Learning at MoLI: A Reflection

Wandering and Wondering at MoLI was a series of creative workshops with Catherine McAuley National School, taking place in October and November 2025. Each week, students embarked on imaginative journeys around the museum, using stories, poetry, and creative activities to spark ideas. They explored different parts of the museum—from the learning room and gardens to the exhibitions—while inventing stories, poems, postcards, and even their own personal guides to MoLI.

At the final session, we had the opportunity to capture the students' experience on video and celebrate the wonderful work they created during their time with us.

‘All Ways Home’ is a collaborative poem created by students from across Ireland and etched onto EIRSAT-1, Ireland’s first satellite, launched by the European Space Agency in 2023. Designed and built by students and staff at University College Dublin, the satellite carries the poem on its Antenna Deployment Module — the component responsible for communications.

The poem was developed through the Space Poem Project, an outreach initiative led by UCD in partnership with Museum of Literature Ireland and the JCSP Demonstration Library Project. School pupils nationwide collaborated with UCD MA Creative Writing students in a series of workshops.

Artwork for the poem was designed by Emer O’Boyle (UCD Parity Studios), and the text was laser-etched with EFJ Engineering in collaboration with the EIRSAT-1 team.

Curated by Assoc. Prof. Paul Perry with Professors Ian Davidson, Jessica Traynor, and Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi, the project also resulted in a three-minute animated film illustrated by Alan Dunne, with music and sound production by Phil Brookes and produced by Jane Allen.