Trevor White is an Irish writer, publisher, food critic and museum director. Born in Dublin, he worked as an editor at Food & Wine and launched The Dubliner magazine in 2001. White published the magazine for eight years before selling it to another publisher in November 2008. In 2011 he created the civic initiative "City of a Thousand Welcomes" and the Little Museum of Dublin.
''The Dubliner''
The Dubliner was a monthly "city magazine." Its content included opinion pieces, political and social commentary, and reviews of restaurants, books, music, comedy, theatre, movies and art. The magazine was targeted at a Dublin audience, however it soon became available in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. It operation under White is recounted in his The Dubliner Diaries. Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair described The Dubliner as "a fantastic publication" - but according to White it was "an instant failure", and within a few months it was close to bankruptcy. He struggled to keep the magazine afloat for eight years" before selling The Dubliner — and the associated restaurants guide — to magazine publisher Michael O'Doherty in November 2008. Shortly afterwards, O'Doherty explained, "The Dubliner is a magazine I've long admired. Launched nine years ago, shortly after VIP, it has a compact but loyal readership, and a reputation for top-class writing. Sure, it has featured the occasional 10-page yawn-fest about Aosdána, but now that I own the business, I can replace that with pictures of Twink."
''The Dubliner 100 Best Restaurants''
White also published The Dubliner 100 Best Restaurants Guide, and it became the best-selling restaurant guide in Ireland. In 2008 restaurant critic Ernie Whalley wrote, "It would be more correct to call the much-hyped annual 'Dublin's 30 Good and 70 Very Average Restaurants'.
In 2011 he launched a civic initiative called City of a Thousand Welcomes. It is a greeting service that sees volunteer Dubliners welcome visitors to the city by bringing them out for an informal chat over a free cup of tea or a pint. It was hoped that the initiative would attract 1000 volunteers to sign up as Dublin Ambassadors within three months. The Irish Times reported that the target was reached within 24 hours. In July 2011, The Boston Globe reported that "one of the goals of the project… is to stamp out… cynicism and encourage Dubliners to embrace their history of connecting with others by welcoming them."
In 2011, White opened a non-profit museum of Dublin on St Stephen's Green. "The Little Museum of Dublin" tells the story of Dublin in a collection created at least partly by public donation. The museum tells the story of Dublin in the 20th Century. In October 2014, Susannah Clapp wrote in the Observer newspaper, "Go to its exemplary Little Museum and you get a neat tot of Dublin's élan. Even the captions are both captivating and captious. Tradition is there all right, and so is mischief." White has said that his ambition is to create “the Noma of Museums – a small, perfectly-formed jewel that people come from all over the world to admire.” In 2019, the Little Museum won the TripAdvisor Travellers Choice Award for the second time.
Works
White is the author of Kitchen Con, a social history of restaurant criticism, and The Dubliner Diaries, an account of his time as a magazine publisher. In 2017, Alfie: The Life and Times of Alfie Byrne, was published by Penguin Ireland. Reviewing the book, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar wrote, “Trevor White brings Alfie Byrne vividly to life in the pages of his elegant new biography.” Broadcaster Joe Duffy called it “the definitive biography of the definitive Dubliner.” White has written several works for the stage. In September 2015, his debut play, The Private View: Fairytales of Ireland 1916-2016, was described by the Sunday Independent as “the most talked-about debut of the year.” For the 2019 Dublin Theatre Festival, White co-wrote a play, You Can Leave at Any Time, about the life of Mary Merritt, who spent 14 years in High Park Magdalene laundry. In the Sunday Times, critic Fiona Charleton called it “a profoundly affecting experience that illustrates past horrors with dignity.”
Personal life
He is married to Susan Jane Murray, a nutritional cook who writes a regular column for The Sunday Independent and has often featured on Tom Dunne's show on Newstalk radio.
