Alison Hackett was born in Cork in 1961. From the age of eleven she was sent to board in Glengara Park School in Dublin. Her education continued in Trinity College Dublin from which she graduated with a degree in Mathematics and Economics in 1982 and a Higher Diploma in Education (teaching) the following year. During the summer of 1981 she worked as student research assistant to Patrick Honohan (former Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland) assisting with econometric analysis of the national statistics.
She is the founder of the publishing house 21st Century Renaissance bringing to her work the belief that the right blend of design and writing can influence change and raise debate across a wide section of society. Her focus is on high quality print publications created and produced in Ireland when possible. A growing number of authors and illustrators are being published by 21CR.
For almost thirteen years she worked as the Institute of Physics representative in Ireland. During that time she conceived of the idea for The Visual Time Traveller which she authored, curated and launched in 2013 with an exhibition on 6th December at the RHA Gallery. It was printed and bound in the Netherlands by MM Artbook with an open spine - a distinctive feature of this collaborative work. Alison presented the inaugural lecture on The Visual Time Traveller at the RDS at the opening of their library exhibition on 2nd April 2014. The Visual Time Traveller was selected by an international jury for the Global Irish Design Challenge exhibitions of 2016 (Dublin Castle) and 2017 (National Design and Craft Gallery.
In August 2012, Alison was shortlisted in The Next Myles competition in The Irish Times with a piece called Typos.
Hundreds of her letters commenting on a diverse range of political, educational and social matters have been published in newspapers with the first 250 published as a collection Yours etc Letters printed in Irish and British papers 2010 - 2017
The Visual Time Traveller was presented in Mystic Noank Library in Connecticut in the Autumn of 2019 — her American debut and the book has now been requested to be added to the Library of Congress' collection and many prestigious university libraries including Harvard.
She lives in Dún Laoghaire close to the sea and sails a classic wooden boat with her husband, the Water Wag, the oldest one-design dinghy in the world.
She is the founder of the publishing house 21st Century Renaissance bringing to her work the belief that the right blend of design and writing can influence change and raise debate across a wide section of society. Her focus is on high quality print publications created and produced in Ireland when possible. A growing number of authors and illustrators are being published by 21CR.
For almost thirteen years she worked as the Institute of Physics representative in Ireland. During that time she conceived of the idea for The Visual Time Traveller which she authored, curated and launched in 2013 with an exhibition on 6th December at the RHA Gallery. It was printed and bound in the Netherlands by MM Artbook with an open spine - a distinctive feature of this collaborative work. Alison presented the inaugural lecture on The Visual Time Traveller at the RDS at the opening of their library exhibition on 2nd April 2014. The Visual Time Traveller was selected by an international jury for the Global Irish Design Challenge exhibitions of 2016 (Dublin Castle) and 2017 (National Design and Craft Gallery.
In August 2012, Alison was shortlisted in The Next Myles competition in The Irish Times with a piece called Typos.
Hundreds of her letters commenting on a diverse range of political, educational and social matters have been published in newspapers with the first 250 published as a collection Yours etc Letters printed in Irish and British papers 2010 - 2017
The Visual Time Traveller was presented in Mystic Noank Library in Connecticut in the Autumn of 2019 — her American debut and the book has now been requested to be added to the Library of Congress' collection and many prestigious university libraries including Harvard.
She lives in Dún Laoghaire close to the sea and sails a classic wooden boat with her husband, the Water Wag, the oldest one-design dinghy in the world.