgan woman who in 1914 established ‘The Band of Helpers for the Soldiers’. This voluntary group sent ‘home comforts’ such as cigarettes, food, clothing and watches to Irish soldiers in the front line. Kate’s diary and other medical artefacts, as well as letters and postcards from the Monica Roberts collection, are on display.You may like to listen back to Women of the Brigade: St John Ambulance & the First World War, a talk by Pádraig Allen to accompany the exhibition.Many thanks to members of St John Ambulance Ireland and Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association for their contributions to our exhibition "Doing their bit": Irish women and the First World War. Here are a few photos from their visit on Friday 16 March:The exhibition draws on the rich vein of archival materials contained in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association Archive held at Dublin City Library and Archive to tell a multitude of women’s stories from Voluntary Aid Detachment nurses to munitions workers, home front volunteers,  anti-enlistment activists and separation women.  Other artefacts available for public viewing are a ‘death penny’ commemorating Sgt Michael Guilfoyle of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, killed at Salonica in 1916 and a book of poetry by the renowned republican poet Maeve Cavanagh.

Ardmhéara Bhaile Átha Cliath Mícheál Mac Donncha, launches the 2018 Dublin: One City One Book programme of events today on the eve of International Women’s Day.The Long Gaze Back – An Anthology of Irish Women Writers edited by Sinéad Gleeson, joins a long list of illustrious titles as this year’s featured book in the Dublin: One City One Book Festival. As suggested by the title, this book is rooted in the present with emerging writers, while looking back to the flag bearers of Irish women’s writing.The month-long festival will feature dramatised readings, music, song and poetry, discussions with the featured authors, walking tours, talks on topics such as the tradition of women’s short fiction in Ireland, gender balance and anthologies, writing workshops, exhibitions and much more.  Many of the events are free. Check out Dublin: One City, One Book events on in our libraries.The flagship event of this year’s festival is ‘Our Stories Ourselves’ an evening of music, readings and discussion in The Great Hall, Royal Hospital Kilmainham on Wednesday 25th April. Madeleine Keane will chair a discussion panel comprising Anne Enright, Lisa McInerney, Christine Dwyer Hickey and Sinéad Gleeson. Actor Cathy Belton will read excerpts from the book and critically-acclaimed musician and singer Lisa Hannigan will perform. This event is free but booking is essential at https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/our-stories-ourselves-tickets-43606189286Speaking at the launch an tArdmhéara said “It is very fitting that this year’s book choice for the Dublin: One City One Book Festival is an anthology of Irish women writers. In the year in which we celebrate the centenary of the Suffragette movement, it is important to highlight women writers’ contribution to the arts, both historically and at the present time. The book spans four centuries of women’s writing and brings voices from Ireland’s past together with contemporary writers.”Sinéad Gleeson said: “I’m thrilled and delighted on behalf of the 30 writers, past and present, that The Long Gaze Back is this year’s Dublin: One City One Book choice. Anthologies are a platform for telling multiple stories and so many of the writers and their work included here are intrinsically connected to Dublin and its people. The book arose from a desire to amplify the voices of women who write, and being chosen for Dublin: One City One Book will help to introduce these talented writers to all kinds of new readers.”Dublin City Librarian Margaret Hayes added “This collection of stories embraces writers of the past, present and of the future, an anthology of diversity and talent. With themes universal and contemporary, and settings urban and rural, it includes some of our best writers in a genre much loved by the Irish reader and storyteller. Dublin City Libraries wishes to showcase the full catalogue of these women writers, many of whom will be well known to readers but others who may have slipped a little from view and who deserve to be looked at anew.”The Long Gaze Back, a collection of thirty stories from writers past and present, from the 18th Century to now is available to borrow from libraries and to buy in bookshops. Taken together, the collected works of these writers reveal an enrapturing, unnerving, and piercingly beautiful mosaic of a lively literary landscape. This year's Festival, which runs during the month of April, offers an opportunity for readers to engage with the book, and the city, through music, readings, walks and talks at various venues.Programme details are now available online. Pick up a copy of the printed programme of events in libraries and bookshops across Dublin.The Festival is organised by Dublin City Council’s Public Library Service. Dublin: One City One Book is supported by New Island Books, the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and RTÉ Supporting The Arts.

