Energy, exuberance, empathy—Stephen Reid on White City by Kevin Power

White City|by Kevin Power| Scribner UK|hardback £14.99|ISBN: 9781847378064 by Stephen Reid ‘I am a sick man … I am a spiteful man’ Dostoyevsky wrote in Notes from Underground. Ben, the narrator of White City changes only one word of this to open his own confessional...

Words Ireland: Surveys for a Stronger, Fairer Sector

Words Ireland is carrying out the first major survey of writers and illustrators in Ireland in over a decade—and the first ever survey of people working in Ireland's literature and publishing sector. The anonymous information gathered will feed efforts to improve the pay and conditions of writers, illustrators and literature...

Anxieties of the present, horrors to come—Eoghan Smith on Line by Niall Bourke

f Line|Niall Bourke|Tramp Press 2021|ISBN:9781916291423|paperback|€13.99 by Eoghan Smith Dystopian speculation has been a part of world literature for well over two hundred years. Famous examples include Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, George Orwell’s 1984, and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Recently, works by...

The Museum of Literature Ireland reopens with brand new exhibition

The Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) is delighted to announce the reopening of the museum on Friday, 14 May 2021, at 10.30am.  MoLI reopens with a brand new exhibition of children’s picture-book illustrator and writer Chris Haughton, curated by the wonderful Sarah Webb. Haughton is one of our most successful authors, and often...

Reconciling the darkness: historical novel shines a torchlight on Spanish Civil War

by Anamaría Crowe Serrano The idea of writing In the Dark (Turas Press) originally stemmed from something I had difficulty reconciling for myself. My Spanish grandfather, who spent much time with me in Spain when I was a child, and whom I loved dearly, fought for Franco in the Spanish Civil...

Call for Poet in Residence

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council invites applications for a poet in residence for the period September 2021 to June 2022. The writer in residence scheme is managed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Arts Office and this year the focus is on poetry. The residency...

Vivid, compelling, partisan—John Kirkaldy on My Life in Loyalism

 My Life In Loyalism|Billy Hutchinson with Gareth Mulvenna|Merrion Press|paperback| ISBN: 9781785373459|€18.95 by John Kirkaldy The picture on the front cover tells us almost all we need to know. The eyes are determined, looking into the middle distance. This is a man of strong...

Behind the Screen—Tony Canavan on The Eagle has Landed

Tony Canavan sees some significant differences between the book and film of The Eagle Has Landed  by Tony Canavan, consulting Editor I remember buying The Eagle Has Landed  when it first came out in 1975. I was a teenager then and immensely enjoyed this adventure...

Acts of Desperation—a deep, epistolary journey into early-twenties angst

Acts of Desperation|by Megan Nolan|Jonathan Cape|€17.50 Paperback|ISBN: 9781787333369 by Susan McKeever ‘That night after meeting Ciaran I drank until I vomited and blood vessels beneath and above my eyes burst, and I traced them gently in the mirror, knowing they would be markers of a...

West Cork Literary Festival: launch of Deirdre Sullivan’s new collection—I Want to Know That I Will Be Okay

Join West Cork Literary Festival for the launch of I Want to Know That I Will Be Okay, a collection of short stories by award-winning writer Deirdre Sullivan. To celebrate the launch of her first book for adults, Deirdre will be in conversation with fellow writer Louise O’Neill. The event will be online...