An Leabhar Mòr / The Great Book of Gaelic is an international collaborative artwork bringing together the work of more than 200 visual artists, poets and calligraphers from Scotland and Ireland. It has generated an international touring exhibition of 100 artworks, a book publication, a television documentary, a series of BBC radio programmes, a music CD, a schools pack and an events programme. Following the exhibition tour (until 2008) the artworks will be bound into one volume to form a visual anthology and a permanent visitor attraction. See: The web site for the book.

An Leabhar Mòr / The Great Book of Gaelic was produced under the direction of Proiseact nan Ealan / The Gaelic Arts Agency, the national development agency for the Gaelic arts, which designs, develops and pilots new arts and cultural initiatives. Their address is 10 Shell Street, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, HS1 2BS, Scotland. Tel: +44 1851 704493 Fax: +44 1851 704734 E-mail: pne@gaelic-arts.com

Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann  is the national organisation dedicated to developing, supporting and promoting poetry throughout Ireland. They are a resource and information point for any member of the public with an interest in poetry and they work towards creating opportunities for poets working or living in Ireland. Their address is: 120 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2. Tel:+353 1 671 4632 Fax:+353 1 671 4634

Aosdána is an association of creative artists in Ireland established by the Arts Council  in 1983. Membership, which is by peer nomination and election, is limited to 200 living artists who have produced a distinguished body of work. Members must have been born in Ireland or have been resident here for five years, and must have produced a body of work that is original and creative.

Iomairt Cholm Cille / the Columba Initiative was launched in 1997 to create greater contact and understanding between the Gaelic-speaking communities of Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It fosters the chance for these Gaelic-speaking communities to meet each other more often, and in so doing to learn more of the language, heritage and lifestyles of one another. Projects must be at least bipartite, linking Scotland with either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. Priorities are given to projects linking all three regions. Contact information for each office is: ICC Scotland: Tel +44 (0) 1471 888590, e-mail sm00dam@groupwise.uhi.ac.uk. ICC Northern Ireland: Tel +44 (0)2890 238293, e-mail ccille.ultach@cinni.org. ICC Republic of Ireland: Tel +353 (0)91 503278, e-mail ccille@udaras.ie.

Re-Imagining Ireland was held May 7-10, 2003, in Charlottesville, Virginia. The gathering, opened by President Mary McAleese of Ireland, met to explore the meaning of Ireland for the world as a modern and prosperous, yet traditional, culture. Participants – more than 100 journalists, writers, politicians, artists, scholars, musicians, and citizen activists, most of them from Ireland – discussed how the Ireland of the future could emerge as a compassionate and vital society that created itself anew, while preserving the strengths of its heritage. Re-Imagining Ireland was produced by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to developing and supporting research, education, and public programs in the humanities. The people at the Foundation believe the humanities are active and public, not remote and academic. Their projects apply the various perspectives of history, literature, philosophy, cultural and religious studies, and other fields of the humanities to contemporary and abiding human questions. They contribute to the interpretation and understanding of cultural traditions, and to the understanding of current policy debates.

A bound version of An Leabhar Mòr containing all 100 poems in Gaelic and English and 100 artworks is published in hard and soft cover by Canongate, 14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE, Scotland. The Great Book of Gaelic is here.

The exhibition shown in Archipelago is by courtesy and with permission of the Editors and of Proiseact nan Ealan, whose generous assistance we gratefully acknowledge. The selections were chosen by all three editors. Introduction © Malcolm Maclean 2000. Twentieth Century Irish Poetry © Theo Dorgan. Poems, Translations, Artworks © contributors.

Archipelago would like to acknowledge warmly and with gratitude financial support from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy and Iomairt Cholmcille/The Columba Initiative for the production of this installation and accompanying CD.

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