Dublin, A Writer's City Raheny

For many people, the words ‘literary Dublin’ conjure up a narrow nest of streets in the city centre, bounded by McDaid’s pub on one side, stretching perhaps as far north as the Abbey Theatre, or Seán O’Casey’s flat on Mountjoy Square at a push. However, the vast majority of Dubliners do not live inside the canals, and it is increasingly recognised that if Dublin is really to be a city of literature, it needs to find ways of imagining the entire city, including the expanding residential areas on both the north and south sides of the city. The shining examples here, of course, are the work of Roddy Doyle and Dermot Bolger; however, there are others. This talk will ask: how do we imagine a literary city that is also a living, growing city?