National Library of Ireland

Yeah.

Um, and around the time, the National Library of Ireland, um, got The Mystery of Mercy Close collection, which was the beginning of their pilot digital archive project.

So it was, um, a digital collection of files that Marian Keyes had that were to do with writing her 2012 book, The Mystery of Mercy Close.

Yeah.

And I remember being on a radio station, uh, and the guy said to me, he said, "This was last year, wasn't it?" And I said, "No, no, it was this year." And he says, "How did you, how did you print a book? How did you get it printed and designed and..." I said, "We just did it." And he said, "That, that, that, that's unheard of in the printing world." And I said, "Well, I didn't know that." You know? So, um, uh, uh, that book now just interestingly, Tyson, um, uh, and it, this is fresh in my m- mind because I, I gave a presentation there, um, only last week.

It, it was acquired by the University C- of Cambridge, Oxford University, uh, National Library of Ireland, National Library of Wale- Wales, Scotland, and, uh, some really prestigious institutions that have acquired it as an archival record of Irish tradition music and dance.

So that's...

I, I nearly overlooked that, but it's, um...

It turns out that Ballybeg belongs to the world.

This Friday, the National Library of Ireland, which is home to Friel's archive, is hosting Ballybeg Goes Global, a celebration of the playwright's international legacy.

From Senegalese artists bringing West African musical traditions to translations to excerpts of his plays performed in Maori, the event gathers scholars and performers from around the world to explore how Friel's words resonate across deep cultural and linguistic divides.

Joining me now to discuss the event and why is it that Friel's work continues to captivate international audiences is Dr. Sinéad McCool, the head of exhibitions, learning, and programming at the National Library of Ireland.

Sinéad, welcome back to Arena.

Thank you very much.

Um, I want to start with Friel's archive itself.

What does the National Library of Ireland hold?

For other things, I relied on archives.

So for chapter two on the Gaelic Athletic Association, I worked a lot with 19th century newspapers, which I accessed on microfilm in the National Library of Ireland.

I also went to the GAA Museum and Archives in Croke Park.

And that felt even more special because I had to set up an appointment in advance.

Now, in about five minutes' time, the National Library of Ireland will make WB Yeats' original occult collection publicly accessible online for the first time.

The digital release marks the 100th anniversary of A Vision, his complex theory of philosophy and human history and includes notebooks, draft manuscripts and automatic writing sessions conducted with his wife, Georgie.

Well, to tell us about the 18-month project to conserve and scan the 10,000-item collection, we're joined in our studio now by Cronon O'Divlin, Head of Special Collections at the National Library.

Claire really has been working on something called the Funeral Entries.

And the Funeral Entries, um, again, a phenomenal, uh, resource based in the National Library of Ireland.

Should've said the Chancery material, of course, is in the National Archives, Funeral Entries in the National Library.

Uh, but Claire actually comes to us as a historian of Scottish women, and her book has come out quite recently, and it's an absolutely wonderful read.

Um, so for the interest of Voices, we focused on the women who, um, had their own individual funeral entry, and we call them the headline women.

So if you're not familiar with the funeral entries, they are records of death of men and women, um, from early modern Ireland.

Um, and they're based in the National Library of Ireland, and they exist across 17 volumes.

Now, for us, we focused on 16 volumes which fell within the remit, um, of our time period for Voices.