Books at One launches new community bookshop in The Liberties

Books at One, a collective of locally managed community bookshops, today announced the opening of their newest shop on Meath Street, their first shop in the capital.

Books at One is a unique social enterprise, working in areas of social disadvantage or rural isolation and provides employment, work experience and volunteering opportunities while also providing retail space for local authors, artists and craftspeople.

Books at One shops act as social and creative hubs where people can come together through a shared love of reading.

The core idea behind Books at One is to promote a culture of reading, to give local people an opportunity and a reason to shop locally for books and to be an informal  meeting place for people of all ages.

Similar to its sister stores in Louisburgh and Letterfrack, the newest Books at One location will offer a range of activities such as story time, creative writing workshops in collaboration with Fighting Words, book clubs and conversational circles.

The Meath Street shop will act as the ‘GAA pitch for book lovers’ offering the local community another space away from home, work or sport and encourage people from all backgrounds to connect through books.

The Meath Street shop was officially opened yesterday by keen book lover and RTÉ presenter, Ryan Tubridy.

Ryan was joined by locals from the area, Historian and Author Liz Gillis who read from one of her recent books and the Liberty Weavers, who demonstrated their weaving skills to the event attendees by making beautiful and unique bookmarks.

Speaking about today’s announcement, Joanne Hunter, General Manager of Books at One said, “We are delighted to bring our newest Books at One shop to the Dublin 8 community and look forward to the shop becoming an integral part of the community in the Liberties.

“Our objective is that in the future every county in Ireland will have a Books at One, where people can use the community bookshop as a third space, away from home, school and work and connect with others through their shared passion for reading and creativity.

“I would also like to thank Ryan Tubridy for giving up his time yesterday in helping us to officially open the new shop and we look forward to welcoming the local community into our new bookstore.”

Also commenting on the launch of the new store, Alistair Aitken, Books at One Meath Street shop manager said, “I am happy to be leading this new store on Meath Street in the colourful and dynamic Liberties area of Dublin City.

“Whether you’re young or old, looking for Charlotte’s Web or Charlotte Bronte, our door is always open for those living in the Liberties area or from further afield.”