What are you reading? This year marks the 25th anniversary of World Book Day on March 3 – a chance to stock up on new books, seek some reading inspiration perhaps, or visit a library. Four novels from Ireland are among the 79 books nominated by libraries around the world for the 2022 Dublin Literary Award – the world’s most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English, worth €100,000 to the winner. The Irish titles include Sarah Crossan’s Here is the Beehive, The Art of Falling by Danielle McLaughlin, Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan, and Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan (www.dublinliteraryaward.ie). 

Did you know that the Robinson Library, Co Armagh (pictured above) is the oldest library on the island of Ireland? With a number of incredible first editions to explore, including illuminated manuscripts and early books printed before 1501, there’s also a first edition of the classic Gulliver’s Travels corrected in Jonathan Swift’s own handwriting; www.armaghrobinsonlibrary.co.uk.

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2022, The Doyle Collection hotels in Ireland will host its annual initiative to support women in business, offering complimentary professional headshots in each city location of its hotels. The day-long initiative will run at The Westbury in Dublin and The River Lee in Cork on Friday March 4, with sessions running between 9am – 5pm. Bookings are available for this initiative via Eventbrite.

The Irish charity, WorkEqual (which began life as Dress for Success Dublin) will be hosting an online event, “Examining Bias – Perspectives on Progress”, on Tuesday, March 8, at 11.00am. Angela Smith, CEO of WorkEqual, comments “Gender bias is one of five core areas which we work to challenge, and this promises to be a very inclusive look at how we do that – as companies, as teams and as individuals. Our panel will not only look at the area of bias from the gender perspective, but in an intersectional way, looking at how biases held by society at large interplay – one form of bias compounding another. What we want attendees to take away from this event are practical steps that can be taken in combatting bias in all settings. I am inviting any company who would like to join us for this event to get in touch and find out how they can take action and create impact this International Women’s Day. This is a great way for companies to drive forward their diversity and inclusion agendas and help us provide our services to women across Ireland through their support.” www.workequal.ie 

The teams in allta and Cloud Picker Coffee have put together an incredible line-up of chefs for a very special fundraising dinner in allta Winter House in aid of Ukraine on Tuesday March 8. Tickets cost €175 with tables limited to four or six people, and with 100% of the proceeds going straight to the chosen charities. Guests will enjoy a series of dishes on the evening from some of Ireland’s best chefs including Jordan Bailey (Aimsir), Christine Walsh (Éan), Keelan Higgs (Variety Jones), Rob Krawczyk (Restaurant Chestnut), Kevin Burke (Library Street), Harry Quinn (Pichet), Charlotte and Shane (Scéal bakery) and Hugh Higgins and Niall Davidson (allta, pictured above). Tickets (€175 per person) are on sale now from www.alltawinterhouse.ie and www.cloudpickercoffee.ie. If you miss out on tickets for what’s sure to be a sell-out event, you can keep an eye on the Instagram accounts for allta restaurant and Cloud Picker for details on the launch of an online auction with proceeds also going to chosen charities UNICEF for Ukraine and Razom for Ukraine. They are hoping to raise €50,000 in total.

Launching at St Patrick’s Festival 2022, “Breathe” is a new series of community-based mini festivals focused on wellness and resilience. The first Breathe event is taking place Friday 18 and Saturday 19 at the Law Society, Blackhall Place, Dublin 7. Participants can expect yoga and mindfulness classes, sound baths, a mobile sauna, local food offerings and panel discussions from The Happy Pear, Trisha Lewis, Davie Philips, The Useless Project, Clean Coasts and Friends of The Earth who will take the themes of The Sea, The Soil and The Self as starting points. Tickets are on sale at www.breathefestival.ie.

One of the many events happening during the St Patrick’s Festival is the premiere of Deirdre Kinahan’s play Outrage directed by Jim Culleton and performed by Naoise Dunbar, Caitríona Ennis and Mary Murray. Outrage continues Kinahan’s exploration of the stories and testimonies of Ireland’s civil war which act as a catalyst for her work. Following the story of two sisters, the play explores the true nature of women’s role in the Irish revolutionary wars and in particular the Civil War in 1922. Alice and Nell play key roles in organising civic resistance and the propaganda war. They are fervent, they are funny, they are human and they – like everyone else in Ireland – become deeply conflicted as the country spins toward a shattering Civil clash that split the nation, and continues to haunt Irish politics, society and culture to this day. The play challenges the historical narrative we have all grown up with and has been described as a “theatrical hurricane of empathy, action and truth.” Presented by Fishamble, it will be performed in the Kells Courthouse and the Pumphouse in Dublin Port. Tickets are from €14 available at www.fishamble.com/outrage.

