It is always a great honour for us to welcome talented writers to the James Joyce Tower & Museum. Coming from all corners of the world, they pay tribute to our favourite author and celebrate his masterpiece by exploring the scene of the opening chapter of ‘Ulysses’.
Imagine our excitement when not one but two leading Irish writers visited at the same time just a few weeks ago! Our special guests were: Martina Devlin and Mary Costello.
Martina is no stranger to us having been one of the founding ‘Friends of Joyce Tower Society’ volunteers and it was terrific to see her back in the tower again.
Martina came to record a podcast, the first in a series titled ‘City of Books’ that she is producing in conjunction with Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and MOLI (Museum of Literature Ireland). Martina was tasked with this project to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Dublin’s designation as a UNESCO City of Literature. It is her intention to produce a podcast episode each month exploring the importance of books to those with a passion for reading and an appreciation of the written word.
This first episode features an interview with the artist Robert Ballagh followed by a wonderful conversation with Mary Costello which was recorded at the James Joyce Tower & Museum.
Mary is a Joyce enthusiast and her recently published novel ‘The River Capture’ features a main character (Luke O’Brien) obsessed with Joyce and, more specifically, with Ulysses.
As we eavesdrop on Mary’s conversation with Martina, we get a rare opportunity to hear a true fan discuss Joyce and we are treated to Mary’s wonderful observations on aspects of his life. You can hear the podcast by clicking on the photo here:
For more information on Martina Devlin, visit her website: http://martinadevlin.ie/
