Whether you're a resident vampire or visiting from further afield, Bram Stoker Festival 2018 has something for everyone in its gothic inspired programme of events. Bram Stoker Festival is brought to life by Dublin City Council and Fáilte Ireland and presented by Schweppe Curtis Nunn Ltd. Abraham 'Bram' Stoker was born on the 8th November 1847 in Marino Crescent, Clontarf, on the northside of Dublin and was educated at Trinity College from 1864-1870. Stoker became interested in the theatre while a student and this led him to become the unpaid drama critic for the Dublin Evening Mail which was co-owned by the gothic writer Sheridan Le Fanu. In 1878 he married Florence Balcombe, former girlfriend of Oscar Wilde, in St. Ann’s Church in Dawson Street.

I moved here a few years ago from Atlanta, Georgia and started working at Dublin Zoo. We’ve had six new calves here in the last three years. All those babies were born here so that makes them Irish! But really, Ireland has fantastic weather for Asian elephants because they like mild rainy days. Sometimes you will even see them going swimming more on rainy days. Christina Murphy. Images: Dublin Zoo

What’s being discovered at Dublin’s third-levels? Postgraduate degrees are increasingly useful for people who want to stand out in the jobs market. Much of the focus here has tended to be on taught masters programmes, but the skills picked up during a masters by research or a doctoral (PhD) programme are invaluable: you will learn about how to research and evaluate information and then effectively communicate what you have learned. We spoke to four students about their research projects and what’s next for them. Lisa Koep, PhD candidate at the school of marketing in DIT’s college o

What happens when you choose the road less travelled and forgo a full-time college course on leaving school? We chat to Craig Andrew about what he did instead. The Leaving Cert can seem like the biggest thing in the world when you’re 18. It’s going to define the rest of your life. You’ve got to work hard if you want a job. You’ve got to work even harder if you want a well-paid job. And you’re just lucky if you enjoy it. That’s how Craig Andrew and many others felt when they were that tender age. “It’s not like I didn’t try,” Craig says. “But nothing really spoke to me that much. So I applied for stuff I thought was relevant, with help from guidance co

IADT is Dublin’s Institute of Art Design and Technology and inside the walls, it’s alive with ideas, creativity - and a girl who hula-hoops every single day! The college is situated in Dún Laoghaire – Dublin’s picturesque coastal town - and it’s home to 2,300 students and staff. Being only 12km from the city centre means “the students have the option of hanging out in Dún Laoghaire or making the trip to the city centre” says Students’ Union president, Alice Hartigan. Conveniently, it’s on the 46A bus route, the one they voted Dublin’s favourite bus route of all time: check out the views from the top deck!

When Izzy was little she always said that her favourite thing about being in a wheelchair was that her shoes never got dirty. They looked brand new every day and the lights never ran out in her favourite light-up runners. However, her real shoes were her wheels. I remember we used to decorate her wheelchair for birthday parties and Halloween. We filled them with fresh flowers once when she was a flower girl for a wedding. At Christmas, we used to put tinfoil and lights around the wheels and lots of tiny Christmas decorations for the Xmas family show.