Six talented Trinity disabled students have been named as the winners of a creative competition held to honour the legacy of Irish author Christy Nolan, and to mark the 25th anniversary of Trinity disAbility Service.
The winners are:
Anna Lopuchowycz, for a poem entitled Notch;
Aoife O’Donovan, for a musical composition entitled Zealous mercurial dreams were about to be realised;
Ava Rose Beggy, for an untitled oil painting;
Avantika Singhal, for a personal essay, entitled Now could he ever get his chance to let folk see what they thought never existed?;
Claudia Clarke Gosalvez, for a charcoal drawing entitled Hearts;
Holly Wolohan, for poem entitled Private Piano Portmanteau.
The winners were announced at a ceremony in Trinity Library’s Long Room, which included speeches from Yvonne Nolan, Christy Nolan’s sister, and Rosaleen McDonagh, author, playwright, and disability activist.
The overall winner, a musical composition by Aoife O’Donovan, a full-time student at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, an accredited college of Trinity, will now form part of the current exhibition in the Long Room entitled Zealous mercurial dreams were about to be realised: New treasures of the Old Library, which features archival material from the Library’s Christy Nolan archive. An online exhibition about the Christy Nolan archive can be viewed here.
The competition, 'Perseverance Through Words: A Tribute to Christy Nolan', was open to all disabled staff and students in Trinity, with all art forms welcome, including literary, visual arts, film, and performance. It was organised by Trinity disAbility Service in collaboration with the Library of Trinity College Dublin.
Christy Nolan (1965-2009) remains a shining example of Irish creativity and literary talent. At just fifteen, he published his first poetry collection, Dam-Burst of Dreams, followed by his memoir, Under the Eye of the Clock, and later the critically acclaimed novel The Banyan Tree. During his time as an undergraduate at Trinity College Dublin, Christy's disability was secondary to the interactions he had with fellow students and his lecturers.
Declan Treanor, Director of Trinity disAbility Service, Trinity College Dublin, explained: “Christy Nolan once said that ‘nobody made him feel different’ at Trinity — a powerful reminder of what this university can be at its best: a place where disabled people are not only accepted but celebrated.
“As we mark the 25th anniversary of the Trinity disAbility Service, and honour Christy’s extraordinary legacy, we affirm that creativity and self-expression lie at the heart of both our history and our future. The development of the disAbility Hub has creativity embedded in its very foundations — a space where imagination, voice, and talent are nurtured. Through this competition, we celebrate the richness of disabled voices in all their forms, just as Christy once did.”
Laura Shanahan, Head of Research Collections, Library of Trinity College Dublin, added:
"Partnering with the disAbility Service on this competition project, using the Christy Nolan Archive and his published works as inspiration, has been a huge privilege for the Library. Christy's archive was donated to Trinity by his family, ‘in tribute to his bravery, and his exceptional body of work… and as a testament to what is possible through love and indomitability’. In the act of preservation of the archive and through the re-promotion of his works in our exhibition, we are grateful to have played just one small part in ensuring Christy's legacy amongst the great Irish writers of the twentieth century.
“The Library feels strongly that what we collect now must contain diversity of voices and experiences. The history of Christy's experience has particular resonance in a University context because it demonstrates the role that science, technology, medicine and education had in enabling the humanistic expression of his art."
The judging panel for the competition comprised: Sunniva Corr, Christy Nolan’s niece and a student on Trinity’s MPhil in Creative Writing; Dr Nick Johnson, Associate Professor of Drama; Eoin McNamee, Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing; and Jen O’Connor, Disability and Inclusive Internship Programme Officer.
