On one of his many visits to Dublin, Malcolm O'Hagan stopped in, as he sometimes does, at the Dublin Writers Museum on Parnell Square. The charming museum is in a refurbished Georgian house, and contains such literary curios as Brendan Behan's union card and Samuel Beckett's telephone.
"And I started to wonder where the U.S. counterpart was, and I found out that it doesn't exist," said O'Hagan, who grew up in the west of Ireland and now lives in Washington, D.C. So for the past year, he has worked on creating a national writers museum here in the United States.
Reaction to the idea, he said, has been not just positive, but downright enthusiastic. He has an executive team in place, and an advisory council, and next up is deciding a location.
Right now the odds are good that it will be in Chicago. But knowing that didn't stop Minnesota Historical Society acquisitions librarian Patrick Coleman from inviting O'Hagan to check out the Twin Cities anyway. "I just thought, 'Well, I've got a table at the [Minnesota] Book Awards, and an empty seat, so I'll invite him,'" Coleman said.
O'Hagan spent that awards weekend touring the Loft, the University of Minnesota and libraries; meeting with publishers and librarians, and going for a run along Summit Avenue, past the homes of Sinclair Lewis and F. Scott Fitzgerald. (And Garrison Keillor.)
"Everything about it was hugely engaging and enjoyable," O'Hagan said. "The Twin Cities, with its corporate structure and support for the arts, is a very viable candidate."
You can read more about O'Hagan's visit on our new books blog.
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