Blog Archives
Storymap – The Secret Librarian
‘Storymap.ie brings Dublin absolutely alive… a brilliant idea’ – Tom Dunne, Newstalk FM
I am delighted to have my short story, The Secret Librarian, on Storymap amongst such varied and wonderful Irish writers, poets and historians as: Paula Meehan, Eileen Casey, Roddy Doyle, Colm Keegan, Stephen James Smith, Shane MacThomáis and Paul Howard (aka Ross O’Carroll-Kelly), to name but a few.
What better way to pass your journey than by experiencing the charm of Dublin city. Storymap hosts a living world to spark your imagination – a world of stories, filmed where they happened, ranging from funny to literary; historic to places of interest and everything in-between!
You can watch The Secret Librarian here and don’t forget to check out a few of my favourites on Storymap, listed below, to give you a real flavour of Dublin.
If you like them, don’t keep them to yourself, share them!
Paula Meehan | The Lost Children | ![]() |
Eileen Casey | The Black Ballgown | ![]() |
Roddy Doyle | The Spire | ![]() |
Colm Keegan | Ode to the Coalman | ![]() |
Stephen James Smith | On Raglan Road | ![]() |
Shane MacThomáis | Strange bedfellows | ![]() |
Paul Howard (aka Ross O’Carroll-Kelly) |
I’m afraid this is my stop | ![]() |
A little about Storymap:
Storymap is the brainchild of two Dublin filmmakers, Andy Flaherty and Tom Rowley. Just back from working abroad, unemployed and in between film projects, the lads became annoyed with all the negative press the city was receiving. The bleak tales of recession, the gloomy accounts of unemployment and the notion that Ireland’s best and brightest had emigrated was completely at odds with what the lads were experiencing being back in their hometown.
“We wanted to do something to get people as excited about the city as we were. While loads of great people have left the country, you only have to walk into any gallery, gig or any of the fantastic spoken word or comedy nights to see that Dublin is a ridiculously fun and vibrant city with wonderful characters and a flourishing art scene. We wanted to bring the charm and character that had been pushed aside by the Celtic Tiger and bring it centre stage” – Andy
The lads came up with Storymap, a web based multimedia project that revives Ireland’s age-old tradition of storytelling and tries to capture the personality of Dublin city through its stories and storytellers. These stories are filmed being told where they happened and integrated into a live map to create a charming and layered collective vision of Dublin city made by the people of the city.
“Walking around the city – everyone has their own stories that they remember on certain streets, stories that flavour their personal experience of the city, that they tell on to friends. We thought it’d be exciting to pool those stories in one place, like one big pub where everyone shares their stories, creating a sense of what the city means to Dubliners. It’s a simple idea, but with complex possibilities, and we’re only just at the beginning of it.” – Tom
What A Privilege!
There could be only one answer – a resounding YES – when I was asked to chair Three Voices/Three Forms at the Loose End Studio, Civic Theatre last Wednesday.
As part of the Red Line Book Festival 2012, this was a platform to showcase three very diverse, but equally talented writers:
- Colm Keegan
- Eileen Casey
- Louise Phillips
Each writer read extracts from their work – Colm from his poetry, Don’t Go There; Eileen from her short story collection, Snow Shoes and Louise from her crime bestseller, Red Ribbons, along with a tantalizing taster from The Dolls House.
After their Readings I had an opportunity to ask each writer a couple of questions about their writing before opening up to the floor where the fun really began.
You only had to look at the audience to see how much they enjoyed listening to these wonderful writers and from the photo’s it certainly appears as if Colm, Eileen and Louise enjoyed the night too!
November Events
November is a jam-packed month full of events to keep all avid readers and aspiring writers busy!
And I am delighted to have my short story, Secret Librarian, included, along with pieces from fellow Platform One Writers – Michael Whelan and Doreen Duffy in the:
Red Line Book Festival 2012 – RE(A)D LINE WRITING
Venue: RUA RED, Tallaght
Time: 6-7pm
Tickets: Free but booking essential on 01-451 5860 or boxoffice@ruared.ie
South Dublin County Library’s Red Line Books Festival proudly presents an evening of new work by emerging and recently published writers from South County Dublin.
New work by emerging writers based in and around RUA RED, read and performed by actors from South Dublin theatre and film groups in a collaborative and inter-generational showcase event.
Writers, artists, theatre and film groups from a wide range of backgrounds and age groups are based in RUA RED South Dublin Arts Centre. Individuals and groups based in the building are producing diverse creative projects from poetry, novels, audiobooks, songs and digital media installations to short films.
The first ever Re(a)d Line Writing event introduces a collaborative production of this work to you, the audience.
Led by writer Sue Hassett and actress Rachael Dowling, Red Line presents a one-hour reading and performance of new work.
This event will be recorded for podcast by Curious Broadcast –
Curious Broadcast is a broadcasting space where communities and individuals can exchange and generate new ideas and imaginings for social change www.curiousbroadcast.com
These events are part of South Dublin County Libraries 4-day Red Line Books Festival.
15% discount at Rua Red Café from 7 to 8pm
An evening with writers Eileen Casey, Louise Phillips and Colm Keegan
Venue: Civic Theatre, Tallaght
Time: 8.15pm
Tickets: €5
Niamh O’Connor, Conor Brady and Sam Millar. Chaired by Louise Phillips.
Venue: Smock Alley Theatre
Time: 6.30pm
Tickets: Free but as seats are limited it is advisable to arrive by 6.15pm
Sam Millar is author of highly acclaimed crime novels, the most recent of which, Dead of Winter, is the third Karl Kane novel and Conor Brady, former editor of The Irish Timesand author of crime novel A June of Ordinary Murders.
Louise Phillips is the author of Red Ribbons and her second novel, The Doll’s House, is due out in 2013.
with John Connolly, Niamh O’Connor, Declan Hughes, Declan Burke and Mark Billingham
Venue: Civic Theatre, Tallaght
Time: 8-10pm
Tickets: €10/€8 concession