Trinity Library showcases modern greats

In The Irish Times this Saturday, Joseph O’Connor tells Patrick Freyne about his new novel, The Ghosts of Rome, and Garrett Carr discusses his debut novel, The Boy from the Sea, with Edel Coffey. Gordon D’Arcy and Paul Howard tell Jen Hogan about Let’s Play Rugby, their interactive book for children. And there is a Q&A with Emma Healey, author of Costa Award winner Elizabeth Is Missing and new novel Sweat.

Reviews are Diarmaid Ferriter on Ciaran O’Neill’s Power and Powerlessness in Union Ireland; Breandán Mac Suibhne on Documents on Irish Foreign Policy (Vol 14) 1969-73; Peter Murphy on What Art Does: An Unfinished Theory by Brian Eno and Bette A; Huw Nesbitt on Silent Catastrophes by WG Sebald; Rónán Hession on the best new translations; Helena Mulkerns on To Save the Man by John Sayles; Paul Clements on The Amergin Step: An Exploration in the Imagination of Iveragh by Paddy Bushe; Philippa Conlon on The Cleaner by Mary Watson; Rabeea Saleem on The Book of George by Kate Greathead; Ian Hughes on The Nazi Mind: Twelve Warnings from History by Laurence Rees and The Hohenzollerns and the Nazis by Stephen Malinowski; Michael O’Loughlin on The Last Days of Budapest: Spies, Nazis, Rescuers and Resistance, 1944-1945 by Adam LeBor; Michael Russell on The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor; and Michael Cronin on The Gorgeous Inertia of the Earth by Adrian Duncan.

This weekend’s Irish Times Eason offer is Topographia Hibernica by Blindboy Boatclub, just €5.99, a €5 saving/

Trinity Library is renowned for its medieval collections, but a new exhibition, which opened last night, showcases new treasures acquired by the library celebrating and reflecting on Ireland’s literary greats, past and present, as well as historical documents and contemporary works of art.

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On display will be material from the Christy Nolan Archive alongside items related to acclaimed writers such as John Banville, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Samuel Beckett, Jonathan Swift and Bram Stoker.

Also included in the exhibition are modern works of art inspired by Irish writers reflecting on themes including homelessness, racism, disability and direct provision.

The exhibition highlights the important work cultural institutions such as the Library of Trinity College Dublin undertake “collecting the now”, explains Laura Shanahan, curator of the exhibition and head of research collections at Trinity Library.

Highlights include literary drafts, photographs and some personal effects of Christy Nolan including his pointer known as a “unicorn stick”; manuscript drafts of John Banville’s The Singularities; a notecard written by Samuel Beckett while in hiding in Tunisia following the announcement of his being awarded the Nobel Prize for literature; literary drafts for Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s poetry collection The Sun-fish; original artwork for Annie West’s book Yeats in Love; A Modest Proposal by The Salvage Press, a limited edition fine art book containing new interpretations of Jonathan Swift’s satirical essay with poems by Jessica Traynor and lithographs by David O’Kane; and artist Elide Piras’s When You Are Old woodcut inspired by Yeats’s famous poem.

Entitled Zealous mercurial dreams were about to be realised, the exhibition draws inspiration from Christy Nolan’s autobiography Under the Eye of the Clock. His archive was donated to Trinity by his family.

Christy Nolan’s sister Yvonne Nolan explained: “I know that Trinity would have been the place that both Christy and my mother and father would most want the archive to go to. The most important thing that any of us had contact with in our lives was that Christy was a daylight genius. And now it was my turn to mind the lamp and pass it on.”

The physical exhibition in the Long Room of the Old Library forms part of the Book of Kells Experience. See here to book tickets for both exhibitions. The exhibition runs until May 20th.

Four online exhibitions will be published to complement the physical exhibition. The first, focusing on the Banville archive, is live now on the Library’s online exhibition website.

The Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) has announced the appointment of David Cleary as its new director/chief executive.

Cleary is currently the director of sales and operations for EPIC, the Irish Emigration Museum, Dublin. He was previously head of sales for the museum and has also led the sales role for the Jeanie Johnston and the CHQ Building as an events venue. He worked in close collaboration with the EPIC museum’s curators and marketing team over a six-year period which has seen a large expansion and growth in the museum’s activities. He will take up his appointment in mid-February.

Announcing the appointment, the chair of MoLI’s board, Geoffrey Keating, said: “On behalf of the board of MoLI, and its founders University College Dublin and the National Library of Ireland, I am delighted to welcome David’s appointment. David brings rich experience in leadership and strategic planning to this role, and we look forward to the continued growth of MoLI under his direction.”

“This is also an important occasion for us to pay warm tribute to the outgoing director, Simon O’Connor. As the first director, appointed in 2017, Simon led the creation of MoLI from a concept to an indispensable part of the Irish cultural landscape; his creative vision and leadership have been vital to its success.”

O’Connor’s work at MoLI has been recognised by many national and international awards, including the double award in 2023 of the prestigious Europa Nostra Award in the category of Citizen Engagement and Awareness-raising, and, in a first for an Irish cultural institution, the Jury Grand Prix.

Bullaun Press is on the longlist for this year’s Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses with There’s a Monster Behind the Door, by Gaëlle Bélem (tr Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert).

Bélem’s next novel, The Rarest Fruit, is to be published by Bullaun on May 1st, by the same translators. It’s about the true story of Edmond Albius, an orphan, born into slavery in Réunion, who became an amateur botanist, discovered the elusive secret of how to hand-pollinate the vanilla plant, thereby changing the course of culinary history in the West, and died in poverty without receiving recognition for his accomplishment.

Britain’s poet laureate Simon Armitage will make an exclusive Belfast visit to the Linen Hall Library when he embarks on the next “L to M” leg of his 10-year tour of the UK’s libraries.

Each spring this decade, Armitage will give readings in libraries across the UK, from the flagship libraries of big cities to the smaller ones that serve rural and remote communities. Using the alphabet as a compass, his journey will celebrate the library as one of the great and necessary institutions.

On March 11th, Armitage will read with special guest poet Leontia Flynn. For the occasion, The Linen Hall, which is renowned for its Irish collections, will reflect the alphabet theme of the tour by displaying its unique Robert McAdam Comparative Lexicon (c 1885), handwritten volumes of Irish words and their equivalents in 28 other languages, from Scottish to Manx Gaelic to Sanskrit.

Cecilia West, director at Messenger Publications, retires today, completing a long and illustrious career in publishing spanning over 40 years. Cecilia has worked with several publishing houses in Ireland and the UK including Andre Deutsch, Veritas Publications, Wolfhound Press, The Columba Press and Messenger Publications. She was a member of the Board of Publishing Ireland for four years.

West has been at the helm of Messenger Publications for more than 11 years, guiding magazine production and developing and expanding our book publishing enterprise. Messenger Publications is today a big publisher of books on Ignatian spirituality and Jesuit studies, care for the earth, scripture, social justice, prayer and pastoral resources. She is succeeded by Brendan McCarthy.

The Strokestown International Poetry Competition 2025 closing date has been extended to February 7th at midnight. Previous winners of the competition, established in 1999, include Vona Groarke, Paddy Bushe, Maureen Boyle and Jane Robinson. This year’s competition will be judged by award-winning poet Jane Clarke.

There is a prize fund of €2,000, and the five shortlisted poets will be invited to read their poem at this year’s Strokestown International Poetry Festival 2025 (May 2nd-4th). To apply please visit strokestownpoetryfest.ie