"Local Elections" exhibition in Áras Contae an Chláir during April

"Local Elections", an exhibition created by Local Authority Archivists, will be on show for one month from the 2nd April, 2009 in Clare County Council, Áras Contae an Chláir, New Road, Ennis. This exhibition was launched in Dublin by Mr. John Gormley, T.D., Minister of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government last November. The exhibition will feature exhibits connected with Clare’s Local Elections which will include a telegram sent by Eamon De Valera to his wife after his 1917 by-election victory over Irish Party candidate Patrick Lynch. Also on view will be voters' lists dating back to the 1860s and Board of Guardian Minute books demonstrating the predecessor bodies of the present local authority system. The exhibition will also include interesting insights into the difficulties faced by local government in the new Free State such as a report on the administration of Clare County Council dated the 12th November, 1923 as to the attendance of councillors at meetings "...the county council is composed of 31 members. The number of general meetings from June 1920 to February 1924 was eighteen…To appreciate the records of attendance I have to point out some difficulties under which the council laboured. Practically every member of the council was on the run, eight had their homes burned, and nine were either interned or imprisoned. For a considerable period it was not possible for them to assemble at the usual place of Meeting. Some of the meetings were held at midnight at specially chosen and scattered places under and by armed protection. It was only by cautious movements and grave risks many meetings were made possible and I have evidence to show where one member walked fifty miles to a council meeting rather than absent himself."

This exhibition seeks to highlight to the public the national story of local government and also the local impact it has had on its community. It begins in 1898 when the Local Government Act extended a franchise to vote to all owners and occupiers of property valued at £10 or more, which included heads of small farms and labouring households, male and female. On the 22nd April, 1899, newly elected councillors of County Clare met for the first time to pass resolutions on behalf of the people who elected them. Prior to 1899, local government lay in the hands of Grand Juries and Boards of Guardians who were mainly governed by local landlords. It is hoped as we move toward the upcoming local elections in June that it will heighten the awareness of the purpose and goals of local elections and the impact of local government has in our communities. Contact details: archivesrecords@clarecoco.ie or contact the archivist Rene Franklin on 065 6846 414/563. The panels accompanying the exhibits may be viewed by clicking here (PDF download).

Lahinch Publican sings ‘The Old Rustic Bridge by the Mill’.

Tom Frawley, 89, runs a small pub in Lahinch, Co. Clare. A clip on YouTube shows Tom – the owner of a beautiful tenor voice - giving a rendition of ‘The Old Rustic Bridge by the Mill’. Tom’s pub has remained unchanged for decades and has been photographed and painted by many, including local artist, Eamon Doyle (see http://www.edoyleart.com/gallery/prints/714).



And click here for a photo on Flickr of "Tom Frawley, at 89 still pulling pints 353 days of the year in his lovely old fashioned pub in Lahinch. Attention to detail is still top of the morning routine".

Guilty Reading Secrets Revealed

An online survey carried out by World Book Day this year has found that two thirds of people have claimed to have read a book they actually haven't. The principal reason given for lying is the desire to impress, and a reluctance to divulge the writers they really enjoy reading. The most popular book to have lied about reading is 1984 by George Orwell, with 42% of surveyed people saying they had said they had read it even if they hadn't. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy came second with 31%, and Ulysses by James Joyce was in third place with 25%.

Those who lied have claimed to have read:
1. Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell (42%)
2. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (31%)
3. Ulysses by James Joyce (25%)
4. The Bible (24%)
5. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (16%)
6. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking (15%)
7. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie (14%)
8. Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust (9%)
9. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama (6%)
10. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (6%)

J.K. Rowling, John Grisham and Sophie Kinsella were among the authors that people actually did enjoy reading. 41% of respondents confessed to having turned to the back of the books to read the end before finishing the story. Additionally, 48% admitted to buying a book for someone else and reading it first. Many respondents, 91%, said that they had stayed up late at night to finish reading a book. The survey also found that people can't bear to throw their books away, with 77% of respondents saying they buy extra bookshelves when they fill up. In another survey for World Book Day undertaken by Sky Arts’ “The Book Show”, it was revealed that 56% of people would like to write a book, with most women (18%) wanting to write crime/thriller or mystery and most men (20%) wanting to write sci fi and fantasy. 11% of those asked also revealed that they have written a book but not yet had it published. The survey found that book club numbers have doubled over the past year. It also revealed that 44% of children claimed they would rather be reading books than speaking to their friends on social networking sites, reading magazines, using Twitter or blogging.

