"How many! All these here once walked round Dublin. Faithful departed. As you are now so once were we."
--Ulysses, James Joyce

The United Nations has named Dublin City of Literature. The announcement was made by Irina Bokova, president of UNESCO.

At a ceremony in the Grand Canal Theatre, Ireland's Culture Minister Mary Hanafin, with Dublin Lord Mayor Gerry Breen, accepted the award, predicting it would be a great boon to the city.

There was no sign of Denis Breen in his "skimpy frockcoat and blue canvas shoes."

The successful bid was first placed and then lobbied by The Dublin City Library on Pearse Street, which is also home to the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Over the years, four Nobel Prizes for Literature have found their way to Dublin: GB Shaw, WB Yeats, Sam Beckett and Séamus Heaney.

Names like James Joyce, Brendan Behan, Seán O'Casey, Flann O'Brien, Máritín Ó Díreáin, Roddy Doyle, Bram Stoker, Maeve Binchy, Patrick Kavanagh, Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde are pop stars in the city. Everyone knows them.

Dublin is the 2010 recipient, joining Edinburgh (2004) Melbourne (2008) and Iowa City (2009) for the honor.

The award was begun as part of a development project called the Creative Cities Network which seeks to find ways where countries can "nurture their own creative economy."