Dunmore Library - 'The Land for the People"

As part of Dunmore Annual Festival there will be an art exhibition by local artists in the Library on Saturday August 1st at 8pm - cheese and wine reception.

Dunmore History and Heritage Society has organised a lecture for Tuesday night August 4th. at 8pm in Dunmore Library. Mr William Keaveney will give the lecture entitled 'The Land for the People'. Mr. Keaveney, a native of Gortaganny, Glenamaddy, now living in Dublin has done extensive research into this subject. In 2007 he published his book' The Land for the People (a story of land agitation in the 20th century). His book is based on land agitation in the Williamstown, Glenamaddy area.

Ballybane Library Family Fun Day

On Saturday July 18th Ballybane Library organised a Family Fun Day in association with the Castlepark Community Development Group.

Events during the day included a prize-giving and face painting for the local children.

There was a bi-lingual poetry session from the renowned writer Colette Nic Aodha.

Galway City and County Council's Musician in Residence, the great singer - songwriter John Faulkner entertained the local residents.

William Henry gave a talk on the local history and subsequent development of Ballybane and the surrounding area.

Quest Seekers in Galway Libraries

The 2009 Galway Libraries Summer Reading Challenge has been going since the start of July and already hundreds of children around the county are taking part. This years it is all about embarking on a fantastical adventure and become a Quest Seeker.
The theme is all about the power of the imagination. It will take young readers into a mysterious and wondrous land where they can discover the joy of reading and nurture a life-long love affair with books. It also promotes the library as a place of wonder and excitement, where librarians can offer children invaluable advice and guidance to help them through their quest.
Quest Seekers highlights the wealth of fantasy writing for children available right now, but it also embraces all kinds of books. It’s an imaginative and fun way to encourage children to read.
The Summer Reading Challenge is an interactive experience that children love to take part in over the holidays. It gets them into libraries and gives them the confidence they need to choose their own books and take their reading to the next stage. For many children, the Summer Reading Challenge is just the incentive they need to turn them into readers for life.

Artistic strokes in Ballybane Library

On Saturday 4th of July a mixed media exhibition by Mervue artist, Angela McManus, was launched in Ballybane library, by Councillor Terry O`Flaherty.
The exhibition includes different media such as silk, oil, water colour, parchment and crochet. Many of the paintings are already sold and this is a testament to the quality of Angela’s work. In fact, it’s impossible to walk beside the pictures without being amazed by the artist’s great talent.
The visitor will travel through a world made by bright and warm coloured flowers, against autumnal views, and women and Celtic figures. These subjects appear clearly because they are mostly put on the foreground and the contrast is achieved by the use of shaded backgrounds
During this art tour, you will probably be struck by the Pink Lady and her beautiful hat, her paleness contrasted by the dark pink background. Although her profile is imposing, you are transported back to the roaring 1920’s. This is one of the woman figures that the visitor can admire. Other female forms are women working in a potato field or nudes with shoulders and back on the foreground. We have noticed the absence of men; it’s all about the delicate strokes of the female universe.
Few steps forward, you can bump into The Vacant Chair. Now, the scenery is completely different. The roaring time leaves the place to the solitary chair, perhaps representing family and friends who are now departed. The chair is in a cold room.
The artist’s spirit is expressed also in the hand-working of copper, a sign of an eclectic soul. For this part of the exhibition, religion is the foremost topic: the Virgin Mary who holds the child in her arms or Bridget’s Cross. But, Angela doesn’t forget the place where she lives, Galway. The Claddagh Ring and a view from Salthill are represented as well, showing us how various her work is.
The walls of the library are now not only visited for the books on the shelves, but also for an other view: a local woman’s expression of freedom.

The writers of this review Jennifer Bignens and Paola Benassi are both students who are on an internship at Ballybane Librray. Jennifer is from Switzerland and Paola is from Italy.

Art Exhibition in Gort Public Library

An Art Exhibition featuring Local Artists is taking place in Gort Public Library
The launch takes place at 7.30pm on Tuesday 7th July.
The Exhibition runs throughout the month of July during library opening hours.
The library is located in the Old Church on Queen St.

2009 CILIP CARNEGIE/GREENAWAY WINNERS

Two years after her untimely death from breast cancer at the age of 47, Siobhan Dowd’s fourth and final novel, ‘Bog Child’, has been awarded the UK’s premier accolade for children’s writing: the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2009. The Carnegie Medal is awarded annually to the writer of an outstanding book for children.
Dowd wrote her fourth and final novel ‘Bog Child’ in Spring 2007, completing it just as Waterstone’s named her one of only three children’s authors amongst their 25 ‘Great Writers of the Future’.
‘Bog Child’ is set in Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles. The story opens in 1981 close to the North-South border as teenager Fergus McCann makes an illicit raid to the South to gather peat with his uncle and discovers a child’s body buried in the bogs, perfectly preserved for 2000 years. The child’s history unfolds as Fergus struggles with the normal challenges of being a teenager: his driving test, ‘A’ levels, his ambition to study medicine and first love for the flighty Cora. But this is also a time of war in Northern Ireland and Fergus must deal with exceptional circumstances: his parents arguing over the Troubles, the mounting pressure on him to take sides in a raging sectarian conflict; and a brother on hunger strike in the Maze.

Inspired by a wild hare and her own large-ish feet, Edinburgh-based illustrator Catherine Rayner has won the 2009 CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal, the UK’s most prestigious award for children’s book illustration. The CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal is awarded annually for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people
Rayner wins the 2009 Medal for only her second published book, ‘Harris Finds His Feet’ in which Harris, a small hare with big feet goes out into the world with his Grandad, from whom he learns not only how to hop high into the sky and run very fast, but also about the joys of growing up and of independence.
‘Harris Finds His Feet’ was inspired by a real and magical encounter with a hare in the wild, and by the size 8 feet of its author: a childhood embarrassment Rayner strove to turn into a positive feature for Harris, and for her audience of young readers.