As part of the National Library of Ireland’s ongoing collaboration with the Ethiopian Community in Ireland, Dr Sinéad McCoole will present selected holdings from the NLI collections relating to Ethiopia . This will be followed by a talk from the Chair of the Ethiopian Community in Ireland, Mr Zelalem Fisseha, who will discuss his curatorial work developing an African perspective on the 1980s famine and the legacy of Live Aid. His response, created in partnership with the NLI, will form the second phase of the exhibition and will be displayed in the NPA, highlighting community voices and reflection.

Explore the people, events and other influences that would lead William Butler Yeats to write his most mysterious and esoteric work, A Vision, on this special tour of the National Library of Ireland’s Yeats Exhibition.

Join us at Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again Saturday 24th May at 2pm for a fascinating talk from Dr Rosie Lavan of Trinity College Dublin on Seamus Heaney’s first and most beloved collection, Death of a Naturalist, in celebration of the 60th anniversary of its publication.

Death of a Naturalist gained fame for Heaney as he movingly describes his journey from innocence to experience and from his rural upbringings in Co. Derry to the urban world of Belfast. Dr Lavan will discuss the book’s journey towards publication, looking at how some of Heaney’s most cherished poems – including ‘Digging’, ‘Twice Shy’ and ‘Death of a Naturalist’ – made their first appearances in British magazines including the New Statesman and Vogue, where they can be found in some intriguing contexts. To do so, she will draw on some of the most special items in our collection, such as the letter from Faber & Faber telling Heaney that Death of a Naturalist had been accepted for publication.

Join us at Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again in celebration of National Drawing Day 2026 for a lecture on the drawings of great Irish Artists, including Jack B. Yeats, Mary Swanzy, Sean O'Sullivan, Flora Mitchell, Pauline Bewick, Muriel Brandt and more.

Following the lecture, you will have the chance to draw inspiration from these great artists in a still-life drawing class with Kenneth Donfield held in our stunning Rotunda. 

This workshop is open to all skill levels, and all materials are provided.

Our new exhibition at the National Photographic Archive, Temple Bar, showcases striking photographs from the Band Aid Trust Archive. It offers a rare chance to revisit the atmosphere, scale and impact of this extraordinary cultural moment.

It is a chance to see the photographic record of the artists who took part in the ‘Global Jukebox’ and view a specially commissioned short film using more of the NLI stills to capture the incredible experience shared on one day by 1.6 billion people viewing it across the world. Four decades on from the legendary 1985 concerts in London and Philadelphia to the smaller ones in Australia, Japan and the Netherlands, recapture the creativity, community and spirit of the original concerts.

Events

► Ethiopian Coffee + DJ

Saturday 15 November, 2-4 p.m. | National Photographic Archive, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar

Free. Drop-in (arrive early if you want to be guaranteed a coffee).

► Ethiopia Partnership Day

Saturday, 22 November, 1.30–4.00 p.m. | National Library of Ireland Main Building, Kildare Street

Free. Booking essential. 

► 80s Silent Disco

Thursday, 27 November, 6.30–8.30 p.m.  | National Photographic Archive, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar

Free. Registration essential. 

► Seanchoíche: Storytelling Night

Thursday, 4 December, 6.30–10.00 p.m. | National Photographic Archive, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar 

Tickets for this event have booked out - wait list only 

► Lunchtime Curator’s Tours | Live Aid Exhibition 

1-2p.m., Tues. 25 Nov., Tues. 2 Dec., and Tues. 9 Dec. | National Photographic Archive, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar

Free. Booking essential.