Dublin Writers Museum

Dublin Writers Museum
Músaem na Scríbhneoirí, Baile Átha Cliath
	Location within Central Dublin
Established	November 1991
Location	18 Parnell Square, Dublin
Coordinates	53°21′16″N 6°15′50″W / 53.354383°N 6.26401°W
Public transit access	Dublin Bus route 46E
Website	writersmuseum.com

The Dublin Writers Museum was a museum of literary history in Dublin, Ireland. It opened in November 1991, closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, and was brought to an end in 2022 without ever reopening.

Purpose and facilities

The museum was set up at No 18, Parnell Square, Dublin, Ireland. It occupied an original 18th-century house, which accommodated the museum rooms, library, gallery, and an administration area. The annexe behind it held a coffee shop and bookshop on the ground floor, and exhibition and lecture rooms on the floors above. Dublin stuccatore Michael Stapleton decorated the upstairs gallery.

The Irish Writers' Centre, next door in No 19, contains the meeting rooms and offices of the

Irish Writers' Union

, the Society of Irish Playwrights, the Irish Children's Book Trust and the Irish Translators' & Interpreters' Association. The basement beneath both houses is occupied by the Chapter One restaurant.

The Museum was established to promote interest, through its collection, displays and activities, in Irish literature as a whole and in the lives and works of individual Irish writers. Through its association with the Irish Writers' Centre, it provided a link with living writers and the international literary scene. On a national level, it aimed to act as a centre, "pulling together the strands of Irish literature" and complementing the smaller, more focused museums devoted to individuals like James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, W. B. Yeats and Patrick Pearse.

Writers featured in the museum included some who had made an important contribution to Irish or international literature or, on a local level, to the literature of Dublin.

On display in the museum were literary ephemera and memorabilia, including a detailed replica of

autograph letter from Stoker. The museum also included portraits of Irish writers, including originals by artists such as Patrick Swift, Reginald Gray, Edward McGuire and Harry Kernoff

.

David Norris launched his presidential campaign ahead of the Irish presidential election at Dublin Writers Museum on 5 October 2011.^[1]^[2]

History

Having opened in 1991, the museum closed in March 2020 due to the

Bord Failte in 2012. Bord Failte commissioned a report on its future in 2020, which concluded that it had become dated relative to modern expectations, so in 2022, the decision to end the operation permanently was made.^[3] Two staff retired, two were allocated other Bord Failte duties. Announcements on the future of owned and lent artifacts were to follow.^[3]