Literature defeats time

For the Colombian writer Laura Restrepo literature can restore the meaning of life.

Anyone reading a piece of text who can say "this is the face of humanity, this is the smell of the sea, or this is the flavour of love, can understand the meaning of being alive and living on earth." Words give answers to many of our personal questions.

"Literature offers us the gift of an oblique view, it summons light and darkness, the universe and a human face." It is “an epiphany that opens doors from above and also within, and enables us to extract that which is essential in us." ...

A number of her books are available in English translation in Galway City Library, including The Angel of Galilea, The Dark Bride and Leopard in the Sun.


Come in to Galway City Library in Augustine Street, Galway and pick up a library card. You library card will entitle you to take home four books to read at any one time. You may retain the books for three weeks, then return them and borrow some more. In our fiction collection we seek to combine the popular with the excellent. We are trying to develop a library collection that features books not readily available elsewhere.

Search back copies of newspapers from your home or office

Did you know that with your library card you may search back copies of newspapers from a computer at home. The NewsBank Internet service on the Galway County Library website will provide you with full-text articles from four leading newspapers.
The service offers full text access to The Irish Times, The Irish Independent, The Guardian and The Washington Post. With a simple search you can access original newspaper articles covering a specific event. You may search by headline, date, author, section, subject, or name. Remember, you can do this from a computer at home. You may do this using your Galway Public Library card.

You access our library website: galwaylibrary.ie and go to online resources. When you press the NewsBank button, you will be prompted to key in your library card number, and the service is then available to you.

"Everyone should have a library to love..........."

Readers may be interested in the following books which have been added to stock at Galway City Library:

The Woman Who Waited, by Andrei Makine. Sceptre
A sensuously styled, elegiac tale set in the mid-1970s. A 26-year-old folklorist from Leningrad meets an intriguing older woman named Vera, who has been waiting for 30 years for her lover. The closer the narrator gets to her, the more he is shamed in the face of her towering presence. Makine transforms a very simple premise into a richly textured story of love and loss. Another fine work from one of Europe's most lavishly gifted writers.

The Love Poems of John Keats, by John Keats. St Martin's Press
"Here lies one whose name was writ on water." These are the words John Keats chose to epitomize his short, frustrating, and tragic life. They appear as his epitaph in Rome's Protestant cemetery. This beautifully crafted collection contains some of the most heartfelt of Keats' personal poems, and provide a personal glimpse of the young poet's dreams and dreads.



Inferno, by Dante, The Modern Library Dante believed that the goal of human life was to behold beauty. The Inferno is not a poem about wickedness and punishment, but about beauty and love. Modern readers are attracted to Dante because they find in him what the modern world cannot offer: a cogent and coherent vision of the universe. I want to make people fall in love with Dante–really fall in love with him. Anthony Esolen, translator.

Photographic Exhibition at Roundstone Library

Limerick man Walter Fogerty, an amateur photographer who works with an old fashioned Rolleiflex medium format film camera, is holding an exhibition of his work at the Roundstone Library. The exhibition forms part of the Roundstone Arts Festival and runs from June 29th until July 9th.

The photographs on exhibition are landscapes and seascapes of Connemara. The great beauty of the area is reflected in the rich colours and the visual impact of the work on display.

During the festival Walter will be present from time to time in the Roundstone Library to talk about photography and about the kind of cameras he likes to work with.

It will be possible to purchase any of the photographs during the period of the exhibition.

Situated right on the seafront, the library in Roundstone is perhaps in one of the most charming library locations in the world, and receives many foreign visitors. Roundstone Library is a small library with a relatively small collection of books, but under the skilful direction of the local librarian it serves, from time to time, as a library, an information centre, and cultural centre for the village.

We look forward to seeing you in the library and at the exhibition.

Classical guitarist Agustin Maruri performing in Oranmore Library

At 8.00pm on 20th June, classical guitarist Agustin Maruri from Madrid will be performing in Oranmore Library. Admission is free and all are welcome. The performance is aimed at an adult audience and will be followed by wine and strawberries. The performance will start at 8.00pm sharp. It is recommended to arrive early as doors will be shut when we have a full house.

