Dubliners

Dublin: One City, One Book is an initiative of Dublin City Libraries, where a different book with links to the capital is chosen each year. Citizens are encouraged to read the book during the month of April and a number of events are organised around it.



This year's choice is James Joyce's Dubliners: fifteen stories about the lives, loves, small triumphs and great failures of the ordinary citizens of Dublin.



One such event is a series of lunchtime lectures in City Hall on the theme, Dubliners - in their own words. They are held on four Tuesdays in April starting at 1pm.



City Hall is now in prime nick and entering though the grand foyer, in the august company of the likes of Thomas Davis and Daniel O'Connell (above), instills a great sense of awe and anticipation.



It's only a small step then into the intimacy of the Council chamber, where, last Tuesday, Dr. Criostóir MacCárthaigh, was preparing to give his talk on Tales from the Tenements - The Dublin Folklore Project. This is part of the wider Urban Folklore Project in the UCD Department of Irish Folklore (now the Delargy Centre).



The chamber was packed, the talk very interesting and the Q&A very lively. A good way to spend a lunchtime and well worth skipping lunch for.

Two talks remain: 17/4/2012 - The North Strand Bombing, and 24/4/2012 - Tales from Dublin's Liberties.