New Selected Poems: 1978-2022 by Medbh McGuckian - Copious sunsetty pleasures
The Belfast poet cuts her words to fit, or suit, though her poems can also settle into the straightforwardness of a realist play
By Declan Ryan
Could Napoleon have changed Irish history? James Quinn examines the 1798 Rebellion
The Land Trap by Mike Bird: uncomfortable truths about the ground beneath our feet
Around Ireland in 32 volumes: An island’s history, county by county
Flats and Cottages: Herbert Simms and the Housing of Dublin’s Working Class 1932-48
December’s YA picks: A Bluebeard retelling, realism and a murderously good mystery
Man Up by Cynthia Miller-Idriss: A bracing, vital intervention against misogyny
The 12 books of Christmas: classic festive reads
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POETRY
This Is Not a Cookbook by Roxana Manouchehri: An elegant book from our Persian-Irish host
By Brigid O'Dea
Poem of the Week: Evie Hone’s Nativity Window (Manresa Jesuit Retreat House, Clontarf)
By Daniel Reardon
I’m Glad You Asked Me That: The Political Years by Terry Prone - Caustic and entertaining
By Andrew Lynch
Children’s books for Christmas: from a crime-fighting fox to the best encyclopaedias
By Sara Keating
Nicola Pierce: ‘I started to write Great Irish Wives without any idea I would be a widow by the time it went to print’
By Martin Doyle
How Canada coped with an influx of destitute and diseased Irish people during the Famine
By Breandán Mac Suibhne
The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie: A new collection rich with pathos and reflection
By Kieran Connell
Best poetry of 2025: Our critics share their top picks
By Martina Evans, Declan Ryan, and Mícheál McCann
Naoise Dolan on Things That Disappear by Jenny Erpenbeck: Subtle, wry and newly pertinent
By Naoise Dolan
