Dublin is famous as a city of writers and literature, and the Dublin Writers Museum is an essential visit for anyone who wants to discover, explore, or simply enjoy Dublin's immense literary heritage.

At the Writers Museum, Dublin’s literary celebrities from the past three hundred years are brought to life through their books, letters, portraits and personal items.

Whatever you think you know about Irish literature, you’re sure to find something to astound and delight you at the Dublin Writers Museum. Did you know, for example, that Oscar Wilde was a promising pugilist during his days at Trinity College, and that Samuel Beckett, had he not turned out to be one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, would also have made a name for himself in the TCD cricket first eleven ?

The building, a restored Georgian mansion on Parnell Square, is a treasure in itself. The sumptuous plasterwork in the first floor Gallery of Writers is worth a visit alone.

Temporary exhibitions and lunchtime theatre, a specialist bookshop, and a café make this compact and informative Museum all the more appealing to anyone interested in discovering more about Dublin’s immense literary heritage.

DUBLIN WRITERS MUSEUM CELEBRATES 20th ANNIVERSARY WITH SPECIAL BIRTHDAY PRESENTATION

Minister Deenihan unveils Bronze Portrait Busts of John B. Keane and Frank McCourt

The Dublin Writers Museum, Wednesday 14th December 2011, celebrated its 20th anniversary with the unveiling of two bronze portrait busts of the writers John B. Keane and Frank McCourt.

The busts were presented as gifts to the Dublin Writers Museum by the sculptor, Séamus Connolly in conjunction with the Doorway Gallery.

The busts were officially unveiled by Minister of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, T.D. at a reception held in the Museum’s Gallery of Writers.

Speaking at the Museum Minister Deenihan said “Building on the designation as a UNESCO City of Literature as was bestowed on Dublin in July 2010, honoring two of our most distinguished writers is most appropriate.  John B was my neighbour, mentor and friend. He was a wonderful observer of human nature in all of its vagaries.   Frank McCourt equally was a master of descriptive writing and without a doubt, reading his work makes us all feel as though we too were sharing similar experiences.”

Speaking at the event, Robert Nicholson, curator of the Dublin Writers Museum since its inception in 1991 said: “By far the most interesting, exciting and unusual contributions to the Dublin Writers Museum collection have been due to the generosity of donors. It is therefore with great pleasure that we accept these gifts today from Séamus Connolly. When this museum was founded, John B. Keane’s career was still flourishing, and Frank McCourt had yet to become a household name. Now sadly both have passed on. We welcome this opportunity to acknowledge, through the presence of these portraits, their great contribution to Irish literature.” 

The busts will be on permanent display in the Gallery of Writers at the Dublin Writer’s Museum. Other portrait busts on display in the Gallery include: Christy Brown, Monk Gibbon, Brendan Behan, Katharine Tynan, Jonathan Swift and James Joyce.  The gallery walls are flanked with portraits of Douglas Hyde, Thomas Moore, George Russell, WB Yeats, Mary Tighe and many more.

Thomas Ryan: Portraits of Irish Writers

16 January - 16 March 2012

The Dublin Writers Museum is delighted to present an exhibition of portraits by Thomas Ryan.  Thomas Ryan has had a long and distinguished career. One of Ireland’s leading portrait painters, he is also well known for his landscapes, cityscapes and designs for coins and medals.

The portraits in this exhibition were mostly drawn within the period from 1968 to 1972 and assemble a varied cross-section of the Irish literary scene of the time – scholars, journalists and authors - from the elderly Padraic Colum to the up-and-coming Thomas Kinsella. Kate O’Brien is seen in the fading years of her life; Francis Stuart is caught on the threshold of his greatest triumph, the publication of Black List Section H, and Sean O’Faolain and Benedict Kiely are already well established as master storytellers. The previous decade had seen the deaths of  such legends as O’Casey, Kavanagh, Behan and Flann O’Brien, and many of the great names of the present day would emerge in the later 1970s and 1980s.

Dublin Pass Holders

You can visit the Writers Museum, Shaw Birthplace, James Joyce Museum, all for one great low price!

Find out more at www.dublinpass.ie

The Dublin Writers Museum presents Neil O’Shea in

Is it Love…? 

A one man performance on the various observations on the subject of Love by writers such as Oscar Wilde, WB Yeats, John Millington Synge, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Charles Dickens, Noel Coward, Micheal Jagger, and more.

February 12, 18, 25, 2012  

Performance will commence at 1:10 pm in the Gallery of Writers.

Duration:  50 minutes

Admission Price:  €11/13 person

Price includes admission to the museum & performance

Booking is advance is recommended.

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The Dublin Writers Museum presents Neil O’Shea in The Writers Entertain.

‘The Writers Entertain’ is an entertaining one-man performance showcasing some of Ireland’s most famous writers  including G B Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, Seamus Heaney and many others.   

The show is performed with minimal sets and props so that attention is focused almost entirely upon the actor and his ability to capture and retain your attention through the primary medium of language. 

Duration:  50 minutes

February 11th, 2012 &

March 18th, 2012

Performance will commence at 1:10 pm in the Gallery of Writers.

Duration:  50 minutes

Admission Price:  €11/13 per person

Price includes admission to the museum & performance

Booking is advance is recommended.

Opening Times