Annie West archives acquired by TCD and NLI

In The Irish Times this Saturday, Molly Aitken tells Niamh Donnelly about her new novel, Bright I Burn. Darragh Geraghty recommends 15 of the best new audiobooks for your summer holidays. Hugh Linehan looks at the controversy surrounding sponsor Baillie Gifford’s withdrawal from several literary festivals. And there is a Q&A with crime writer Andrea Mara about her career and her latest thriller, Someone in the Attic.

Reviews are Oliver Farry on What Does Israel Fear from Palestine? by Raja Shehadeh & Hope and Despair: Israel’s Future in the New Middle East by Michael A Horowitz; Hamas: The Quest for Power by Beverley Milton-Edwards and Stephen Farrell; and Hadley Freeman’s Blindness: October 7 and the Left; Conor Brady on Walled in by Hate: The Friends and Enemies of Kevin O’Higgins by Arthur Mathews; Brigid O’Dea on Reeling in the Queers by Paraic Kerrigan; Claire Hennessy on the best new YA fiction; Nicholas Allen on The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry; Pat Carty on The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley; Lucie Shelley on Crooked Seeds by Karen Jennings; Eilís Ní Dhuibhne on Sarah Leipciger’s Moon Road; John Walshe on And How Does That Make You Feel: everything you (n)ever wanted to know about therapy by Joshua Fletcher; John Boyne on Only Here, Only Now by Tom Newlands; Sara Keating on the best new children’s fiction; and Catherine Toal on Maggie O’Farrell: Contemporary Critical Perspectives by Elaine Canning.

This Saturday’s Irish Times Eason offer is A Thread of Violence by Mark O’Connell, just €5.99, a €5 saving.

Award-winning illustrator Annie West’s entire collection of original pen and ink artwork, sketches, notes, storyboards and script of The Late Night Writers Club has been acquired by the Special Collections Department at The National Library of Ireland.

Also in May 2024 the entire collection from the Yeats in Love series which includes all 35 original pen and ink Illustrations, sketches, notes, abandoned attempts and papers was accessioned by the Special Collections department at The Library of Trinity College.

“I am absolutely thrilled and honoured that this is happening, and twice in a year. I am hugely grateful to be invited by both of these fine institutions to contribute to their Illustration Collections as a living Illustrator. The thought that my grandchildren and their children can go and look at the illustrations in years to come is the most wonderful feeling and I pinch myself every day in case I’m dreaming”.

The Sligo-based illustrator is one of the few book illustrators in Ireland still working only on paper. The visual archive of The Late Night Writers Club contains more than 105 full-colour original pen and ink illustrations, 272 pages of drafts and notes, along with work in progress photos and videos. The collection will be made available to the public when it has been catalogued.

Director of the NLI, Dr Audrey Whitty, said: “One of our key objectives at the National Library of Ireland is to proactively collect contemporary materials that tell the story of Ireland. This collection allows us to celebrate another aspect of Ireland’s creative, literary and historical heritage. This is a fabulous collection of artwork and associated notes that really tell the story of how this book was developed – it is an absolute bonus that the book is set in the wonderful surrounds of the NLI building itself.”

West said: “It is such a great honour to have my work, but more importantly, to have this illustration-based work become part of our national collections. Illustrators are often overlooked alongside our literary peers so this is indeed a lovely moment of recognition for all Illustrators. In a world of social and digital media, Artificial Intelligence–based, anonymous, disposable artwork, it’s important that we value and keep an archive of the craft of illustration and design still executed by hand, before it fades away and becomes extinct.”

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Dingle Literary Festival announces a special event on July 20th, 2024, at the Blasket Centre, the festival’s first off-weekend event. Dingle Lit will host an evening with acclaimed author Colm Tóibín to celebrate the launch of his latest book, Long Island, which has sold a remarkable 12,000 copies here in its first fortnight on sale. Following the success of Brooklyn, which was adapted into a film, Long Island continues the story of protagonist Eilis Lacey.

Long Island has already garnered praise from critics, hailed as a “masterclass” in storytelling for its subtlety, intelligence, and emotional depth. Broadcaster, musician, and local legend Philip King will engage in conversation with Colm Tóibín.

Tickets, at €20, are now available for purchase at the Dingle Bookshop, any remaining tickets will be accessible for online purchase from June 14th. dinglelit.ie.