Most people have heard how J K Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was submitted to 12 publishers, and how all rejected it. But few of us realize that Joyce’s Dubliners was submitted 18 times, over nearly a decade, to 15 different publishers before it was published in 1914.
Joyce’s book was finally published – launching the career of the 20th century’s most significant writer – on June 14th, 2014 with Grant Richards Ltd who 9 years earlier had almost published the book, only for Joyce and the publisher to fall out.
Joyce App Celebrates 100 Years of Dubliners
Dubliners was followed by The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses and Finnegan’s Wake – although for many it is Joyce’s short story collection which is most cherished. Now 100 years on the UCD Humanities Institute is delighted to announce a new improved version of their specially commissioned iPad app which has already been downloaded over 8,000 times from Argentina to Vietnam. It includes the story The Dead read in full by renowned actor Barry McGovern – which is available to download free from the Apple App Store. McGovern’s narration of the story which was produced by Athena Media, and broadcast on Lyric FM, has been shortlisted for the Best Narration award as part of the New York Festivals World’s Best Radio Programs Award.
Often the universities, their archives and collections – and academics – are seen as exclusive, private and difficult. The Dead iPad app project makes academic archive material accessible and available digitally in an open, creative and innovative way to the general public and to an international audience – and demonstrates that Dubliners can be enjoyed by new generations in new ways. Working with award winning design and broadcast partners Vermillion Design and Athena Media, the app shows the clear potential for collaboration between cultural heritage and new technology to create new opportunities for arts, scholarship, media and design in Ireland and globally
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