He has performed in halls such as The Grand Theatre, (La Habana), National Hall, (Madrid), Royal Dublin Society, Tuomikirkon, (Helsinki), Votivkirche, (Vienna), Circulo Artistico Napolitano, Atlapa Hall, (Panama), Covarrubias Hall, (México), Charles III Theatre, (Madrid), India International Centre, (New Delhi), Central Superior Conservatoire, (Peking), Villa Decius, (Kracov), Lincoln Centre, (New York), John Hancock Centre, (Chicago), National Gallery, (Dublin), Metropolitan Museum of Art, (New York), Kunsthal, (Rotterdam) and Radio Hall (Wasrsaw), Salle Vincent-d’Indy, (Montreal), Nationalmuseum, (Stoockholm).,Konzerthus (Oslo)

Maruri representd Spain in Athens during the concert celebrated by Greek Radio Television in 1989 for the EU Greek Presidency. In 1990 he received the medal of the Spanish College in Paris. In 1995 performed live for the Central Chinese Radio and in 1997 performed for the RTE in Dublin.

He has given masterclasess as invited Profesor at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, the Cork School of Music, the New Delhi School of Music, and the Peking Superior Conservatory.

Among the composers who have written for him are, Francesco Telli, Pedro Sáenz, Jose Maria Sánchez Verdú, Josep Pascual, Erik Marchelie, Manuel Seco, Zhangbing, etc

Maruri has premier many guitar works including Torroba´s "Interludios", Francesco Telli´s, "Serenata", etc

His work in the rediscovery of Adam Falckenhagen´s music has received acclaim by the Yuste European Academy, who award him in 1996. In 1999 Maruri started a series of recording for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, using the original historical instruments from the Museum´s´collection.

His discography , (20 CD), is distributed worldwide receiving audiences and critics recognition.

A book returned to Athenry Library

In Athenry Library yesterday, a copy of John Steinbeck’s The Winter of Our Discontent was returned as part of a routine library transaction.

This copy in question was published by Heinemann in 1961 and printed in a lovely typeface and on good paper by the Windmill Press in Surrey in England.

Galway County Library purchased the book in March 1972. Although there probably were previous date labels on the book which would have indicated the book being loaned throughout 1972 and 1973, it is possible to see evidence from old date labels located at the front of the book showing the book being borrowed in 1974. There is evidence from the date labels of the book then being continually borrowed over the years right down to the present fresh date stamp showing the book due for return on June 8th 2006.

Galway County Council paid IR£1.50 for the book when it was purchased 34 years ago.

The Winter of Our Discontent (1961) is a novel which indicts society for its focus on materialism and individual's disregard for the family of man.

Steinbeck was a man who wrote from the depths of his heart. His most enduring themes were: the mystery of identity, the inexplicability of love, and the murderous consequences of love's absence.

The book is dog-eared, some of the pages are torn, there are stained pages here and there. Some of the binding has been sealed with book tape. But anyone picking it up will get a sense that they are sharing an experience with all the other readers who have taken this book from the library before. Holding the book in one’s hand, there is such a sense of thought and of philosophy and of thinking and of reflection and of questioning. The book is about loss and the attempts to regain some sort of equilibrium in life. In some ways the ups and downs of lives of all the people who read the book seem inextricably linked.

There is also a sense of community: this is the community’s copy. And there is the sense that the book, like the community, has survived many tribulations and joys over the past 34 years.

When the South African writer, John Maxwell Coetzee, won the Nobel Prize for literature two years ago, he went off to Stockholm to receive the award, where it is traditional for the winner to make a speech. Coetzee puzzled his audience by speaking about Robinson Crusoe. But what Coetzee wanted to do was to equate all human adventure with the destiny of Robinson, alone on his island.

Yes, there are many poor Robinsons, “enduring shipwreck, hunger, loneliness and near-death. Everyone comes to find communication a problem and ends yelling and gesticulating like a madman, with no one listening.”

We can think of the many people living in the various housing estates all around our various libraries. Many are enduring loneliness, even, in a certain way, some are enduring “shipwreck.”


"What are they calling (these afflicted men and women) across the waters and across the years, out of their private fire?" as Coetzee put it.

Perhaps our libraries might have what they are calling for, be it the example of Robinson Crusoe, or this book by Steinbeck. Our libraries and our books, and the reading experiences we provide, enable people to cope with some of the “shipwrecked” moments which we all experience from time to time.

In spite of all the changes, the new technology and the development of the cultural role of the library, perhaps the most important thing we do is putting good books into people’s hands.

