Programme

Nuala O’Connor will read from her novel Nora: A Love Story of Nora and James Joyce (New Island Books) and will talk about the inspiration for the book as well as her experience writing it.

In sensuous, resonant prose, Nuala O’Connor has conjured the definitive portrait of this strong, passionate and loyal Irishwoman. This year’s One Dublin One Book choice, Nora is a tour de force, an earthy and authentic love letter to Irish literature’s greatest muse.

Nuala O’Connor is a novelist, short story writer and poet who was born in Dublin and lives now in Co. Galway with her family. She has published five novels and six short story collections, including Becoming Belle, Miss Emily, You, and Joyride to Jupiter.

Copies of the book are available to borrow from Dublin City Libraries and are available in physical, e-book and e-audiobook formats.

‘They were yung and easily freudened’: James Joyce plays around with words in his writing world. Come to this reading and writing session with Leo Cullen and enjoy, through Joyce, your own writing world! Be not young and easily frightened!

All level of writers welcome. 

Spaces limited.

Unfortunately due to illness, this event has been postponed. We hope to re-schedule the event.

Join podcaster, Joycean and counter-culturalist Conner Habib for an in-depth exploration of author and guest curator Nuala O’Connor‘s —Love, says Bloom exhibition at MoLI, launched in February to celebrate the Ulysses centenary. The exhibition looks at the deep love between Irish writer James Joyce, his wife Nora Barnacle, and their children Giorgio and Lucia, using music as a steadfast element in their lives. Nuala will discuss the Joyce’s mutual devotion, alongside some of the music that bound them, while their world was in flux.

In this informal conversation, Kevin Power will interview Nuala O’Connor about her experiences researching and writing her historical novels – not just Nora, this year’s One Dublin One Book choice, but her previous historical novels Becoming Belle and Miss Emily. An event of particular interest to writers and anyone interested in the process of turning history into fiction. 

Online via Zoom, sponsored by Trinity Long Room Hub Arts & Humanities Research Institute

Nuala O’Connor is a novelist, short story writer and poet who was born in Dublin and lives now in Co. Galway with her family. Nuala is the author of five  novels, including NORA,  Becoming Belle, Miss Emily, a reimagining of the life of Emily Dickinson, The Closet of Savage Mementoes, You, and six short story collections, her most recent being Joyride to Jupiter. She has won many prizes for her short fiction including the Francis MacManus Award, the James Joyce Quarterly Fiction Contest and the UK’s Short Fiction Journal Prize. 

Kevin Power is Assistant Professor of Literary Practice, Oscar Wilde Centre, in Trinity College Dublin’s School of English and is the author of Bad Day at Blackrock and White City. His collection of essays The Written World: Essays will be published by Lilliput Press in May. 

At this special event for bookclubs in the Dublin 12 area, Nuala O’Connor will read from her novel Nora: A Love Story of Nora and James Joyce (New Island Books) and will talk about the inspiration for the book as well as her experience writing it.

In sensuous, resonant prose, Nuala O’Connor has conjured the definitive portrait of this strong, passionate and loyal Irishwoman. This year’s One Dublin One Book choice, Nora is a tour de force, an earthy and authentic love letter to Irish literature’s greatest muse.

Nuala O’Connor is a novelist, short story writer and poet who was born in Dublin and lives now in Co. Galway with her family. She has published five novels and six short story collections, including Becoming Belle, Miss Emily, You, and Joyride to Jupiter.

Copies of the book are available to borrow from Dublin City Libraries and are available in physical, e-book and e-audiobook formats.

Places are limited, so early booking is advisable.

Step back in time to the era of Nora Barnacle and James Joyce with a book discussion on NORA by Nuala O’Connor, facilitated by Mary Burnham,  music from the Joycean era and afternoon tea in the garden.

Come dressed in Joycean themed dress style as per Bloomsday!

Call it Nora-day!

Spaces limited.

Watch Live at 7pm at https://youtu.be/ntbciHcDIrQ.

Join us in the beautiful, Baroque surrounds of St. Ann’s Church on Dawson St for an evening of celebration and performances with Dublin City Council’s One Dublin One Book choice for 2022 Nuala O’Connor’s NORA: A Love Story of Nora Barnacle and James Joyce.

Author Nuala O’Connor will be in conversation with writer and researcher Paula Shields as they discuss Nuala’s writing career with a special focus on her captivating novel Nora which follows the frequently tumultuous life of Nora Barnacle, muse and wife of James Joyce. The book is an intimate portrayal of their relationship beginning on that well known date of the 16th June 1904 and spanning decades and  cities as they follow Joyce’s ferocious literary ambitions throughout Europe. 

The evening will feature music from Moxie Sings the ever-vibrant acoustic trio of “Moxie” as their genre and rhythm melding tunes take us on a journey across the continents and characters. There will also be dramatic readings from Nora from Niamh McCormack and Adam J. Richardson.

