Alan Hayes (ed.)
Reading the Future: New Writing from Ireland
ISBN :9781851322015
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Reading the Future: New Writing from Ireland celebrates 250 years of Hodges Figgis bookshop with new work from 250 of Ireland’s finest writers. The anthology encompasses poetry, short fiction, drama, novel extracts, crime, Irish language and children’s writing – giving us a showcase of the phenomenal talent which exists in Ireland today.
Hodges Figgis, one of the oldest bookshops in the world, traces its beginnings to 1768, when John Milliken opened a bookshop on Skinner’s Row. In 1844 Hodges Smith & Co. bought the business, and Samuel Figgis joined the firm, leading to the Hodges Figgis relationship being formed. Over the centuries the firm moved to Grafton Street and Nassau Street, and even opened up branches around the country. The shop took up residence in Dawson Street in 1945 where it thrives today as part of the Waterstones group. Hodges Figgis has been immortalised internationally in James Joyce’s Ulysses. This rich literary tradition continues with Reading the Future: New Writing from Ireland.