TY: REVEAL 2026 Pilot Programme Inspires Young Illustrators
A New Way to Explore the National Library
The inaugural transition year programme ran for 10 weeks with 19 students from eight counties across the country attending. Titled Illustration: Bringing Books to Life the course focused on the NLI's Prints & Drawings Collection, as well as a range of visual material from across the collections. The group had three visits to the Art Room to view original artworks and illustrations, generously facilitated by Laura Ryan, Assistant Keeper in Visual Collections. These visits included talks with two renowned Irish illustrators, PJ Lynch and Annie West, whose original artworks are in the collection. West’s book The Late Night Writers Club is set in the National Library and filled with illustrations of its interiors, including the main Reading Room. Interiors were further explored in a 3D pop-up illustration workshop by Maeve Clancy, whose work in the collections also depicts areas within the library. This was one of many practical workshops undertaken by the students who engaged with a range of image making techniques throughout the course, including a tote bag screen-printing workshop led by artist An Gee Chan.
Exploring the Collections Behind the Scenes
Over the ten-week programme, students were introduced to many different areas of the library and learned about the behind-the-scenes activities of the NLI. This included a tour of the Digital Studio to see how items within the collection are handled and digitised. There were two field trips to offsite NLI locations, the National Photographic Archive (NPA), Temple Bar and Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again exhibition, Bank of Ireland Cultural and Heritage Centre. At the latter, the group took part in a Blackout Poetry workshop, using experimental methods to create their own poetic compositions. At the NPA they had a Curator’s Tour with Dr Sinéad McCoole, Head of Exhibitions, Learning and Programming, gaining unique insight into the history of the famous Live Aid concerts of 1985. As well as in-person sessions, three days of the course took place online with a variety of talks and research activities.
From Research to Creative Projects
Back at the NLI, students continued to explore different aspects of the library. They each received a Reader’s Ticket which allowed them to access the National Collection and to order materials to the main Reading Room, where they researched towards their individual projects. Each student chose their own project topic and produced work using a wide range of media including poster design, booklet design, watercolour illustration and digital presentations. A vibrant design identity was created for TY: REVEAL by in-house NLI Graphic Designer Emma Conway, who also led two workshops with the group. These focused on Typography within the NLI collections, encouraging students to gather typefaces of interest and re-imagine them in their own poster designs.
Celebrating a Successful Pilot Programme
We were delighted to celebrate the work of the students and the success of the pilot TY: REVEAL programme with a final event on 21 April 2026. The day began in the Joly Theatre with short presentations about different aspects of the course, before each student was presented with a Certificate of Completion and bespoke enamel pin depicting an iconic green desk lamp from the main Reading Room. Project work created by the students was on display for family, friends, teachers and NLI staff members to view. Throughout the course, videographer Barry Lynch from Infocus Media joined us to document the range of course activities the students took part in. The resulting video is available here and below.
As facilitator of TY: REVEAL 2026 it was a great pleasure to work with this group of young participants and to support their revelations and discoveries within the NLI collections.
By Michelle Hall, TY: REVEAL Programme Facilitator
TY: REVEAL Illustration: Bringing Books to Life | Project Video 2026
Filmed and produced by Infocus Media 2026
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