Creepy House Summer Reading Challenge

At Sligo Central Library there's a spine-tingling adventure waiting for children when they take part in the 2013 Summer Reading Challenge. They can join in the adventure as they explore the Creepy House, simply by reading six books from Sligo Central Library. They can discover the secrets of Creepy house and meet some of the hair-raising residents! There are competitions and author news on the website www.creepy-house.org.uk

Join now at Sligo Central Library, and receive your free Creepy House poster, bookmark and wrist band. Collect some gruesome scratch and sniff stickers as you complete the challenge. The challenge runs until 12th August 2013.

National Recreation Week 2013

A number of events will be held throughout Sligo to celebrate National Recreation Week, an initiative of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. Events in Sligo are co-ordinated by Community and Enterprise, Sligo County Council (Te. 071 9111802) in association with Sligo County Library Service, Sligo Sport and Recreation Partnership and Foróige. Events are aimed at young people between the ages of 12 and 18 years.

Monday 24th June: Sligo Central Library
10.00am—12.00 pm Robotics Workshop hosted by St. Angela’s College at Sligo Central Library Pre-registration required Limited Places

Monday 24th June: North West Adventure Tours
Time to be confirmed. Hiking Activity for young women age 12-14 years, in conjunction with North West Adventure Tours Limited places. Contact Karina or Sinead at the C.R.I.B. Youth Project and Health Cafe, 071 9146526

Monday 24th June: Sligo Sports & Recreation Partnership
Time to be confirmed Horseriding with Keash Equestrian Centre for teenagers with a disability Keash Equestrian Centre Contact: Sligo Sport and Recreation Partnership on 071 9161511 or email shane@sligosportandrecreation.ie

Tuesday 25th June: C.R.I.B Youth Project
3.30pm —5.00 pm Cupcake making workshop for young women age 12-14 years Limited places. Contact Karina or Sinead at the C.R.I.B. Youth Project and Health Cafe, 071 9146526

Tuesday 25th June: C.R.I.B Youth Project
5.30pm —7.00 pm Soccer tournament for 13-17 year olds Limited places. Contact Karina or Sinead at the C.R.I.B. Youth Project and Health Cafe, 071 9146526

Wednesday 26th June: C.R.I.B Youth Project
Time to be confirmed Cinema trip for young women age 12-14 years Limited places. Contact Karina or Sinead at the C.R.I.B. Youth Project and Health Cafe, 071 9146526

Wednesday 26th June: Ox Mountain Development Group
10.00am — 2.00 pm Orienteering with Ox Mountain Development Group
Meeting point—Aclare Contact Tubbercurry Family Resource Centre 071 9186926

Thursday 27th June: Beat It Dance School
5.00pm —6.00 pm Hip Hop/Street Open Dance Class with Beat It Dance School
Fitness4All Gym, Strandhill Sligo Sport and Recreation Partnership on 0719161511 or email diane@sligosportandrecreation.ie / or Sarah at Beat It Dance School on 0879486922

Thursday 27th June: Tubbercurry Family Resource Centre
11.00am—1.00pm Rebounding and Boxercise Contact Tubbercurry Family Resource Centre 071 9186926

Friday 28th June: Tubbercurry Family Resource Centre

11.00am—1.00pm Boccia and Multi Sport Contact Tubbercurry Family Resource Centre 071 9186926

Tuesday 2nd July : Ballymote Community Library & Sligo Central Library
11.30 am & 2.30 pm Reading and Q&A session with Award -winning author Sheena Wilkinson Pre-registration required Limited Places. Sligo Central Library 071 9111859

On-going Promotion of reading materials for 12-18 year olds in Sligo Libraries Ballymote, Enniscrone, Sligo Central Library and Tubbercurry www.sligolibrary.ie

Summer Opening Hours in Tubbercurry & Ballymote Community Libraries

To assist Library staff in taking annual summer leave and to minimise disruption to our branch services it has been decided to close Tubbercurry Community Library and Ballymote Community Library for a 2 week period over the Summer.

Library: Tubbercurry Community Library

Closes: Wednesday 31st July @ 5pm

Reopens: Tuesday 20th August @ 12 noon

Library: Ballymote Community Library

Closes: Wednesday 31st July @ 5pm

Reopens: Tuesday 20th August @ 9.30am

If you wish to contact either of these branches to discuss borrowing arrangements etc you can call;

Tubbercurry Community Library: 071 9111705

Ballymote Community Library: 071 9111669

We apologise in advance for an inconvenience caused by this issue.

