Blackrock is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, 3 km (1.9 mi) northwest of Dún Laoghaire. It is named after the local geological rock formation to be found in the area of Blackrock Park. In the late 18th century, the Blackrock Road was a common place for highway robberies. The Blackrock baths, provided for by the railway company in 1839, became popular in the 19th century but Blackrock is now a tourist destination.
Dalkey is an affluent suburb of Dublin, and a seaside resort southeast of the city, and the town of Dún Laoghaire, in the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown in the traditional County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded as a Viking settlement and became an active port during the Middle Ages. According to chronicler John Clyn (c.1286–c.1349), it was one of the ports through which the plague entered Ireland in the mid-14th century. In modern times, Dalkey has become a seaside suburb that attracts some tourist visitors.
Mary Hanafin is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport from 2010 to 2011, Deputy leader of Fianna Fáil from January 2011 to March 2011, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation from January 2011 to March 2011, Minister for Social and Family Affairs from 2008 to 2011, Minister for Education and Science from 2004 to 2008, Government Chief Whip from 2002 to 2004 and Minister of State for Children from 2000 to 2002. She served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 1997 to 2011.
Joseph Victor O'Connor is an Irish novelist. His 2002 historical novel Star of the Sea was an international number one bestseller. Before success as an author, he was a journalist with the Sunday Tribune newspaper and Esquire magazine. He is a regular contributor to Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and a member of the Irish artists' association Aosdána.
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, also known as Eilis Almquist and Elizabeth O'Hara, is an Irish novelist and short story writer who writes both in Irish and English. She has been shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and is a recipient of the Irish PEN Award.
Anne Teresa Enright is an Irish writer. The first Laureate for Irish Fiction (2015–2018) and winner of the Man Booker Prize (2007), she has published seven novels, many short stories, and a non-fiction work called Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood, about the birth of her two children. Her essays on literary themes have appeared in the London Review of Books and The New York Review of Books, and she writes for the books pages of The Irish Times and The Guardian. Her fiction explores themes such as family, love, identity and motherhood.
Celia de Fréine is a poet, playwright, screenwriter and librettist who writes in Irish and English.
Dún Laoghaire is a suburban coastal town in County Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built up alongside a small existing settlement following 1816 legislation that allowed the building of a major port to serve Dublin. It was known as Dunleary until it was renamed Kingstown in honour of King George IV's 1821 visit, and in 1920 was given its present name, the original Irish form from which "Dunleary" was anglicised. Over time, the town became a residential location, a seaside resort, the terminus of Ireland's first railway and the administrative centre of the former borough of Dún Laoghaire, and from 1994, of the county of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown.
Mary Mitchell O'Connor is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as a Minister of State from 2017 to 2020 and Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation from 2016 to 2017. She served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 2011 and 2020.
The Poetry Now Award is an annual literary prize presented for the best single volume of poetry by an Irish poet. The €5,000 award was first given in 2005 and is presented during annual Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown poetry festivals. From 2005 to 2011, it was bestowed during the Poetry Now international poetry festival which was held in March or April each year. In 2012 and 2013, the award was given during the Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival, in September. The award is sponsored by The Irish Times newspaper.
DLR Lexicon, branded as dlr LexIcon, is a building in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, housing the main public library and cultural centre of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council. It has attracted controversy, with opponents critical of its massive façade and its €36.6m cost at a time of austerity in Ireland, and supporters praising its interior, usability, and environmentally responsible construction.
Belinda McKeon is an Irish writer. She is the author of two novels, Solace, which won the 2011 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and Tender (2015).
Eithne Strong was a bilingual Irish poet and writer who wrote in both Irish and English. Her first poems in Irish were published in Combhar and An Glor 1943–44 under the name Eithne Ni Chonaill. She was a founder member of the Runa Press whose early Chapbooks featured artwork by among others Jack B. Yeats, Sean Keating, Sean O'Sullivan, Harry Kernoff among others. The press was noted for the publication in 1943 of Marrowbone Lane by Robert Collis which depicts the fierce fighting that took place during the Easter Rising of 1916.
Áine Ní Ghlinn is a bilingual Irish journalist, poet, playwright and children's writer. She is the current Laureate na nÓg, 2020—2023, the first to write exclusively in Irish.
Sara Baume is an Irish novelist. She was named on Granta magazine's "Best of Young British Novelists" list 2023.
Glitter Hole is a "DIY drag collective" from Ireland, who have performed at Dublin Fringe Festival.
Sarah Maria Griffin is an Irish writer and poet, podcaster, and producer of zines. She is the author of a volume each of poetry and essays, and three novels.
Ossian Smyth is an Irish Green Party politician who has served as a Minister of State since July 2020. He has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dún Laoghaire constituency since 2020.
Enda Wyley is an Irish writer of poetry and children's literature.
Hazel Gaynor is an English author of historical fiction and fantasy based in Ireland.
