Newly discovered letters written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Lady Shackleton are to go on display as part of the Ernest Shackleton Autumn School in Athy, Co Kildare, next week.
The two letters, handwritten and dated from the 1930s, were found recently when staff at the Athy Heritage Centre went through a collection bought from Christie's auction house.
The collection included Shackleton family photos, albums and more than 300 pieces of correspondence to Lady Shackleton.
It was purchased for just over £4,000 sterling in 2002, to be included in the heritage centre's permanent exhibition on the explorer. The value of the letters has yet to be ascertained.
Sir Ernest Shackleton was born in 1874 and led three exhibitions to the Antarctic. He died in 1922 in South Georgia on his fourth expedition to the Antarctic, in his ship, Quest.
Conan Doyle, most famous for his Sherlock Holmes mysteries, was a friend of Shackleton and wrote to Lady Shackleton to inform her that he had received "some curious messages purporting to be from your gallant husband". He added that he "can't guarantee them".
The letters will be on view as part of the autumn school, which runs from October 28th to 31st.
The school includes the Shackleton memorial lecture by Brian Keenan, as well as talks from a variety of guests including Alexandra Shackleton, only granddaughter of the explorer, and Grania Willis, Irish Times journalist and the first Irishwoman to reach the summit of Everest from the north side.
Breathless, a new play by John MacKenna, will also feature as part of the event.
Performed by Mend & Makedo Theatre Company, it tells the story of four Irish women who go missing and subsequently meet on a deserted roadside.
