Bookshops in Dublin's city centre have taken to the streets with a weekly open-air market in Temple Bar Square. The bookstalls with reading material for all tastes operate each Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The bookshops involved include the Flying Pig shop which is based in Crow Street in Temple Bar, Books Upstairs in College Green, Borderline Records, which has expanded into the music book market, and a number of independent booksellers selling maps, guides and a range of new and second-hand books.
Under large white umbrellas the shops offer everything from second-hand science fiction journals such as the Fortean Times to second hand comic annuals, literature and popular fiction.
The book market follows the establishment, more than a year ago, of the Meeting House Square Food market, also a Saturday event, which offers a wide variety of organic, and home cooked foods and dairy products.
Temple Bar properties says the book market is part of an ongoing policy to provide "interesting and imaginative focal points for members of the public, as they wander through Dublin's cultural quarter".
This latest development follows the opening of a number of new quirky retail shops in the area, and offers a focal point for tourists hanging out on the square to hear buskers, from barber shop quartets to tin whistle players, with bible readers adding to the fray.