Dublin City Libraries & Archives

Dr Colm Lennon, Emeritus Professor, Department of History, NUI Maynooth explores how the legend of Brian Boru and the battle of Clontarf have been adopted as a means of advancing different ideologies throughout Irish history, and how modern scholarly research is helping separate fact from myth. Recorded in front of a live audience on 1 April 2014, as part of the Dublin City Hall lecture series.

Rathmines can boast a rich literary heritage having played host to many leading literary figures including James Joyce, William Carleton, George Russell and Paul Durcan. "A Sense of Place", a literary evening held at Rathmines Library, honoured the rich literary life of the area. Local writers Evelyn Conlon, Adrian Kenny, Siobhán Parkinson and Fintan Vallely read selected pieces of their work and...

James Connolly of Kevin Street Library Creative Writing Group reads one of his short stories in Greenside House, Cuffe Street, in the spring of 2014. Sound effects by David McKeever. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings, i...

Kathleen Clifford of Kevin Street Library Creative Writing Group reads one of her short stories. Recorded in Greenside House, Cuffe Street, in spring 2014.Sound effects by David McKeever. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writin...

Joe Donnellan of Kevin Street Library Creative Writing Group reads his piece about match day All Ireland 2013. Recorded in Greenside House, Cuffe Street, in spring 2014. Sound effects by David McKeever. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk abo...

Francis Lawlor of Kevin Street Library Creative Writing Group reads one of his short stories. Recorded in Greenside House, Cuffe Street, in spring 2014. Sound effects by David McKeever. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings...

Brian Cushen of Kevin Street Library Creative Writing Group reads one of his short stories. Recorded in Greenside House, Cuffe Street, in spring 2014. Sound effects by David McKeever. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings,...

Daniel Lloyd of Cabra Library Creative Writers' Group reads from one of his short stories. Recorded in Cabra Library in spring 2014. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings, improve their skills, and to offer encouragement to...

Rose Kelleher of Cabra Library Creative Writers' Group reads one of her short stories. Recorded in Cabra Library in spring 2014. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings, improve their skills, and to offer encouragement to one...

Austin Moore of Ballymun Library Creative Writing Group reads from his work. Recorded in Ballymun Library in spring 2014. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings, improve their skills, and to offer encouragement to one anothe...

Marie Partridge of Ballymun Library Creative Writing Group reads one of her poems. Recorded in Ballymun Library in spring 2014. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings, improve their skills, and to offer encouragement to one...

Bernadette O’Reilly of Ballymun Library Creative Writing Group reads some of her poems. Recorded in Ballymun Library in spring 2014. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings, improve their skills, and to offer encouragement to...

Bernadette Boland of Ballymun Library Creative Writing Group reads from her work. Recorded in Ballymun Library in spring 2014. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings, improve their skills, and to offer encouragement to one a...

Mary McCall and Nancy Matchton Owens of Ballymun Library Creative Writing Group read an excerpt from a play they co-wrote. Recorded in Ballymun Library in spring 2014. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings, improve their sk...

Mary Oyediran of Ballymun Library Creative Writing Group reads one of her poems. Recorded in Ballymun Library in spring 2014. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings, improve their skills, and to offer encouragement to one an...

Seán Ó Flóinn of Ballymun Library Creative Writing Group reads from his work. Recorded in Ballymun Library in spring 2014. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings, improve their skills, and to offer encouragement to one anoth...

Nancy Matchton Owens of Ballymun Library Creative Writing Group reads one of her poems. Recorded in Ballymun Library in spring 2014. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings, improve their skills, and to offer encouragement to...

Trish Kennedy of Ballymun Library Creative Writing Group reads some of her poems. Recorded in Ballymun Library in spring 2014. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings, improve their skills, and to offer encouragement to one a...

Seán O'Donoghue of Ballymun Library Creative Writing Group reads some of his poems. Recorded in Ballymun Library in spring 2014. Dublin is a city that is famed for its poets, writers and storytellers - it is a city of literature after all. In Dublin City Public Libraries members of writers' groups meet informally to talk about their writings, improve their skills, and to offer encouragement to one...

Marking the centenary of Rathmines Library, local historian Brendan Langley talks about the fascinating life of the industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Brendan Langley is a local historian with a long association with the Rathmines, Ranelagh and Rathgar Historical Society. Recorded in front of a live audience in Rathmines Library on 15 October 2013.

Marking the centenary of Rathmines Library, architect and former lecturer Brendan Grimes details the architectural history of the Library and outlines the history of Irish Carnegie Libraries. Recorded in front of a live audience in Rathmines Library on 16 October 2013.

In this, the 17th Annual Sir John T. Gilbert Lecture - "Alleys, annals and anecdotes: a new look at Gilbert's History of Dublin", Séamas Ó Maitiú re-examines John Gilbert’s three volume History of Dublin and looks at the 19th century Dublin that inspired Gilbert. Dr. Séamas Ó Maitiú holds an MA in local History and was awarded a PhD by the National University of Ireland for his thesis on the devel...

For a taste of what to expect for the Dublin Chinese New Year Festival 2014, listen to storyteller Aideen McBride telling the tale of General Five Tiger, from Chinese Fairy Tales and Folk Tales. Translated from the German by Desmond Parsons, 1937.

Author Kevin McCarthy reads from his crime novel 'Irregulars'. Recorded in front of a live audience in the Central Library on 31 October 2013 as part of its 'Crime in the City: Crime and History' series. Irregulars is set in Dublin in 1922 during the Civil War. Through his main characters Sean O'Keefe, a demobbed RIC man and Nora Flynn who works for the ruthless CID, Kevin explores this traumatic...

Author Michael Russell reads from his two novels, 'The City of Shadows' and 'The City of Strangers'. Recorded in front of a live audience in the Central Library on 17 October 2013 as part of its 'Crime in the City: Crime and History' series. These books form part of a series that take protagonist Garda Detective Stefan Gillespie through the early 1930s to the Second World War, 'the Emergency'. Alo...