Based in Dublin, the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) is a popular landmark attraction allowing visitors to explore the country’s rich literary heritage. Featuring a fascinating array of exhibitions and tours, GCN has teamed up with the museum to offer two of our lucky readers annual memberships; read on to find out how to enter!

Current MoLI exhibitions include:

What I Like Most
Step into the enchanting world of Mary Murphy’s beloved story about a young child and her mother. The exhibition brings What I Like Most to life through an interactive exhibition that invites parents and children to take an immersive journey through Zhu Cheng-Liang’s beautiful illustrations.

Visitors can take part in activities from the book, creating magical moments of connection and delight for young museum-goers. Children can also contribute their own artwork to the exhibit, making it truly special and interactive for all involved.

Did you know?
– The girl in the book is based on Zhu Cheng-Liang’s own granddaughter, Fiona.
– Children can draw their own favourite things and hang them in the cherry tree.
– Everything in the exhibition references something from the book: the bear, the sofa, the plants.
– Little footsteps on the ground show visitors the way.
– The author, Mary Murphy, provides a commentary on her thinking about the book as you walk around.

 

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A City of Words
Inside the Dublin Writers Museum Collection

Dublin, immortalised in the work of literary giants from James Joyce to Maeve Binchy, is a city of words. Everywhere you look you will find literature embedded in its cityscape.

Some of the writers who have called the city home were native Dubliners, while others were ‘blow-ins’ who moved here to pursue education, writing, or entirely different careers. Others still migrated from Ireland but still maintained deep creative and personal ties with the capital.

Is there something in the water here?

From 1991 to 2020, the Dublin Writers Museum amassed a collection of rare first editions, specially commissioned bronze busts and contemporary artwork, as well as personal items and intriguing mementoes connected to the city’s writers. Now permanently on display at MoLI, the collection reveals how Dublin became a literary city beloved by readers all over the world.

Highlights include:
– The telephone from Samuel Beckett’s Paris apartment
– Oliver St John Gogarty’s flying goggles
– Mary Lavin’s childhood teddy bear
– Brendan Behan’s Irish National Painters’ and Decorators’ Trade Union card
– Patrick Kavanagh’s death mask
– Kate O’Brien’s typewriter

 

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Is this a poem?
Adventures at the edge of an artform
Curated by Christodoulos Makris

This is an exhibition about poetry’s furthest frontiers. Explore the entire museum to discover works of poetry that exist beyond the page: poems that are sound, sculpture, image, film, performances, software, and objects you can touch.

The poems collected in this exhibition were mostly made in Ireland over the last decade, but are sometimes seen as a footnote to Irish poetry. Is this a poem? celebrates their playful capacity to surprise, challenge and inform our view of the world.

 

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Permanent Exhibition
The Museum of Literature Ireland’s immersive main exhibition showcases Ireland’s literary heritage, with a focus on one of the most famous writers in the world, James Joyce. Among the museum’s treasures is ‘Copy No. 1’ of the first edition of Joyce’s Ulysses, which is considered to be one of the most important novels ever written and a significant literary landmark.

Another highlight of the exhibition is the Riverrun of Language, where you can experience the sound of Irish literature up close in this immersive installation.

What does Irish writing sound like? ‘From swerve of shore to bend of bay’, every corner of Ireland has its own accent and voice. Whether in Irish or English, our writers have always played with words and painted vivid images that challenge us to think, feel and imagine.

 

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Tours
Public Guided tours:
Monday-Sunday (May-September): 11am, 1pm and 3pm
Tuesday-Sunday (October-April): 11am, 1pm and 3pm

Historic House Tour:
Every Sunday 11am and 3pm

Pride & The Pen Tour:
Every last Saturday of the month at 3pm

For more information about the Museum of Literature Ireland, visit their website. For a chance to win an annual membership to discover all the museum has to offer, simply answer the following question:

MoLI is home to ‘Copy No. 1’ of the first edition of which of James Joyce’s novels?

The competition closes at midnight on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. Winners will be contacted directly and shared on social media.

By submitting this form, you give GCN consent to process your personal information for the purposes of conducting this competition. More information on how we protect your privacy can be found here.