New Issue: Modern Irish Literary Fiction (Ireland)

Ireland isn't a country that creates a huge sets (are you reading, Royal Mail?) and this issue of four stamps celebrates modern Irish literary fiction.

I don't know a lot about Irish fiction. It's fair to say, I often don't know much about the subjects on commemorative stamps, which is why stamp collecting is so interesting - it teaches you so much about the world. You might thing that the stamps show book covers but actually they don't. These are designs by The books are: That They May Face The Rising Sun by John McGahern Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan Brooklyn by Colm Toibin Room by Emma Donoghue Instead of writing about each of these books when I have never actually read them, I have linked to a review for each of them which will hopefully give you some idea about the importance of the book and why it has been included in this set. Design Quality: The design looks like a set of book covers, although these are not the actual covers but designs created especially for these stamps. The easiest thing for An Post to do would be to just use the covers but they have chosen to design their own tributes instead. And I think that is a good idea, especially as the designs of the covers themselves are very interesting and quite different from each other. They show that each book is unique. Although people often say that you can't judge a book by its cover (or a design that looks like a cover!) these give you a sense of what each book is about. Room looks like something that might involve a child. Brooklyn looks like it might be about a journey across the sea, maybe between Ireland and America. Small Things Like These looks like it is about coal and sadness. That They May Face the Rising Sun is more difficult, but it looks like it might be a story about hope and warmth.

A lot of work has gone into these designs and they give us a feel about these books. The stamps make us want to know more about them and the people who wrote them. 8/10

Theme and Subject Choice: Why shouldn't modern writers be celebrated as much as the great writers of the past? Apart from John McGahern, who died in 2006, these authors are still alive, they are very successful and they are all important in modern Ireland. These stamps aren't just about literature but about modern Irish culture. 8/10 Historical and Cultural Relevance: The cultural relevance is very significant. 10/10

Innovation and Creativity: I think the designs are quite creative. Individually, each stamp tells you something about the book it represents. As a set, the four stamps show how different authors writing different types of novels are all contributing to modern Irish culture. 8/10

Collectability: I think these will be quite appealing to people interested in culture and perhaps even history. But while I think the design is clever, I don't know if the stamps have the "wow" factor. It's also not a common subject for thematic collectors. 6/10

Personal Appeal: I think this is a pretty great issue. To be honest, I'm not sure how they could have done it better. I also think it is right to celebrate modern art and literature instead of just the classics. But while it's a strong design, is it memorable? It seems to have everything apart from the "wow" factor. 7/10 Overall Score: 47/60