A Literary Weekend in Dublin

Last week was mid term break for Scottish schools – days to fill, in February, when the weather tends

not to be kind. What to do? We decided on a short trip to Dublin, Ireland, famous for both its warm hospitality (or craic) and excellent pint of Guinness, as well as for producing wonderful writers.

The Old Library

Trinity College,
Long Room

We began by exploring the popular tourist hotspots of Dublin Castle and Kilmainham Gaol, both steeped in Irish political and social history and well worth a visit. But I’d also made it my mission to learn more of Dublin’s great literary tradition, starting at its most famous seat of learning, TrinityCollege. With an outstanding set of writing alumni that includes Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels), Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest) and Bram Stoker (Dracula), Trinity College is home to the Old Library

Trinity College, Old Library

with its majestic Long Room, containing two tiers of oak bookcases which hold over 200,000 books. It was magnificent on such a jaw-dropping scale that I had to remind myself it was real and not some Disney mock-up or made for a scene of Harry Potter!

 The Book of Kells

But my key reason for visiting Trinity College was to see its main treasure, something I’d wished to view for a long time - the artistically inscribed Book of Kells. Dating from around AD 800, the Book of Kells is believed to have been completed by monks from the island of Iona in Scotland. The precision of the scribes as they recorded the four Gospels of the Bible shows their immense skill and dedication to their work. Following line after line of immaculate Latin script, I couldn’t help but reflect that as I type more and write less, my handwriting has deteriorated to a lazy scrawl. It’s time to up my game and start practicing with the calligraphy set my sons gave me for Christmas. Seeing the Book of Kells was more than worth the wait.

 Dublin Writers Museum

 

Dublin Writers Museum
Portrait Gallery

From there, it was on to the Dublin Writers Museum, situated in an 18^th century townhouse refurbished by the Jameson family, of Irish whiskey fame, which houses a wealth of artefacts, such as letters and first editions, celebrating the lives and works of Irish writers, including four Nobel laureates, over the past three hundred years. Visiting room after room filled with memorabilia from the likes of Swift and Wilde, Yeats and Joyce, was both awe-inspiring and, as a writer, more than a little daunting. If you plan on visiting the Writers Museum make sure to take a trip upstairs to the stunning Writers Portrait Gallery, found in the ornate former drawing room with views across Parnell Square.

Walking with Famous Irish Writers

Oscar Wilde Sculpture

Dublin is a city that encourages walking and has even put together a writing trail which includes a visit to Oscar Wilde’s House, the Oscar Wilde Memorial Sculptures in the gardens opposite his childhood home off Merrion Square, as well as the James Joyce Centre and more. My good friend and writer, Rachelle Atalla, also recommended I visit Sweny’s Pharmacy, an oldie-world former pharmacy that sells second hand books and appears in Joyce’s Ulysses and where volunteers read from his work. When we visited, Ulysses was being read in French, and given my knowledge of French has gone much the same way as my handwriting, we didn’t linger long, but it was lovely to imagine we’d walked in Joyce’s footsteps, if only for a little while.

 

Sweny's Pharmacy
mentioned in Ulysses

Contemporary Female Irish Writers

 In preparation for my trip to Dublin and also since I've returned, I've been reading contemporary female Irish fiction writers. I have long been a fan of both Marian Keyes (my review of her latest release, The Break) and Cecelia Ahern (one of my Christmas reads was The Gift), but I was also lucky enough, last year, to hear the fabulous short fiction writer, Claire Keegan, give a reading at Aberdeen University (my review of Foster). Next on my to-be-read pile was The Hollow Heart by Adrienne Vaughan, editor of the Romantic Novelists’ Association magazine and author of the Heartfelt series. Vaughan’s latest The Summer at the Seahorse Hotel is out now.

Lastly, my current bedtime read is The Good Mother by Sinead Moriarty, recommended for those visiting Dublin, over on the Trip Fiction website. Ireland’s literary tradition is most definitely alive and well.

If you’re unable to sample the delights of Ireland for yourself then why not try the next best thing and read some of its brilliant fiction. I'd love if you'd join in the craic by sharing your favourites below …

Happy reading,

Rae

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WITH APOLOGIES TO OSCAR WILDE

Every woman knows Lady Augusta Bracknell’s famous line in The Importance of Being Earnest: ‘A handbag?’ said with such disdain everyone instantly knows her true feelings. It’s a phrase my husband has perfected down the years, although he invariably uses the words ‘Another handbag?’ but the disdain is there. The fact that I ignore his remark goes without saying. I need my handbags.

My mother was a shoe and bag addict. The genes were passed down to my sister and I - she got the shoe addiction and I got the bag one. I always carry a bag - usually a largish one - whenever I go out. Shoulder, clutch, tote, but never ever a back pack, I just don’t like them. But I do like quirky bags.

The contents of my bags though has changed down the years.When the children were young besides my own essential stuff, notebook and pen (even in those long ago days I scribbled), purse, paperback, keys, the bag had to be big enough to carry all sorts of emergency kit: wet wipes, plasters, snacks, bits of lost lego, crayons and colouring books - oh, any mum of my generation can tell you what it was like keeping children happy in the car in the days before nintendo. And then there had to be room to carry any things of theirs they tired of holding and handed to me. These days I need a bag large enough to carry a note book, phone, diary, sunglasses, spare pair of ordinary glasses, purse, ipad, spare pen, kindle, tissues, lipstick, comb and some business cards (just in case I meet the agent of my dreams so I can hand over a card.) Invariably too, my husband will say, 'have you got room in there for my glasses and my camera?' I'm seriously considering buying him a 'man-bag' - you can buy some lovely ones here in France.

Occasionally I do try and leave the house with a smaller handbag and feel lost. And invariably whatever I decide to leave out is the very thing I need. I have friends who never carry a bag - how do they do that?

For me handbags are like notebooks - irresistible and one is never enough! How about you - can you resist a shop window like the one below?