Arts and Literature
- 5 January—Sebastian Barry wins the Costa Prize for Fiction for his novel The Secret Scripture at the 2008 Costa Book Awards.
- 19 March—The poet Seamus Heaney is awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature, honouring him for his lifetime's work.
- 7–8 March—Brian Cowen nude portraits controversy: Nude portraits of the Taoiseach are clandestinely hung in the National Gallery of Ireland and Royal Hibernian Academy's gallery by Conor Casby.
- 17 April—Seamus Heaney's 70th birthday. Commemorative audio recording, Seamus Heaney Collected Poems, released of Heaney reading from his collected work.
- 11 June—Man Gone Down, the debut novel of American Michael Thomas, wins the 2009 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
- 24 November—Colm Tóibín (Brooklyn) and Peter Murphy (John the Revelator) are included on the shortlist for the 2009 Costa Book Awards.
- c. September—Size2shoes release their first album, Size2shoes.
Read more about this topic: 2009 In Ireland
Famous quotes containing the words arts and, arts and/or literature:
“I won’t undertake war until I have tried all the arts and means of peace.”
—François Rabelais (1494–1553)
“In a very ugly and sensible age, the arts borrow, not from life, but from each other.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Our American professors like their literature clear and cold and pure and very dead.”
—Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951)