World Sleep Day on March 18 is an annual event intended to celebrate the importance of sleep and also act as a call to action on issues related to sleep including medical, educational and social aspects. The day falls during the long bank holiday weekend when many of us will have a lie-in and perhaps catch up on some sleep. For those looking for a more luxurious way to celebrate, why not book “The ESPA Bath Butler Experience” at the g Hotel & Spa in Galway. Allow the hotel’s bath butler to light some candles and draw a luxurious bath in your room using ESPA Soothing Bath and Body Oil (a blend of myrrh, sandalwood, rose geranium and frankincense) to help achieve total relaxation before bedtime. This experience, €45, is available to guests the hotel. Check in during March for dinner, bed & breakfast with ESPA Bath Butler experience included from €314 per room per night; www.theghotel.ie. 

The inaugural Creative Brain Week – a Global Brain Health Institute initiative at Trinity College Dublin – takes place from March 12-16. This event will feature online and in person events and will celebrate brain science and creativity with new ideas about social development, technology, entrepreneurship, wellbeing and physical, mental and brain health. Sessions are free, though tickets must be booked in advance; www.creativebrainweek.com. 

One initiative running in tandem with this is Poetry Ireland’s “Poemathon with Older People” – a collaborative poem on the theme of climate crisis. Former President of Ireland and Adjunct Professor for Climate Justice at Trinity College Dublin, Mary Robinson, has penned the opening line of the poem: “Growing up we did not know; now we need to mend…” Submissions for further lines, which will be edited by poet Seamus Cashman, can be made through a form on Poetry Ireland’s website from today until 5pm on 28 March. Robinson says of this initiative, “It’s wonderful to see the Poemathon with Older People focusing on the climate crisis as its theme and bringing together the voices of an older generation through the shared experience of creating a poem. “As we get older, we think more often about our legacy and picture the world that will be inherited by the next generations. I look forward to seeing how the contributors to the Poemathon engage with the idea that now is the time we need to mend.” www.poetryireland.ie 

On Saturday March 5, the exhibition “Young Gainsborough: Rediscovered Landscape Drawings” opens at the National Gallery of Ireland. 25 landscape drawings from the Royal Collection – recently attributed to English artist Thomas Gainsborough – will go on display for the first time in Ireland. Produced in the late 1740s when Gainsborough was in his early 20s, the drawings offer an intimate glimpse into the early career of this master of portraiture and landscape artist. To place the works in context, the exhibition will feature other paintings and drawings from Gainsborough’s early years, along with works by the Dutch landscape painters who influenced him. Anne Hodge, curator of the exhibition, comments: “The 25 drawings at the heart of this exhibition represent an exciting new addition to Thomas Gainsborough’s known oeuvre. Rediscovered recently within the Royal Collection at Windsor, they give a sense of Gainsborough’s youthful enthusiasm for nature. The chalk drawings have an immediacy that allows us to imagine the young artist, sitting on a sandy bank, quickly sketching the trees and vistas near his home in rural Suffolk. The exhibition provides a rare opportunity for us to see his early drawings beside the famous landscape painting Cornard Wood that they inspired.” The exhibition will run until June 12 with a programme of events to complement the exhibition; www.nationalgallery.ie. 

Film devotees will be tuning in to watch the 94th Academy Awards on March 28, but before that there’s still time to catch some premieres and events during the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival which runs until March 6. On March 3 at 12pm in the Lighthouse Cinema, Dun Laoghaire, join director Lenny Abrahamson and producers as they talk through the filmmaking process of Conversations with Friends – one of the most anticipated TV show of 2022 (www.diff.ie). On the small screen, earmark March 25, when season two of Bridgerton lands on Netflix. The second season follows Lord Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), the eldest Bridgerton sibling and Viscount, as he sets out to find a suitable wife. Driven by his duty to uphold the family name, Anthony’s search for a debutante who meets his impossible standards seems ill-fated until Kate (Simone Ashley) and her younger sister Edwina (Charithra Chandran) Sharma arrive from India … 

One day that must be marked is Mother’s Day on Sunday, March 27. If you’re looking for a thoughtful gift Killruddery has a variety of presents and experiences available in-store and online. Choose one of the Mother’s Day hampers such as the Breakfast in Bed hamper (€90), which includes a bottle of organic Perlage Prosecco, orchard apple juice, freshly baked scones, Cuinneog country butter, garden berry jam, Lady Meath’s marmalade, Killruddery Brabazon blend coffee and a jar of spring flowers from the estate. Or for the creatively curious who want to learn a new skill this new year, gift a voucher for one of the Killruddery’s botanical or kitchen workshop series (prices start from €150). One of the sessions is on Sunday March 13 with Fionnuala Fallon (pictured) who will discuss growing your own cut flowers. For more information on the programme of events available visit www.killruddery/programme. 

If you’ve been missing the chance to browse a flea market, then the good news is that a series of new monthly markets will be taking place on The Digital Hub campus in Dublin’s Liberties. The market, which will be free to enter, will host up to 50 eclectic stalls, showcasing a mixture of local design and locally made artisan food, clothes, furniture, bric-a-brac, vintage wares and plenty of hidden gems. The market will support local enterprises, organisations, designers and creatives in Dublin 8. The “We LOVE Markets” at The Digital Hub campus will launch at 11am on Sunday, March 20 and will run on a monthly basis thereafter. Further information is available at www.thedigitalhub.com.