Librarians, poets and scholars

A festschrift for Dónall Ó Luanaigh

Felix M. Larkin, editor

'[A] treasure-trove of a book', Brendan Ó Cathaoir, Irish Times.

'Last year, [Donal] Ó Luanaigh retired after 43 years in the National Library and it is thoroughly appropriate that he should be honoured with this fascinating festschrift. Its themes illustrate the far-ranging mind of the man himself and of the collections which were in his care in the National Library. Gerald Lyne provides a fine personal appreciation of Ó Luanaigh. However, the character of the man and his painstaking, scrupulous work is also vividly brought to life in Theo Dorgan’s superb poem, The Keeper of Coollections and in Brian Lalor’s wonderful copperplate etching, entitled The Chair he sat in, like a burnished throne. The respect in which Ó Luanaigh is held can be gauged by the list of other contributors, which include Seamus Heaney, Brendan Kennelly, Adrian Hardiman, Eilis Ní Dhuibhne, Denis O’Driscoll and many others. Ó Luanaigh was involved in the astute acquisition and cataloging of vastly differing types of material. It is therefore appropriate that these essays in his honour should have no one central theme, but range as widely as the collections he assembled', Dermot Bolger, Sunday Independent (January 2008).

'A fitting tribute to a remarkable librarian', Galway Independent.

‘For readers outside Ireland I suspect these essays will give a taste … of some of the best talent at work today in this island, or among those who come here to write about it … Some of these [pieces], such as Mary Beard’s on the Roman Triumph are exceptional ... [W]hat is striking about the collection as a whole are the qualities of the writers that have been gathered and the variety of the topics they range over … [S]ome thirty people have been involved in what is as a book a very attractive volume. To those who know the library the book will be a joy, to those who do not it will encourage them to visit it as soon as possible', Peter Costello, Studies (Summer 2008).

‘Thirty luminaries have contributed articles on a number of subjects related to Ó Luanaigh’s life and work … there is much to delight and ponder on’, Books Ireland (December 2007).