The Winding Stair Bookshop in Dublin is located in a yellow building across from the Liffey River with a perfect view out over the Ha’penny Bridge. The building dates to 1874 and has a gorgeous winding staircase but the shop is named after the poem “The Winding Stair” by Yeats and was founded in 1982. When you enter the shop you’ll find a large poetry section, both Irish and international, located straight ahead. Near the window is a comfortable and welcoming red leather armchair. Fairy lights hang from the bookshelves. The booksellers are truly lovely, enthusiastic and kind. Well, in a word, it’s like entering literary heaven.
On August 5th I launched Rush of Wingspan in the Winding Stair. People streamed in from the busy city center street including a family from Boston with their two teenage sons, and a couple from Minnesota. Among others, I signed a copy of my book for a young woman with rainbow hair. People listened attentively as I read and gave me wonderful and encouraging comments.
Dublin is a UNESCO city of literature and one feels this everywhere including at street level. On Friday evening a young construction worker, his tool belt still slung around his hips, greeted us by saying in Gaelic “A thousand welcomes” (which he translated for us). He then told us, without us whispering a word about poetry, “We have the poets here.”
A current National Library exhibit features the life and work of Seamus Heaney. During a free tour our guide talked about Heaney’s relationship to the women in his life, and she asked members of the group to read poems out loud for the others. I read Heaney’s “Scaffolding.” I had the honour of meeting Heaney in 2006.
In the National Library I visited an exhibit about W.B. Yeats, and in the National Gallery of Ireland you can view paintings by Jack B. Yeats. In uncrowded rooms you can view multiple treasures including a Caravaggio and a Vermeer and all this is for free with no entry ticket or time slot required.
Photos from top left to right: 1) Trinity College roof 2) Trinity College library 3) Marsh library entrance 4) books with bullet holes 5) Marsh scholar cage 6) Heaney Exhibit 7) Oscar Wilde sculpture 8) Oscar Wilde childhood home 9) Martello tower 10) James Joyce museum 11)Forty Foot.
Jonathan Swift is buried in St. Patrick’s Cathedral and a replica of his skull is on display. Swift’s partner Esther Johnson is buried by his side, but her skull replica is locked in one of the scholar cages in the Marsh Library. Why are there cages in this library?
This was where people were locked in with the books they wished to peruse to prevent them from looting the library. On the shelves of the Marsh Library one can also view books scarred with machine gun bullet holes from 1916.
Four of the Irish navy ships are named after writers: Shaw, Yeats, Beckett, and Joyce. Just south of the city in Sandy Cove, I visited the Martello Tower that houses the James Joyce Museum. The famous Forty Foot bathing spot is located a few meters away.
For actual swimming in the Irish Sea I chose a quieter local pebble beach a bit further south. A red haired girl stood testing the water with her toes. When entering the sea I walked over polished stones in shades of grey, grey-green, black, brown, yellow, red and white.
Oscar Wilde has a multi-coloured stone memorial statue in Merrion Square with his childhood home just across the street.
Danny Osborne, the artist who created the Wilde sculpture, lived for a number of years in Nunavut, Canada. The short documentary shows the inside of his studio as he explains the making of the statue.
Different forms of art can be viewed at Trinity College. I lined up to see the Book of Kells and then walked out into the long room library which normally houses 200,000 books. Most of the books have been removed temporarily for cleaning and restoration and will be reshelved in a few years time.
To make up for the lack of books an installation featuring imagery of the earth’s surface from NASA is on display. ‘Gaia’ is an illuminated, rotating globe sculpture that showcases the planet in three dimensions as viewed from space and was created by British artist Luke Jerram.
With all these new sights in my mind I went out on a coastal hike where I let my thoughts run free.
Now I’m back to the work of writing a new book with lots of inspiration spinning around in my head. I’m also re-reading Siobhán Campbell‘s poetry, along with Seamus Heaney.
