On the evening of 28 September 2023, an intimate audience was invited to experience the rich tradition of the Irish literary salon. From the eighteenth-century to the mid twentieth century, literary salons were hosted across Europe by female intellectuals, and notable Irish hostesses included Maria Edgeworth and Lady Jane Wilde (Speranza). 

Marking the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the Anglo-Irish author Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973), this salon took its inspiration from the literary salons that Bowen hosted at Bowen’s Court in the mid twentieth-century. Situated in the upper reception room of the City Assembly House is a Mitchelstown limestone chimneypiece that was originally from Bowen’s Court, Co. Cork, the ancestral home of Elizabeth Bowen. Bowen’s Court was built c. 1760 and is attributed to the architect Isaac Rothery, it was demolished in 1960. The chimneypiece was donated to the Irish Georgian Society in 2018 for use in the City Assembly House. An archival photograph shows Bowen hosting guests in the hall at Bowen’s Court, with the distinctive chimneypiece visible in the background, so it is fitting that this salon took place in the room where the chimneypiece is in situ.

The salon was hosted by Eibhear Walshe, an expert on twentieth-century and contemporary Irish literature and author of ‘The Last Day at Bowen’s Court’ (2020). He was joined in conversation by the Irish writer Martina Devlin, author of ‘Edith’ (2022), a fictionalised novel based on the life of Anglo-Irish writer Edith Somerville.

The City Assembly House, located on historic South William Street in Dublin’s South Georgian Core, was built between 1765-71 by the Society of Artists in Ireland, as the first public exhibition gallery in Ireland and Britain. Over the course of its 250 year history the City Assembly House has been at the centre of Dublin’s civic life, serving as the unofficial City Hall when the Corporation acquired the building on a 100 year lease in 1809. The building was restored by the Irish Georgian Society between 2011-18, whose administrative offices and bookshop currently occupy the building, which also serves as a gallery space and cultural venue.

The Bowen Salon was devised and delivered by Zoë Coleman (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zcoleman/). 

This special event was made possible through funding from the Dublin UNESCO City of Literature small grants scheme supported by Dublin City Council.

A Literary Salon inspired by Elizabeth Bowen, held at the City Assembly House (September 2023)

IrishGeorgianSociety

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