Friday, September 13, 2013

If Ever You Go chosen as Dublin: One City, One Book title for 2014

We are delighted at the announcement this morning that the Dedalus Press anthology If Ever You Go: A Map of Dublin in Poetry and Song (February 2014) has been chosen as the Dublin: One City, One Book title for 2014.

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
The Dublin: One City, One Book title for 2014 is something completely different yet very Dublin. Dublin City Libraries and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature have announced that If Ever You Go: a map of Dublin in poetry and song will be the One City One Book choice for April 2014.

If Ever You Go: A Map of Dublin in Poetry and Song is a collection of poems, ballads and songs from a range of literary luminaries connected with Dublin. The book is arranged street by street so the reader is continually making new connections and discoveries on a virtual tour of the City of Words.

“This is an exciting first for One City, One Book. We expect If Ever You Go to build on the initiative’s success in showcasing great Dublin writing to a wider audience. The poems, songs and ballads in the collection are also ideal for the public readings, performances and theatrical events which animate One City One Book”, says Margaret Hayes, Dublin City Librarian.

A full programme of associated events throughout the month of April will intrigue and engage Dubliners and visitors to the city. The programme will be launched in March 2014.

Edited by Pat Boran and Gerard Smyth and published by Dedalus Press, If Ever You Go : a map of Dublin in poetry and song is a unique volume of writing about Dublin, from early to modern times and will be available to borrow from libraries and to buy in bookshops from February 2014.
It includes writing by both historical and contemporary figures, among them Swift, Synge, Yeats, Joyce, Kavanagh as well as Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland, Dermot Bolger, Paula Meehan, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Derek Mahon. There are songs and ballads from the city's colonial past, verses by leaders of the 1916 Rising, and portraits of the modern city with its Spire and Luas tram, its Celtic Tiger 'prosperity' and its post-Celtic Tiger challenges.

The choice follows the hugely successful Strumpet City programme in April 2013 which saw James Plunkett’s novel top the borrowing figures at Dublin’s libraries and the bestseller lists in bookshops. Since the initiative started in 2006 Dublin: One City, One Book has encouraged everyone to read a book connected with Dublin during the month of April.

If Ever You Go: a map of Dublin in poetry and song will be published in February by Dedalus Press and has the support of The Arts Council and of Poetry Ireland.

Dublin: One City, One Book is a Dublin City Council Public Libraries’ project organised by the Dublin UNESCO City of Literature Office with support from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.