Tickets available for in-person or live streaming.

This year’s One Dublin One Book author Nuala O’Connor will be in conversation with author and journalist Edel Coffey on Friday 22nd April brought to you by Fingal Libraries. They will be discussing Nuala’s novel NORA: A Love Story of Nora Barnacle and James Joyce (New Island Books). Shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards, Nora is an earthy and authentic love letter to Irish literature’s greatest muse.

Join One Dublin, One Book author Nuala O’Connor (Nora) as she discusses the important role played by James Joyce’s muse and wife Nora Barnacle in Irish literature. Nuala will be joined in conversation by Joycean enthusiast Katherine McSharry of the National Library of Ireland and Terence Killeen, Research Scholar at the James Joyce Centre, Dublin and author of Ulysses Unbound.

Nuala O’Connor lives in Co. Galway. Her fifth novel NORA (Harper Perennial/New Island, 2021), about Nora Barnacle, wife and muse to James Joyce, was recently published to critical acclaim in the USA, Ireland, the UK, and Germany, and is forthcoming in other languages. NORA was named as a Top 10 2021 historical novel by the New York Times. Nuala is editor at flash fiction e-zine Splonk. 

Katherine McSharry is Acting Director of the National Library of Ireland and a proud west of Ireland native. She was the National Library lead on the UCD/NLI partnership to create the Museum of Literature Ireland, with its strong focus on James Joyce. She was also co-curator of the 2004 exhibition ‘James Joyce and Ulysses at the National Library of Ireland’, and wrote the collection-based publication ‘A Joycean Scrapbook’ which accompanied the exhibition

Terence Killeen is Research Scholar at the James Joyce Centre, Dublin. He is the author of Ulysses Unbound, which has just been published in a new edition by Penguin Books. He has published in the James Joyce Quarterly, the James Joyce Literary Supplement and the Joyce Studies Annual. A former journalist with The Irish Times, he continues to write on Joyce-related matters for the newspaper.  He has taught Finnegans Wake for many years at seminars at the Dublin James Joyce Summer School and the Trieste Joyce Summer School. He has also lectured at both schools, at the James Joyce Centre, at Trinity College Dublin at various International and North America James Joyce Symposiums and at the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris.

This April, Richmond Barracks book club will read and discuss the One Dublin One Book 2022 selection, Nora: A Love Story of Nora Barnacle and James Joyce by Nuala O’Connor.

If you’re attending one of these special book club sessions, you can avail of a free copy of the book, but please note that places are limited.

You can either collect a copy of the book from Inchicore Library free of charge, or have it posted to you for €6.20, which covers the cost of postage. 

About this month’s book

When Nora Barnacle, a twenty-year-old from Galway working as a maid at Finn’s Hotel, meets young James Joyce on a summer’s day in Dublin, she is instantly attracted to him, natural and daring in his company. But she cannot yet imagine the extraordinary life they will share together. 

All Nora knows is she likes her Jim enough to leave behind family and home, in search of a bigger, more exciting life…

About the Book Clubs

The book clubs are held on the last Tuesday and Thursday of every month, one taking place online and the other in-person at Richmond Barracks. We start each session with an inclusive discussion about the current title and then have a broader discussion about what we’re reading and swap recommendations.

This online talk by Ludovica Neglie (National Library of Ireland) will explore Joyce’s world, celebrate his most famous work and the important role that the National Library of Ireland played in Joyce’s life.

This event will have ISL (Irish Sign language) interpretation and captioning.

Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco – Under the aegis of the Fondation Princesse Grace

Nuala O’Connor will speak about what inspired her to write this book and the meticulous research undertaken. This bio-fictional novel takes the facts around the lives of Nora and James Joyce, and re-imagines them as a fictional story.

The talk will be illustrated by dramatic readings of personal letters between Nora and Joyce, performed by actors from the Monaco-Ireland Arts Society.

Nuala will also briefly bring us behind the scenes of the exhibition that she curated for the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) in Dublin entitled “—Love, says Bloom”, which looks at the deep love between the couple and their children, using music as a steadfast element in their lives. 

The talk will be followed by drinks in the Princess Grace salon of the library and signings of copies of the book, which was named by Dublin City Council and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature as the ‘One Dublin One Book’ choice for 2022.

The talk will be recorded and the replay on YouTube will be made public in the days following the event (subject to the author’s permission)

Open to all with priority to Friends of the Princess Grace Irish Library. 10 Euro entrance fee at the library.

In an event specially created for One Dublin One Book, writer Martina Devlin and actors Lise-Ann McLaughlin and Nick Dunning combine to take a fresh look at the world’s most famous novel. With selected readings by the actors from Ulysses and Nuala O’Connor’s NORA, the performance captures two earthy, independent and quintessentially female perspectives on life and art.