And think of the education and the enlightenment provided for an investment of IR£1.50 back in 1972.

Participate in the Reading Mission this summer at your library

Galway County Libraries are inviting all children to embark on a Reading Mission this summer. The mission for children of all ages is to read and enjoy at least six books during the summer.


The Summer Reading Mission is being held in all our Branch Libraries and Mobile Library during July and August. It is free, and all children have to do is go along to their local library and pick up the details and the Reading Mission card.

There are lots of wonderful books and also booklists to help children choose the best stories.

Check out your local library and encourage your children to participate in the Summer Reading Mission this year.

Details from Maureen Moran, Galway County Library Headquarters, Island House. or your local Branch Library.

Books and Reading – a view from Madrid

Fernando Valverde, President of the Spanish Booksellers’ Association (CEGAL)) recently said that the last years have not been easy for those involved in the world of books.

He said that we need to have 'a society which is reading more, and that we need to see our children and young people becoming addicted to books and bookshops and libraries. '

We have to understand, he said, that “the book is an essential tool for the construction of the future. There isn’t one educational process possible without the support of the book.”

His message is: “strengthen the book, increase it, watch over its quality and diversity.”

Poet Eugene O’Connell reads on Inishbofin

The poet Eugene O’Connell read to a full house in Inishbofin Library on Saturday afternoon May 15th. The event was part of the Inishbofin Arts Festival, in which the library participates every year. An editor with Bradshaw Books (poetry publishers) Eugene edits the Cork Literary Review and is currently compiling a new anthology of Irish poetry.

Eugene O’Connell read from his own work, and he also read from the work of the Latvian poet, Guntars Godins, whom he has translated into English. The 35 minute reading was wonderfully paced and there was great sense of engagement between the poet and his listeners.

Our picture shows left to right: Audrey Murray, Librarian, Inishbofin Library, the visiting poet Eugene O’Connell, and Pat McMahon, County Librarian

New Kilronan Library

The main construction on the new library on Kilronan is nearing completion. It is expected that the shelving and furniture will be installed during July, and the library is expected to be officially opened in September. This library project is a cooperative effort involving Comhar Chumann Inis Mór, Údarás na Gaeltachta and Galway County Council. From a previous post, you can see the construction plans for the new library here.

Photographed at the site of the new library on Thursday May 25th are: Pat McMahon, County Librarian, Mairín Ni Fhlatharta, Nóirín Bean Ui Ghoill, Librarian at Kilronan Library, Maureen Moran, Executive Librarian and Mari Sandnes, who is a student in the Library and Information Sciences department at Oslo University College and will be completing her BA with this placement in Galway. Thanks to the Leonardo da Vinci programme grant, she will be working in the Galway library for 13 weeks this summer. She comes from a small village in Norway called Solbergelva about 50 km from Oslo. She is 22 years old.

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Oranmore Library Reading Circle

The Reading Circle is a friendly, informal discussion group for people who wish to share their enjoyment of reading. Oranmore Library hosts two Reading Circles;

The morning reading circle will be discussing “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck for their May meeting at 11.15am on Wed. 31st of May and will be joined by guests from the Oranmore Writers’ Group who will be reading from their own works. Their book choice for June is “Snow” by Orhan Pamuk.

The evening reading circle will be discussing “The Known World” by E.P. Jones for their May meeting at 6.30pm on Thurs. 24th of May. For June they have chosen to read “The English Passengers” by Matthew Kneale.

Building the European Digital Library

With two Galway Branch Libraries (Ballinasloe and Carraroe) now providing the Europe Direct service the EU has announced plans to rival Google's establishment of a digital online library.

After having spelled out the European Commission’s plans for a European Digital Library last month, Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding recently chaired the first meeting of the High Level Expert Group on Digital Libraries. The group will advise the Commission on how to tackle key challenges in making Europe’s cultural heritage available online.
“Our goal is to make Europe’s cultural and scientific heritage available to all European citizens and researchers for their studies, work or leisure,” Commissioner Reding commented. “With its immense expertise and knowledge, this group can make an essential contribution to the European Digital Library”.

