The “Beckett Beyond” exhibition of student zines, was launched this week in the Orientation Space of the Eavan Boland Library. Library visitors are invited to engage with the content of the zines: leaf through the pages, participate in experiments, and contact the zinesters to continue discussion.
The research zines have been produced by Junior Sophisters studying “Beckett Beyond”, a module offered by the Department of Drama (School of Creative Arts). The zines are outputs from a short research cycle on the life and dramatic work of Samuel Beckett, led by undergraduate learners, during which the students designed a project based on their personal and academic interests. Read more from some of the zinesters on our “Beckett Beyond 2025” webpage.
The students were invited to:
- identify an area of investigation that would make a significant contribution to Beckett studies and potentially to another discipline,
- assemble a relevant corpus and other necessary research materials,
- identify the adequate methodologies,
- plan the research timeline,
- access research materials and conduct research independently,
- design a zine to disseminate their research creatively, for expert and non-expert readers alike,
- review and support their peers’ work in progress,
- present the research process and outcomes to the local Beckett research community.
The exhibition highlights this body of work, which is catalogued and preserved as part of the Library’s permanent collection, thus demonstrating the importance and strength of undergraduate research. It is our hope that the project will serve to stimulate positive interactions between the community and to develop emerging and long-standing interdisciplinary dynamics.
The eleven zines created in Michaelmas 2024 extend the “Beckett Beyond” collection – now counting thirty zines – with publications on Beckett’s collaborative methods, companionship and loneliness, the Irish language, Irish English and Irishness, imagination, not knowing and unknowing, fashion, politics, animality, posthumanism, as well as breath in connection to vaping. This cohort from Drama and Theatre Studies, as well as English Studies, thus investigated a broad range of topics that are central to Beckett’s oeuvre and Beckett studies, but they also explored how the artist’s creative work and methods can themselves operate as a lens to investigate complex issues tackled by the humanities. Each zine, in its own way, demonstrates the relevance of Beckett’s drama in contemporary contexts that Beckett himself could not have anticipated.
The exhibition will close at the end of term, but the zines will remain available for consultation upon request. We look forward to welcoming visitors, and we would deeply appreciate hearing from you via the survey accessible with the QR code located on the exhibition posters in the Library.
The Library, the Department of Drama and the Trinity Centre for Beckett Studies offer their congratulations to the zinesters, and they extend their gratitude to all the visitors who will interact with the exhibition.
Photos from the launch can be viewed on the Library Instagram page - @tcdlibrary.
Six talented Trinity students have been named as the winners of a creative competition held to honour the legacy of Irish author, Christy Nolan, and to mark the 25th Anniversary of Trinity disAbility Service.
The competition, Perseverance Through Words: A Tribute to Christy Nolan, was open to all disabled staff and students in Trinity, with all art forms welcome, including literary, visual arts, film, and performance. It was organised by Trinity disAbility Service in collaboration with the Library of Trinity College Dublin.
The winners are:
The winners were announced at a ceremony in Trinity Library’s Long Room on Wednesday, May 7th, which included speeches from Yvonne Nolan, Christy Nolan’s sister, and Rosaleen McDonagh, author, playwright, and disability activist.
The overall winner, a musical composition by Aoife O’Donovan, will now form part of the current exhibition in the Long Room entitled "Zealous mercurial dreams were about to be realised: New treasures of the Old Library", which features archival material from the Library’s Christy Nolan archive. An online exhibition about the Christy Nolan archive can be viewed here.
Christy Nolan (1965-2009) remains a shining example of Irish creativity and literary talent. At just fifteen, he published his first poetry collection, Dam-Burst of Dreams, followed by his memoir, Under the Eye of the Clock, and later the critically acclaimed novel The Banyan Tree. During his time as an undergraduate at Trinity College Dublin, Christy's disability was secondary to the interactions he had with fellow students and his lecturers.
Declan Treanor, Director of Trinity disAbility Service, Trinity College Dublin, explained: “Christy Nolan once said that ‘nobody made him feel different’ at Trinity — a powerful reminder of what this university can be at its best: a place where disabled people are not only accepted but celebrated.
Laura Shanahan, Head of Research Collections, Library of Trinity College Dublin, added:
The judging panel for the competition comprised: Sunniva Corr, Christy Nolan’s niece and a student on Trinity’s MPhil in Creative Writing; Dr Nick Johnson, Associate Professor of Drama; Eoin McNamee, Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing; and Jen O’Connor, Disability and Inclusive Internship Programme Officer.
Ends
The above image features overall winner, Aoife O’Donovan holding the score for her musical composition inspired by Christy Nolan