Interview with Colin O’Sullivan
Big in Japan Polly Young talks to Colin O’Sullivan Colin O’Sullivan is an Irish author on the rise, receiving critical acclaim in France in particular. He received this year’s prestigious Prix Mystère de la Critique, and is nominated for the Grand Prix de Literature Policière. His first novel, Killarney Blues, was released in France by a...
Interview with Jan Carson
Caoimhe Fox talks to Jan Carson about her acclaimed novel The Fire Starters. ‘The Smoke seems to have passed’ announced the waitress delivering coffee to our outdoor table on Drury Street. A plume of smoke was billowing from down the lane, where an apartment had burst into flames as we arrived. The irony...
Happy birthday, Charlie Parker!
The American detective created by Irish writer John Connolly will be twenty this year. The publication of A Book of Bones (Hodder & Stoughton) marks the seventeenth in the series but it will also be twenty years since Connolly created Parker. This time out, Parker is involved in a case that is steeped in English folk tradition...
No sex for export
A copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover used by the judge of the novel’s landmark 1960 obscenity trial, with all the rude bits carefully and dutifully marked up by his wife, has been temporarily stopped from leaving the UK. This is the copy of D.H. Lawrence’s novel that was taken into court by judge, Sir Laurence Byrne. The...
Darby O’Gill inspired restaurant
A new upmarket restaurant and bar, recently opened at London’s exclusive Embassy Gardens on the South Bank, is inspired by the classic Disney film Darby O’Gill and the Little People (reviewed in Books Ireland, Sept./Oct. 2015). Darby’s is owned by TV chef Robin Gill, whose father headed the Dublin showband Earl Gill and the Hoedowners. Mr Gill,...
Winners at Listowel Writers’ Week
The Kerry Group Novel of the Year at Listowel Writers’ Week prize went to David Park, for the exceptional Travelling in a Strange Land (Bloomsbury). Park beat off stiff competition from John Boyne (for Ladder to the Sky rather than his more recent work, My Brother’s Name is Jessica) and the otherwise unstoppable force that is Sally...
ECHOES to return to Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre this October
Echoes 2019 Will Celebrate Community in Contemporary Writing in Ireland! Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre is delighted to announce that ECHOES will return from the 4th – 6th October 2019. ECHOES proudly celebrates the life and work of Maeve Binchy and Irish writers, and will feature thought provoking talks, walks, debates, interviews and theatrical events.
Concerns over student illiteracy
In a startling OECD study, it was found that up to 6% of Irish university graduates are functionally illiterate—meaning their reading and writing skills are ‘inadequate to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level’. These rates, collected in 2012, are significantly higher than in Finland (2%) or the Netherlands (3%),...
Irish-language Literature Adviser appointed
Irish-language Literature Adviser appointed Peter Sirr has recently been engaged as the Arts Council’s Irish-language Literature Adviser. As a Dublin native, poet, critic, prose writer and dramatist, Peter Sirr has a wealth of artistic knowledge and will be a fantastic addition to the Arts Council. Congratulations, Peter!
All change at Eason
As reported here before, Eason is pressing ahead with some major changes in its business model. In a move to reduce its share capital and continue to move its business online, Eason asked the High Court to formally approve its plan to pay a €60m special dividend to shareholders. The company is...
