New poetry: Life-affirming words from beyond the gravePoetry: Posthumous collection by Matthew Sweeney; new works by Paula Meehan and Alan GillisWed Jan 20 2021 - 06:00
Poetry round-up: True, funny poems in response to Covid-19New collections from Rita Ann Higgins, Leeanne Quinn and Rachel LongFri Oct 23 2020 - 06:00
Poetry round up: New work from Julie O’Callaghan, Gerry Dawe and Vicki FeaverO’Callaghan never loses her fine sense of absurditySat Aug 22 2020 - 06:00
Post-Colonial Love Poem: Dark humour flickering like a whiplashNatalie Diaz tackles erasure like it’s never been tackled before, implying that colonialism may not be ‘post’ after allFri Jul 17 2020 - 06:00
Poetry round-up: A distinctive, uncanny door to history slides openNew works from John McAuliffe, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Gerry MurphySun May 31 2020 - 06:00
New poetry: Medbh McGuckian, Moyra Donaldson and Raymond AntrobusMoyra Donaldson’s anthropomorphic vision, complex themes from Raymond AntrobusSat Mar 07 2020 - 06:00
Poetry round-up: Balancing life and death on a knife edgeJane Clarke and late Dorothy Molloy collections demonstrate true connection with natureSat Nov 16 2019 - 06:00
Poetry round-up: Words of wonder for the natural worldNew collections from Moya Cannon, Peter Sirr and Frank McGuinnessSat Sept 21 2019 - 06:00
Glittering lines, fine lyricism and sharp wit in three new poetry collectionsPoetry: New work from Vona Groarke, Maureen McLane and Gabriel FitzMauriceFri Aug 02 2019 - 06:00
I Wouldn’t Start From Here: Hilarious, heartbreaking diaspora talesBook review: a collection of fiction, poetry and essays by writers of the Irish diasporaTue Jul 23 2019 - 06:00
To dye for: The violent, greed-filled history of colourBook review: David Coles’s illustrated history details the brutal origins of dyes and pigmentsTue Jun 11 2019 - 06:00
Poetry about intense heat, the unsaid and an orang-utan in a suitReviews of poetry collections by Pat Boran, Moya Roddy and Anne CaseySat Jun 01 2019 - 06:00
Elsewhere: Rosita Boland takes us to glorious, faraway placesBook review: The writer’s passion for words and travel shines through in this essay collectionSat Jun 01 2019 - 00:00
Mama’s Last Hug review: Entertaining insight into animal emotionsFrans De Waal blends meticulously researched arguments with common sense and humourSat Apr 13 2019 - 06:00
Constellations review: Dazzling essays about a woman’s bodySinéad Gleeson’s book tells of how a life can be saved despite great obstaclesSat Apr 06 2019 - 06:00
Poetry round-up: McCarthy delights with second collection in two yearsPlus new poetry from Julia CopusSat Apr 06 2019 - 06:00
Figuring by Maria Popova review: A musical, poetic modern classicIn Popova’s thrilling world of mathematics, nature and more, everything is connectedSat Mar 09 2019 - 06:00
Poems about life forces, Magdalene laundries and birds, and reflections on SpainNew publications from Jessica Traynor, Maureen Boyle and Patrick KehoeSat Feb 09 2019 - 06:00
A River in the Trees review: Gripping page-turner depicts hardships old and newIn Jacqueline O’Mahony's debut novel, common themes and qualities links protagonists living a century apart inSat Jan 12 2019 - 06:00
From There to Here by Ciaran Carson review: Vividly inked verseIt is impossible to do justice to breadth and depth of Carson’s work, but this is a good stabSat Jan 05 2019 - 06:00
Martina Evans: A Christmas memoirThe author on choosing traditions, and remembering the indiscretion of Sister FifiSat Dec 22 2018 - 06:00
If Cats Disappeared From the World review: Japanese magic taleGenki Kawamura’s novel is a mixture of humour and life lessonsSat Nov 17 2018 - 06:00
Roar review: Cecelia Ahern’s fairy tales get realHard times and humour in 30 life-lesson stories featuring 30 womenSat Nov 03 2018 - 06:00
Decline of post office network inevitable in a changing worldIrish post offices no more insulated from technological progress than UK equivalentsSat Sept 01 2018 - 06:00
Martina Evans: My life without televisionI saw very little television as a child for two reasons. First, Mammy didn’t approve of itSat Aug 18 2018 - 06:00
Notes to Self: Essays by Emilie Pine – Startling essays on addiction, infertility and rapeReview: Emilie Pine’s shocking force shines through in the kind of book you want to give to everyoneSat Jul 21 2018 - 06:30