Diagram Prize Winner

The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-miligram Containers of Fromage Frais has been crowned the winner of the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. The Bookseller magazine which runs the prize say that the book is a worthy winner, beating off competition from Baboon Metaphysics, Curbside Consultation of the Colon and The Large Sieve and its Applications to take the prize. The author is Professor Philip M. Parker, a professor of management science, who has written more than 200,000 books to date. Parker achieves his prolific authorship thanks to his invention - and patenting - of a machine which writes books, creating them from internet and database searches in order to eliminate or substantially reduce "the costs associated with human labour, such as authors, editors, graphic artists, data analysts, translators, distributors and marketing personnel".

Try Before You Buy

Penguin is now making the first chapter of every novel it publishes available on the internet for free at Penguin Tasters from where they can be read on screen, downloaded and printed or put on an iPhone or Blackberry. Current offerings include This Charming Man by Marian Keyes and Until It’s Over by Nicci French. This service should prove popular in the current economic climate as people have less money and are becoming more discerning in their spending choices. Readers are returning to the classics, with Penguin reporting increased sales of classic novels such as those by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and Anthony Trollope, while Amazon are also noticing a boom in 19th century novels. Award winning books are achieving higher sales than usual as people want a guarantee of quality and awards seem to promise this. Sales of misery memoirs have plummeted as readers look for something more uplifting in these recessionary times. Thrillers and other forms of escapist fiction are selling better than ever, as are books that try to explain the current financial crises, books about growing vegetables, slow cooking and knitting. Sales of books in hardback formats are also down as people are prepared to wait for the cheaper paperback formats. Advances to authors are being reduced and first time authors are finding it harder to be published as publishers are feeling the pinch.

Another Award for Heaney

Poet Seamus Heaney has won the David Cohen Prize for Literature for 2009. The prize, worth £40,000, was presented by the chair of judges and Poet Laureate Andrew Motion at a gala ceremony hosted by the British Library. Presenting the prize, Andrew Motion said “For the last forty-odd years, Heaney’s poems have crystallised the story of our times, in language which has bravely and memorably continued to extend its imaginative reach. At the same time, his critical writing, his translations and his lecturing have invigorated the whole wider world of poetry. Setting his name alongside previous winners does honour to the Cohen Prize, even as it honours him.” The winner of the David Cohen Prize for Literature chooses the recipient of the Clarissa Luard Award, which is worth £12,500. This award is funded by Arts Council England and is given to a literature organisation that supports young writers or an individual writer under the age of thirty-five. Seamus Heaney chose to present this year’s Clarissa Luard Award to Poetry Aloud, an annual poetry speaking competition open to all post primary students in Ireland. The competition is run by the National Library in association with Poetry Ireland.

Bisto Children’s Book of the Year Awards Shortlist Announced

The Bisto Children’s Book of the Year Awards, in partnership with Children’s Books Ireland are presented annually in recognition of excellence in writing and/or illustration of books for young people. The awards are administered by CBI, the national organisation for children’s books and sponsored by Bisto Gravy. The awards are open to any children’s book by an author and/or illustrator born or resident in Ireland, written in Irish or English and published between 1st January and 31st December each year. Speaking about the shortlist, Keith O’Sullivan, Chair of the 2008-9 Judging Panel, said: “This year's shortlist is exceptionally strong and diverse: it is characterised by quality writing and illustration, which afford readers, of all ages, exciting opportunities to engage with a range of themes from adventure, friendship and belonging to conflict and loss.”
The shortlist:
Airman by Eoin Colfer.
An Phleist Mhór le Ré O’Laighléis, Susan Edwards & Emily Colenso
Anila’s Journey by Mary Finn
Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd
"Brionglóidí" le Áine Ní Ghlinn & Carol Betera
Creature of the Night by Kate Thompson
Her Mother’s Face by Roddy Doyle
Highway Robbery by Kate Thompson
The Gift of the Magi Illustrated by PJ Lynch
The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers

Both Ré O’Laighléis and Kate Thompson have close connections with Clare County Library, Kate having begun her writing career in the late 80s as a member of the North Clare Writer’s Workshop in Ennistymon Public Library.

Ré O’Laighléis lives in Ballyvaughan and is a regular visitor to Clare library branches providing reading and writing workshops for post-primary school pupils during Seachtain na Gaeilge and Children’s Book Festival. He has recently completed a series of creative writing classes in Sean Lemass Public Library Shannon with a group of twelve students from both St. Patrick’s Comprehensive School and St. Caimin’s Community School in the town.

Author Áine Ní Ghlinn, also shortlisted, visited Clare Library branches during Seachtain na Gaeilge 2008.

Reading Politics session at Enis Book Club Festival 2009

Opening Night of the Ennis Book Club Festival 2009

Giant Book Club Session at Ennis Book Club Festival 2009