Archive for month: November, 2023

One hundred years ago, on November 14th, WB Yeats became the first Irish person to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

As part of the official Decade of Centenaries, local libraries across Ireland will share the news, and the story, with the next generation of Ireland’s writers and poets – and all who feel inspired by the global poet, Yeats This event is part of the Official Decade of Centenaries.

Our library kit will include:

• A zine
• A map of the route WB Yeats took to receive his award
• A quote from Yeats’ acceptance speech
• A mask for children to wear and play with
• A sticker to commemorate the Nobel Prize award

Speaking about the centenary events series, the Director of the National Library of Ireland, Audrey Whitty said

“This wonderful endeavour by the Yeats Society, Sligo to mark the day (14 November 1923) W.B. Yeats heard he had won the Nobel Prize for Literature is a momentous commemorative way of gifting to libraries across the country a record of that occasion 100 years ago.

Libraries, and particularly the National Library of Ireland (NLI) was central to W.B. Yeats’ work and ethos, so much so that when he died in 1939 thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the poet’s wife and children, his manuscripts became part of the National Library’s collections. His family chose to continue WB Yeats’ own tradition of contributing to the life of the nation, and to reflect in so doing his longstanding relationship with not just the National Library, but the importance of libraries everywhere as vehicles of access, free expression and thought.”

Image Credit: James Connolly
Image left to right: Fionn Deasy, Saoirse McMorrow, Siún and Moss Deasy