‘Mallow called to me like the ghost town in a Western waiting for the shoot-out’Award-winning poet Martina Evans delves into the ancestral experiences, memories and revolutionary encounters that led to her collection ‘Now We Can Talk Openly About Men’Sat Jun 23 2018 - 05:14
‘Mind on Fire’ by Arnold Thomas Fanning: Triumph out of tragedyReview: This memoir of mental illness is shocking but ultimately humanisingSat Jun 09 2018 - 06:00
Catholic Boy review: Author’s own sense of Belfast shines through short storiesHurricane Higgins, sectariation tour guides and the Disappeared all feature in Rosemary Jenkinson’s collectionSat May 12 2018 - 06:00
The Language of Kindness: A Nurse’s Story review: brilliant and life-changingChristie Watson's journey to the underworld exerts the power of a gripping novel threaded with science, philosophy, history and ethicsSat May 05 2018 - 06:25
Follow the Old Road review: evocative rambles down Ireland’s many routesJo Kerrigan and Richard Mills explore rivers, canals, tracks, railways and sea roadsSat Apr 21 2018 - 06:00
Autonomy edited by Kathy D’Arcy, Repeal the 8th edited by Una Mullally review‘People could could learn surprising things about their fellow Irish women if they opened these books’Sat Apr 07 2018 - 06:00
From a Low and Quiet Sea review: a writer who has never met a boreDonal Ryan can blow attractive life into a character no matter how compromised, mean or drearySat Mar 24 2018 - 06:00
Brit(ish) review: dazzling stories about race and identityAfua Hirsch explores evolving racism in tales of history, politics and AfricaSat Feb 03 2018 - 06:00
Walking Wounded, by Sheila Llewellyn review – a great sense of war-time ManchesterThe beauty and skill of her own writing is the best testament to her belief in the redemptive power of artSat Jan 27 2018 - 06:00
Rainsongs by Sue Hubbard review: A pilgrimage during the Celtic TigerAn English woman’s journey to her dead husband’s Kerry summer cottage leads to a series of discoveriesSat Jan 20 2018 - 06:00
Good Europe, bad Europe: great British responses to BrexitA varied collection from Afua Hirsch, Ian McEwan, Sarah Perry, Richard Herring et alSat Dec 02 2017 - 06:00
Michael Harding searches for the pulse of IrelandHarding’s latest attempt to find meaning in life is searingly honest, funny and self-deprecatingSat Nov 04 2017 - 06:00
Éilís Ní Dhuibhne’s heart-tugging, hilarious and masterful storiesSelected Stories displays Ní Dhuibhne’s gift at interweaving old and newSat Oct 14 2017 - 06:00
A Life of My Own by Claire Tomalin: a fascinating and startling readThe author’s dazzling literary career was punctuated by many tragediesSat Sept 16 2017 - 06:00
Levitation review: Short stories that rise to the best of fictionSean O’Reilly’s new collection, many of them set in barber shops, is a cut above the restSat Sept 09 2017 - 06:00
‘He’ review: A complicated reimagining of Stan Laurel’s lifeThe reader can’t help questioning the verity of Laurel’s thoughts and opinionsSat Aug 26 2017 - 06:00
A dark, brittle satire of the English bullies who rise to powerThe Party by Elizabeth Day review: a rich exploration of the human conditionSat Jul 15 2017 - 06:00
Together, Closer review: Why we are a mystery to ourselvesGiovanni Frazzetto creates his own art – eight stories that run alongside the latest discoveries of neuroscience, exploring humanity’s relationship with connectionSat Jul 01 2017 - 06:00
Adrian Mole – The Collected Poems review: Unless you know Adrian, the poems can’t stand aloneSue Townsend’s genius was knowing how much of this doggerel to include – and how to position it within her memorable proseSat Apr 15 2017 - 06:00
The Clinic, Memory review: Elaine Feinstein’s passionate poetryThe distinguished writer tackles love, death and our new, unstable worldSat Mar 18 2017 - 06:00
What we talk about when we talk about loveMartina Evans reflects on the stories and poems that capture the intensity of yearningMon Feb 13 2017 - 15:29
Mountainy Men, a short story by Martina Evans12 Stories of Christmas - Day 5:Two children fend for themselves when their father takes to the drink and their mother to the bedSat Dec 24 2016 - 06:00
You Took the Last Bus Home review: short and tweetBrian Bilston, poet laureate of Twitter, proves he is just as powerful on the printed pageSat Oct 15 2016 - 05:00