The group discussed the Commission's vision for the European Digital Library (see IP/06/253) and set up a framework for future discussions. The group also had a first exchange of views on copyright issues. In a recent online consultation, right-holders supported the adequacy of the present copyright rules and the need to fully respect and enforce them, while cultural institutions highlighted a number of problems in the present copyright framework that could potentially undermine efficient digitisation and digital preservation. The High Level Expert Group has 20 members, together possessing a wide range of expertise and knowledge. They are experts from libraries, archives, museums, content providers, industry (e.g. search engines, technology providers), research organisations and academia.

Celebrating Bealtaine in Dunmore Library

An art exhibition opened on 13th of May in Dunmore Library. Celebrating the Bealtaine Festival a group of local lady artists are exhibiting their work which will be in the library until May 25th. The lady captain of our local golf club Mrs Cathy Silke is doing the honours of opening the event preceded by a cheese and wine reception. Everyone welcome

Dunmore Library, Enterprise Centre, Tel : +353 (0)93 38923

International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

The closing date for receipt of nominations has been extended to Thursday 25th May. Hopefully this will give you time to get some nominations in to us. I appreciate that you have many demands on your time but know how supportive you are of this award.

The novel you submitted last year, Queen Cocaine / Amat Nuria, would be eligible this year. Perhaps you would like to nominate it?


If any of the libraries in Galway want to nominate a book for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, then they might e-mail the title to kshaughn@galwaycoco.ie

To summarize, you may nominate up to 3 novels which were first published in English in 2005. If originally written in a language other than English the original must have been published between 2001 and 2005 and the translation published in 2005.

We look forward to receiving your nominations from Galway.

“Everyone should have a library to love…………..”

Galway Public Libraries for BOOKS and IDEAS

Readers may be interested in the following books which have been added to stock at Galway City Library

Silent Day In Tangier, by Tahar Ben Jelloun. Quartet
In a run-down house in Tangier, an old man waits to die. His regrets are not for a life unlived but for happiness glimpsed, taken for granted or lost, opportunities experienced and betrayed. Jelloun combines the gifts of the traditional Arab storyteller--that ability to play fantastic variations upon the simplest of themes--with remarkable philosophical insight.

The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice For Beginning Poets, by Ted Kooser. Bison Books
A no-nonsense book, which "advocates for poems that can be read and understood without professional interpretation." To that end, he offers plenty of examples from contemporary poets, explaining uses of rhyme, meter, imagery and other fundamentals without resorting to too much technical language. The last chapter stresses time as the greatest help in editing: "leave your poem alone until it looks as if someone else might have written it."

Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy, Jeanne Birdsall. Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Adults who have been longing to find books for children that remind them of their own childhood favourites need look no further. What this comforting family tale offers are four marvellously appealing sisters, and true childhood behaviour (disobeying, running away, a first crush). Problems are solved and lessons learned in this wonderful, humorous story that features characters whom readers will immediately love, as well as a superb writing style. For ages 8-12.

Europe Day in Ballinasloe Library

To-day,9th May we are celebrating EUROPE DAY here at Ballinasloe Library ,which is also a EUROPE DIRECT RELAY.

In order to celebrate this anniversary, we are focusing on a celebration of European authors and we are doing this by having an Exhibiton of Books in translation by these authors in three different areas of the library. By doing this,we hope to tie in the information that we provide on Europe on a daily basis with European arts{literature and all other forms of the arts} in such a way that it will educate,inform and bring the people who come in here closer to Europe as it is to-day. Margot Wallstrom, Vice-President of the European Commission, wants the ordinary person to learn about Europe through simple language...she realizes that the EU, which was a mystery and something very far away for most of us is now being brought closer to everyone, with information available literally, on demand.
We appreciate the co-operation and help received from Pat McMahon, County Librarian and the staff at both Galway City and Headquarters with this project to-day.

"That libraries are unique....windows into other cultures and ways of life,and that libraries provide services to those people who...seek new content for their lives,and who are thereby actively helping to build a new citizens Europe."

From:The Rynnen report on the "Role of libraries in the Modern World",adopted almost unanimously on 23rd October 1998 by the European Parliament.

Anne Frank Exhibition at Westside Library

An Anne Frank Exhibition takes place at Westside Library from Tuesday 16th May to Friday 9th June. The Official opening is by Deputy Mayor of Galway City, Councillor Colette Connolly on Thursday evening 18th May at 6.30 p.m.

What is it?