'Paths to Commemoration' Lecture

Lecture Title: Commemoration & the 1981 Hunger Strike
Date: Tuesday 18 June @ 7.30 p.m
Venue: Sligo Central Library

The 1981 Hunger Strike was a pivotal event of the Troubles, galvanising Republican support and attracting worldwide media attention. The strike was a powerful symbol of the Republican struggle & the event and reaction by the British Government resulted in increased tension between the two main communities. By early April 1981, Bobby Sands was elected MP for Fermanagh & South Tyrone. By the end of August, ten men had died on hunger strike.

Over 30 years later, it remains hugely significant, poignant and symbolic for the Republican community, and simultaneously uncomfortable, contentious and difficult for many within the Unionist community.

Laurence McKeown will be speaking of his personal experience of the Hunger Strike. He will look at how it is commemorated and how that has changed over the years.

Laurence will also talk about the arts works he has produced in relation to the hunger strike; the play ‘Laughter of Our Children’, the feature film ‘H3’, and short biography of Bobby Sands ‘I arose this morning’.

Our previous guest speaker talks have so far looked at the origins of parading on St Patrick's Day, commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising, and the Apprentice Boys of Derry.

2013 Yeat's Day a great success!

This year Yeat's day was a dawn to dusk celebration not just of Sligo’s Nobel Laureate and his works, but also of his brother Jack, one of the country’s most significant painters of the last century, and his sisters Susan and Elizabeth- who made an enormous contribution to the Gaelic art and crafts revival in the early 20th century. The Library was one of the venues involved with Yeat's Nobel Medal on display throughout the day in the County Museum. Also held in Central Library was 'Choral Yeats - Children in costume recite Yeats poetry' which was a great success and entertained the large crowd in attendance.

The full group recite Yeats Poetry

Some of the younger members take centre stage

For further information on Yeats Day and the upcoming Season of Yeats events please visit www.seasonofyeats.com/yeatsday/

Yeats Day 2013

Poetry, painting, song, craft and food; all will be on the menu for Sligo’s second annual Yeats Day celebration throughout the town on Thursday June 13, birthday of Nobel Prize Winning poet WB Yeats.

This year the day will be a dawn to dusk celebration not just of Sligo’s Nobel Laureate and his works, but also of his brother Jack, one of the country’s most significant painters of the last century, and his sisters Susan and Elizabeth- who made an enormous contribution to the Gaelic art and crafts revival in the early 20th century.

The highlight will of course be the birthday celebrations on O’Connell Street, Sligo with poetry, balloons, birthday cake and music. Among key events of the day will be actor Michael Fish’ fascinating interpretation of WB Yeats Nobel Prize winning speech, delivered in Stockholm, Sweden in December 1923. The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Yeats for his “for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation”.

Yeats actual Nobel prize –go and see it – is on display at the County Library & Museum, Stephen Street, Sligo. To celebrate the prize, restaurants in Sligo will be asked to serve a variety of foods, based on the theme of sausages and wine, the food that WB celebrated with when he was told he had won the prize. Apparently it was the only food he had in the house!

Also at 12.30pm at Central Library in Stephen Street: 'Choral Yeats - Children in costume recite Yeats poetry'

The Hamilton Gallery will launch a Gathering-inspired exhibition of Irish American art, inspired by what WB Yeats called Numberless Dreams.

A variety of competitions are being run with primary and secondary schools to celebrate poetry, art, print and embroidery with prizes announced on Yeats Day.

For further information on Yeats Day and the upcoming Season of Yeats events please visit www.seasonofyeats.com/yeatsday/

Sligo based Kevin Barry wins 2013 IMPAC award with 'City of Bohane'

'City of Bohane' by Kevin Barry is the winner of the 2013 International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award.

The €100,000 prize is the largest prize for a single novel published in English, and nominations are made by public libraries around the globe.

Irish-born Kevin Barry hails from Limerick and lives in Sligo, on Ireland’s west coast. He is the author of two award winning short story collections: City of Bohane is his first novel.

‘I’m thrilled to see an Irish author of such immense talent take home this year’s award. City of Bohane is a vivid, atmospheric portrayal of a city in the West of Ireland set in the future but mired in the past. The highly original cast of characters are at once flamboyant and malevolent, speaking in a vernacular like no other,’ said the Lord Mayor of Dublin and Patron of the Award, Naoise Ó Muirí, announcing the winner at a ceremony in Dublin’s Mansion House on 6th June. Kevin Barry received the trophy and a cheque for €100,000 at the presentation dinner following the announcement.