Bring a little colour and creativity into your life this autumn! We have lots of opportunities for you to get creative at your local library. Why not join one of our friendly groups and try your hand at creative writing, art, knitting, crochet or quilting.  If music is more your thing come along to a drumming workshop at our Central Library. Regular open poetry evenings at Inchicore and Pearse Street Library give voice to poets - new and experienced.Our popular Children's Art in Libraries programme also returns this Autumn with visual arts, storytelling and music workshops.Keep an eye on library events and Dublin City of Literature for ideas, inspiration and opportunities.Children’s Art in Libraries ProgrammeChildren's Art in Libraries is co-ordinated by Dublin City Arts Office in association with Dublin City Public Libraries. Through this programme, children have free access to visual art, theatre, music, and literature.Coolock Library Creative Hub for Early Years are running a series of Early Years Arts Workshops for 3-5 year olds. Booking is essential.More to follow....Creative Groups in LibrariesCreative WritingAre you a budding novelist, prose or short story writer? Why not join one of our Creative Writing groups that meet in selected libraries across the city. Come along to join the discussion and be inspired to get writing! A writing group meets in Ballymun, Ballyfermot, Cabra, Central, Donaghmede, Pearse Street and Raheny libraries and at Cuffe Street Community Centre while Kevin Street Library is closed for renovation.The groups write during their meeting and discuss and encourage each other’s work. A number of social evenings are organised during the year for the groups to join together and celebrate their endeavours. Creative Writing groups in libraries can also look forward to a Writer in Residence to support creative writing throughout the city this autumn.PaintingLearning how to paint provides many benefits: we learn something new, socialise, feel motivated to finish what we start and it makes us more human.Painting helps us to communicate in a different way by expressing our inspiration, ideas and interpretation. Join our art groups at Ballymun, Charleville Mall and Coolock libraries.NeedlecraftCraft is thriving as people meet to knit, sew, crochet or patchwork quilt in the following libraries: Ballymun, Cabra, Coolock, Donaghmede, Inchicore, Raheny and Walkinstown Libraries.Get Creative OnlineUniversal Class is an online education experience offering over 400 free courses with your library membership. Choose from over 75 courses for crafters, artisans and hobbyists from candlemaking, interior design, photography, baking to soap-making.  If you harbour dreams of becoming a writer, you can take your pick from creative writing for beginners, novel writing, historical fiction writing,  poetry writing, screenwriting and many more.  The courses involve real instructors to guide your learning, video-based lessons and certificates of achievement. You can learn in your own time, at your own pace. More info... Please register for this service by using your library membership card barcode number and by completing the registration form. Registration:LGMA.universalclass.com/register.htmCreative Ireland ProgrammeThe Creative Ireland Programme is a new national programme from 2017 - 2022 to promote creativity and well being.The role of the local authority is a pillar of the programme encouraging creativity in communities and Dublin City Council has developed its own plan.  Celebrating and participating in culture and making it easy to realise our creative potential is at the heart of this plan. Read the Dublin City Culture and Creativity Plan 2017.The National Neighbourhood ProjectsLibraries and Dublin City Council are partners on advisory groups to promote National Cultural Institutions within the Dublin City area. Each Dublin City Council area has an advisory group and will work on a local area creative project in response to the collections and resources of Ireland’s cultural institutions.For more information on the projects: www.dublinscultureconnects.ie          

The fifth annual Dublin Festival of History will take place from 29th September to 14th October in Dublin Castle and various venues across the city.  With over 90 free history events, this year's programme is the biggest and best yet! This specialist festival features Irish and international historians speaking on a myriad of historical topics as part of a jam-packed programme including lectures and discussions, film, exhibitions and walks. This year's speakers include Chris Patten, Janina Ramirez, Ian Kershaw and Robert Service. And this year the Festival takes over Richmond Barracks on 7th October for a history day for children; expect re-enactors, dressing-up, pop-up talks, craft, storytelling and lots to capture the interest of the young history lover.View the full programme at dublinfestivalofhistory.ie | Library-based EventsDownload the Dublin Festival of History programme (PDF, 6.32MB)If you have an interest in history you can’t miss this Festival which has gained a reputation for attracting best-selling historians from around the globe and remember, all events are free!The Dublin Festival of History is brought to you by Dublin City Council and is organised by Dublin City Public Libraries.