Anne Frank: A history for today. A travelling exhibition designed by the curators of the Anne Frank Huis in Amsterdam. The exhibition challenges us to think of tolerance, human rights and democracy.

How?

By telling Anne Frank’s story and that of her family and by showing the history of the Holocaust through the testimony of other contemporary witnesses. The exhibition encourages the visitor to think about then and now - to see parallels and differences in events. This exhibition is visiting Ireland from January to June 2006. It has already been hosted by Pearse Street Library and Ballyfermot Branch Library in Dublin. It then travelled to Waterford and from there to Limerick and finally on to Galway.
The exhibition will be open during normal library opening hours and also on Mondays and groups wishing to book should contact Westside Library at 091-520616. Booking is essential for groups.
Volunteer guides are required to help with showing groups around the exhibition and all necessary training will be given on Monday 15th May in Westside Library. So if you wish to volunteer a couple of hours per week please contact Cora Gunter at Westside Library 091-520616.

Format

The exhibition consists of a number of panels all arranged chronologically. The life history of Anne Frank is the thread that runs through the entire exhibition. The family’s story reflects world events during and after the Nazi regime. The exhibition juxtaposes photographs of the Frank family with those of historical events of the time and shows how persecuted people such as the Franks were affected by political decisions and by the actions of individuals. This history is shown in sections. In each of these sections a theme which still has relevance for us today is discussed in depth.
An essential component of the exhibition is the short film about Anne Frank and her family called “The short life of Anne Frank”. It is informative and moving. It takes 25 minutes to watch this film. Groups should aim to spend about one and a half hours viewing the exhibition and film.

The exhibition is brought to Ireland by The Holocaust Educational Trust of Ireland in association with the National Action Plan against Racism and co-sponsored by Cognotec.

An Leabhar Mór/Great Book of Gaelic Exhibition

An Leabhar Mór/Great Book of Gaelic brings together the work of more than two hundred poets, visual artists and calligraphers from Scotland and Ireland to create a major contemporary artwork in the form of a visual anthology.

The exhibition - part of the Cúirt International Festival of Literature - was launched in the Galway City Branch on Friday 21st April at 6.30 p.m. The exhibition is open until the 5th May.

The Exhibition is sponsored by Colmcille, the organisation charged with promoting the use of Irish and Scottish Gaelic languages and raising awareness of the shared Gaelic linguistic and cultural heritage of Ireland - north and south - and Scotland.

[Graphic file Christy Ring, by Robert Ballagh, illustration to Seán Ó Tuama’s poem “Christy Ring”].

Headford Library Opening

Councillor Pat Hynes, Mayor of the County of Galway, with Ms. Edel Talbot, Librarian, Headford Library and Mrs. Nora Fitzgerald, former Librarian, Headford Library at the opening of the new branch library in Headford.

A section of the attendance at the opening of the new branch library in Headford.

Councillor Pat Hynes, Mayor of the County of Galway, cutting the tape for the opening of the new branch library in Headford.

“Everyone should have a library to love…………..”

Galway Public Libraries for BOOKS and IDEAS.

Readers may be interested in the following books which have been added to stock at Galway City Library

The Collected Poems of Kenneth Koch, by Kenneth Koch, Alfred A. Knopf, 2005
Includes "The Art of Poetry," in which Koch provides a list of questions for the poet to pose before deciding if a poem is ready to be "released," beginning with "Is it astonishing?" Keeping this in mind as one reads Koch's works, and sensing all the hard work, soul searching, and playfulness involved in creating his nimble, uplifting, and wise poems, one decides that they are, indeed, astonishing.

Wise Men and Their Tales, by Elie Wiesel, Schocken Books, 2003
A master teacher gives us his fascinating insights into a wide range of biblical events, then asks questions about the personalities that people them. Why did Lot's wife look back? His explorations, drawing on the collective wisdom of prophets, rabbis, and scholars from the earliest days to the present, are endlessly illuminating. Wiesel is a fine storyteller, and the general reader will be captivated.

Questions of Life: An Invitation to Philosophy, by Fernando Savater, Polity, 2002
The awareness of death is what turns life into a very serious business for each of us, into something mysterious and awesome. How am I going to answer the questions that life suggests to me. In his discussion of concepts such as beauty, time and language, Savater frequently refers to earlier philosophers in a way that brings their ideas to life and shows their enduring relevance. An elegant and straightforward book.