The winning novel beat off competition from 153 other titles, nominated by 160 libraries from 44 countries. It was first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape. The shortlist of ten novels, as chosen by an international panel of judges included novels from France, Iceland, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, the UK and the USA. Kevin Barry is the third Irish author to win the prize. It was awarded to Colm Tóibín in 2006 for The Master and to Colum McCann in 2011 for Let the Great World Spin.

Commenting on his win, Kevin Barry said: ‘The fact that this award originates with the libraries is what makes it very special for me – libraries are where we learn that we can live our lives through books.’

A.M Holmes wins the 2013 Women's Prize for Fiction.

American author A.M. Homes has won the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction with her sixth novel 'May We Be Forgiven'.

2013 marks the eighteenth year of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, known from 1996 to 2012 as the Orange Prize for Fiction, which celebrates excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s writing from throughout the world.

At an awards ceremony at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London – hosted by Chair of the Women’s Prize for Fiction board, Kate Mosse – the 2013 Chair of Judges, Miranda Richardson, presented the author with the £30,000 prize and the ‘Bessie’, a limited edition bronze figurine. Both are anonymously endowed. Richardson said: “Our 2013 shortlist was exceptionally strong and our judges’ meeting was long and passionately argued, but in the end we agreed that May we be Forgiven is a dazzling, original, viscerally funny black comedy – a subversion of the American dream. This is a book we want to read again and give to our friends.”

The Women’s Prize for Fiction was set up in 1996 to celebrate and promote fiction written by women throughout the world to the widest range of readers possible. The Women’s Prize is awarded to the best novel of the year written in English by a woman.

Ballymote Library Book Club revel in their role as book critics!

Ballymote national School pupils are not only readers, some of them were also Judge and Jury for the Children's Books Ireland Awards 2013.The 6th class children are members of Ballymote Community Library's Junior Bookclub. They read, critiqued and debated all 10 shortlisted titles and then voted for their favourite book.

The children, with their teacher Ms Hunt and Librarians Brenda Cawley, Naoni Brennan and Louise McGrath made the trip to the National Library of Ireland in Dublin for the Awards ceremony. Eimer Conlon and Cian Quinn made the preseentation on 'Hong'. Ada McDonagh, Niamh Currid and Katie Anderson presented 'Mise agus an Dragun'.

The children also met and chatted with Sheena Wilkinson, winner of the Children's choice awards for her book 'Grounded'

Belfast author Sheena Wilkinson, the winner of the 23rd CBI Book of the Year Award is the second author ever to win both the Book of The Year Award and the Children’s Choice Award for her novel Grounded. Set in a beak, contemporary Belfast, the novel follows a talented show-jumper from the wrong side of the tracks and his struggle to cope with his responsibilities as a boyfriend, son, employee and friend. The judges said ‘this powerful first person narrative is an unsentimental account of a teenager trying to cope with a series of unexpected responsibilities, and explores the effects of caring too much and of caring too little.’ Grounded is the sequel to Sheena’s previous novel Taking Flight, which won both the CBI Honour Award for Fiction and the Children’s Choice Award in 2011.


The winner of the Eilís Dillon award, which is awarded to a first time author or illustrator is Sarah Crossan for The Weight of Water. Written in a verse narrative, Sarah’s coming of age tale portrays not only the fear and isolation felt by many young immigrants, but also the courage and resilience that is often needed for a young person to find his or her way in the world.

Paths to Commemoration Series

Lecture Title: Commemoration & the 1981 Hunger Strike
Date: Tuesday 18 June @ 7.30 p.m
Venue: Sligo Central Library

The 1981 Hunger Strike was a pivotal event of the Troubles, galvanising Republican support and attracting worldwide media attention. The strike was a powerful symbol of the Republican struggle & the event and reaction by the British Government resulted in increased tension between the two main communities. By early April 1981, Bobby Sands was elected MP for Fermanagh & South Tyrone. By the end of August, ten men had died on hunger strike.

Over 30 years later, it remains hugely significant, poignant and symbolic for the Republican community, and simultaneously uncomfortable, contentious and difficult for many within the Unionist community.

Laurence McKeown will be speaking of his personal experience of the Hunger Strike. He will look at how it is commemorated and how that has changed over the years.

Laurence will also talk about the arts works he has produced in relation to the hunger strike; the play ‘Laughter of Our Children’, the feature film ‘H3’, and short biography of Bobby Sands ‘I arose this morning’.

Our previous guest speaker talks have so far looked at the origins of parading on St Patrick's Day, commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising, and the Apprentice Boys of Derry.