Wednesday 14 February 2018

Dream Big for Engineers Week at Clare County Library

Engineers Week is a week-long festival of nationwide events running from the 24th February to the 2nd March 2018 celebrating the world of engineering in Ireland. The annual event is coordinated on a national basis by Engineers Ireland’s STEPS programme and funded by Science Foundation Ireland. The aims of the week include encouraging young people, their teachers and parents to explore the fun world of engineering, generating interest and enthusiasm for engineering in their everyday lives and inspiring young people to explore engineering career paths. The week also serves to highlight the diverse opportunities engineering offers.

To celebrate Engineers Week in Clare County Library the movie Dream Big: Engineering Our World is showing in three branches; at Ennistymon Library on Tuesday the 27th of February at 11.30am, at Scariff Library on the 28th of February at 11.30am and a third screening will take place at Kilkee Library on Thursday March 1st at 2pm. Invited audiences include Junior Cycle students from Post Primary Schools.

Narrated by Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges, Dream Big: Engineering Our World is a film that will transform how we think about engineering. From the Great Wall of China and the world’s tallest buildings to underwater robots, solar cars and smart, sustainable cities, Dream Big celebrates the human ingenuity behind engineering marvels big and small, and shows how engineers push the limits of innovation in unexpected and amazing ways. Produced for all ages, Dream Big showcases engineering’s impressive impact on our world and our lives. Through the film’s inspiring stories of human grit and aspiration, Dream Big will inspire its Junior Cycle student viewers at the screenings planned by Clare County Library to think about what drives engineers to create better lives for people and a more sustainable future for us all.

Wednesday 7 February 2018

Eir Sport Sports Book of the Year

The Choice by Dublin footballer Philly McMahon was chosen as the 2017 Eir Sport Sports Book of the Year. The book focuses on Philly’s relationship with his brother John, who died at the age of 31 after a long struggle with heroin addiction. Philly recounts how the opportunities and choices sport afforded him sent his life in a very different direction to that of his brother.

The award aims to recognise the best in Irish sports writing in books published by an Irish author, or sports book with an Irish subject matter. The 2 other shortlisted books were The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the rise of Irish cycling’s golden generation by Barry Ryan and The Warrior’s Code by Kilkenny hurler Jackie Tyrell with Christy O’Connor.

2018 International DUBLIN Literary Award

Seven Irish novels are among the 150 titles nominated by libraries worldwide for the €100,000 International DUBLIN Literary award, the world’s most valuable annual literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English. Nominations include 48 novels in translation with works by authors from 40 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia, the USA & Canada, South America and Australia & New Zealand.

The Irish titles nominated for the 2018 award are:
Days Without End by Sebastian Barry
The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
The Years That Followed by Catherine Dunne
The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear MacBride
Solar Bones by Mike McCormack
Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent
All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan.