Colm Tóibín sole Irish contender on exciting Booker shortlistAlthough The Voyage, by Murray Bail, failed to make even the longlist, this is an exciting selectionWed Sept 11 2013 - 01:06
Eleanor Catton: a luminous new star in the literary constellationNew Zealand author Eleanor Catton is not yet 28, but her second novel is one of the favourites for this year’s Man Booker PrizeWed Sept 11 2013 - 01:00
Dennis O’Driscoll’s rich legacy recalled at prize ceremonyCelebration was tinged with a shared sadness at the loss of an original voiceMon Sept 09 2013 - 01:00
Dennis O’Driscoll’s rich legacy recalled at prize ceremonyCelebration was tinged with a shared sadness at the loss of an original voiceMon Sept 09 2013 - 01:00
Poet’s code of kindness, generosity and courage was theme of his last farewellEmotion and love for an artist and ordinary man were at the heart of Heaney’s funeralTue Sept 03 2013 - 01:07
Humble artist possessed of candid and hauntingly lyrical epic visionLoss of this poet will be felt throughout Ireland and far beyondSat Aug 31 2013 - 01:00
Three Irish authors make Man Booker longlistJim Crace’s ‘Harvest’ hard to beat despite interesting listWed Jul 24 2013 - 01:00
1913: The Year Before the Storm, Florian IlliesA month-by-month cultural portrait of 1913 reveals a world that was about to change foreverSat Jul 20 2013 - 00:00
Maupassant’s literary legacyAn Irishwoman’s Diary: Sharp insights live on 120 years after his deathSat Jul 06 2013 - 01:00
The Spectre of Alexander Wolf, by Gaito GazdanovIn this eerie 1940s novel, an emigre journalist is tormented by memories of killing a man in the Russian Civil WarSat Jul 06 2013 - 01:00
‘Editing is my natural role’Declan Meade has made it his business to find our finest writers, and his 15 years at The Stinging Fly make for formidable readingThu Jul 04 2013 - 01:00
Joys of free rein on day for sick childrenFestina Lente centre offers horse riding as therapy to children with serious medical conditionsSat Jun 29 2013 - 01:00
An Armenian Sketchbook, by Vasily GrossmanA trip to Armenia proved to be the creative answer for a writer censored by the KGB, broke, and dying of cancerSat Jun 29 2013 - 01:00
Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and The Invention of The Great Gatsby, by Sarah ChurchwellThe brittle genius of Zelda Fitzgerald shines through in this exploration of her husband’s masterpieceSat Jun 22 2013 - 01:00
Saul Bellow’s Heart: A Son’s Memoir, by Greg BellowThe American writer’s psychotherapist son has written a perceptive, honest – and angry – book about life with a literary giantSat Jun 15 2013 - 01:00
We’re Flying: Stories, by Peter StammThe problem with this bleak but brilliant story collection is that it’s too hard to put downSat Jun 08 2013 - 01:00
Great winner, shame about the shortlistKevin Barry’s wonderful novel is a worthy winner of the Impac; but it was chosen from a shortlist that did not reflect the quality of the wider literary fieldFri Jun 07 2013 - 01:00
Kevin Barry, a king of the language kingdomsIn person, Kevin Barry is as exuberant and sharp as his prose – and his Impac for ‘City of Bohane’ confirms he is a true literary originalThu Jun 06 2013 - 20:01
Going to the Dogs: The Story of a Moralist, by Erich KästnerA witty satire of 1920s Berlin, a city in financial and cultural upheaval, resonates in our timeSat Jun 01 2013 - 01:00
A dance to the deathAn Irishwoman’s Diary: One hundred years since ‘The Rite of Spring’ was first performedTue May 28 2013 - 00:00
TransAtlantic, by Colum McCannInspired in part by Alcock and Brown’s pioneering transatlantic flight, the Irish author’s new novel is his finest since ‘This Side of Brightness’Sat May 25 2013 - 02:00
All That Is, by James SalterSex is a battlefield in the octogenarian American writer’s new novelSat May 18 2013 - 01:00
An Englishman in Madrid, by Eduardo MendozaThe 2010 winner of the €601,000 Planeta prize is an entertaining but forgettable burlesque set in civil war MadridSat May 11 2013 - 07:00
Constance, by Patrick McGrathIts author’s familiar preoccupations – sexual obsession, emotional trauma, destructive relationships – feature in his slight new novelSat May 04 2013 - 05:00
Asunder, by Chloe AridjisEileen Battersby finds the Mexican-American writer’s second novel chillier than her firstSat Apr 27 2013 - 05:00
Nothing Gold Can Stay by Ron RashThere’s precious little gold in this new book of short stories by the gifted Appalachian-based poet and storyteller Ron RashSat Apr 20 2013 - 06:00
Levels of Life, by Julian BarnesThe English novelist’s non-fiction account of his grief following the death of his wife is brave, moving and heartfeltSat Apr 13 2013 - 07:00
Home Fires, by Elizabeth DayKinship ties end up in a claustrophobic knot in Day’s impressive second novelSat Apr 06 2013 - 07:00
Brief Loves That Life Forever, by Andrei MakineFrom fear to frustrated idealism, aspects of Soviet life are recalled by a watchful narratorSat Mar 30 2013 - 06:00
Underground Time, by Delphine de Vigan, translated by George MillerThis Impac-listed novel about a bullied office worker will strike a chord if you’ve ever been the victim of workplace back-stabbingSat Mar 16 2013 - 06:00
Harvest time for Jim Crace as he signs off with a final novelJim Crace is one of the finest English novelists of the past 20 years - so why has he written his final novel?Mon Mar 11 2013 - 02:00
Horse welfare merits tighter breeding controlBetter breeding will benefit our horses and protect much of the food we eatMon Mar 04 2013 - 00:00
He's not the Messiah . . .FICTION JM Coetzee’s new novel reads like a parody of the venerable writer’s own style and visionSat Mar 02 2013 - 00:00
An Irishwoman's DiaryBefore the arrival of the camera, it was the artist who recorded source material for historians and botanistsMon Feb 25 2013 - 00:00
When the family secret is another familyFICTION: All the Beggars Riding, By Lucy Caldwell, Faber and Faber, 253pp, £12.99Sat Feb 23 2013 - 00:00
Chilling but familiar story of a life lost in regretsJulia is an account of life barely experienced by a peculiarly passive man, tormented by his memories and his inability to actSat Feb 16 2013 - 00:00
Rich bounty of a writer's giftFICTION: The British writer Jim Crace’s new – and, he says, last – novel is a haunting work of…Sat Feb 09 2013 - 00:00
Piano man's journey is a virtuoso performanceFICTION: The Voyage, By Murray Bail, MacLehose Press, 154pp, £12Sat Feb 02 2013 - 00:00
An Irishwoman's DiaryLove can be a messy business at even the best of times and business is the operative word in the context of Pride and Prejudice…Mon Jan 28 2013 - 00:00
Conflict and cultivationFICTION: Set in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the aftermath of 9/11, Nadeem Aslam’s latest novel is a brave, passionate…Sat Jan 26 2013 - 00:00
