In The Irish Times tomorrow, John Banville offers an appreciation of the poet and writer Derek Mahon on his fifth anniversary. Miriam O’Callaghan talks to Laura Slattery about her memoir, Miriam: Life, Work, Everything. Jarlath Regan discusses his new book, The Gobshite Guidebook: A Survival Manual, and his relationship with Ireland with Niamh Donnelly. Liz McSkeane, author of Aftershock, about the 18th-century Lisbon earthquake, comes to the defence of historical fiction. And there is a Q&A with Bernie McGill, who has just donated her archive to Belfast’s Linenhall Library.
Reviews are Kevin Rafter on Miriam: Life, Work, Everything by Miriam O’Callaghan; Kevin Power on Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon; Rónán Hession on Vaim by Jon Fosse, tr. Damion Searls; Declan Burke on the best new crime fiction; Paschal Donohoe on The World’s Worst Bet: How the Globalization Gamble Went Wrong, And What Would Make It Right by David Lynch; Paul Clements on local history books; Houman Barekat on Saltwash by Andrew Michael Hurley; Brigid O’Dea on Aftermath by Bláthnaid Raleigh; Neasa Mac Erlean on Myths and Lies of the Irish Revolution by Colum Kenny; Andrew Lynch on When Everyone Knows that Everyone Knows by Steven Pinker; and John Boyne on Heap Earth Upon It by Chloe Michelle Howarth.
This weekend’s Irish Times Eason offer is Strangers in Time by David Baldacci, just €5.99, a €6 saving.
Mary O’Malley has won the 2025 Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry. Her collection The Shark Nursery (Carcanet, 2024) was announced the joint winner this week by Arrowsmith Press.
The prize is offered annually to a book of poetry by a non-US citizen published anywhere in the world, honouring the work of St. Lucian Nobel Prize poet Derek Walcott. Judging the prize this year was Jamaican poet Ishion Hutchinson.
The Shark Nursery holds a collection of poems that respond to a disturbed world. The experience of lockdown, of lives lived in an online reality, and of the animal world are the interlocking parts of the poems’ world. The animal poems draw on the tradition of animals in Irish poetry and myth.
The joint winner is Theresa Lola for her collection Ceremony for the Nameless (Penguin Books). They will split the $2,000 prize between them.
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Lyndal Roper has been announced as the winner of the 2025 US$75,000 Cundill History Prize for Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War (John Murray Press / Basic Books).
The 2025 Cundill jurors, chaired by Pulitzer winner Ada Ferrer, awarded the prize to Roper, Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford, for her “sensational” account of the 16th-century uprising that shook Europe to its core.
The first history of the German Peasants’ War in a generation, and told through the voices of the peasants themselves, Summer of Fire and Blood uncovers the far-reaching ramifications of this doomed rebellion. Though the victors portrayed the uprising as naive and chaotic, Roper instead reveals a coherent mass movement inspired by the radical principles of the Protestant Reformation. Her deeply researched account shows that the uprising was one that expressed early ideas of justice, communal decision-making and resistance to arbitrary power.
The announcement was made at the Cundill History Prize Festival in Montreal on Thursday night, where the prize is administered by McGill University. Roper collected the award in person, in the company of fellow finalists Marlene L. Daut and Sophia Rosenfeld who were each awarded US$10,000.
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As part of Kilkenomics, Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Finance, chair of the Eurogroup and regular Irish Times book reviewer, talks to Colm O’Regan about his favourite books on economics, finance and politics, on November 7th, at 9.30pm, in the Ormonde Hotel – Kilbride, Ormonde St, Kilkenny. Tickets here.
*From November 5th to 9th, the 2025 Allingham Festival hosts 29 events in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, ranging from international politics to book launches to fly-fishin. .Highlights include a keynote speech by journalist Nelofer Pazira-Fisk on Age of Chaos: The New World Order; in-depth interviews with author Donal Ryan by Nuala O’Connor and with broadcaster John Creedon by Sean Perry; folk music from Shauna McMullin and Alan Colfer; the one-man play Paddy: The Life and Times of Paddy Armstrong, starring Don Wycherley; and Remembering Brien Friel – excerpts from the plays, short stories and journalism of the much-loved Donegal playwright.Book launches include LeafLight Moon, the Golden CAP Award-winning novel by Monica Corish, plus new poetry collections from Afric McGlinchey, Trish Bennett and Winifred McNulty. Workshops include social media development tools from Póca Productions and creative writing with Afric McGlinchey – plus a range of film, theatre, and music events, and a live recording of the Fifth Court Podcast.Exhibitions of Brian Friel memorabilia and historical fly-fishing gear will round out the eclectic 2025 Allingham Festival. The full programme is online.*To mark the fifth anniversary of Derek Mahon’s death, The Gallery Press in association with University of Notre Dame presents A Celebration of Derek Mahon with readings by John Banville, Claire Keegan, Paul Muldoon, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Stephen Rea in a programme devised by Peter Fallon and with rare video recordings of Derek Mahon.It takes place at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Westland Row, Dublin 2, at 7.30pm on November 4th. Tickets are €25 from The Gallery Press website.*To mark its 25th anniversary, the National Print Museum published Short Stories in Print—a rare, limited-edition collection of original works by six of Ireland’s most celebrated writers: Sebastian Barry, Roddy Doyle, Anne Enright, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Claire Keegan, and Colm Tóibín. Each has contributed a previously unpublished piece, written in response to an invitation from the Museum to explore memory, place, and creativity through the lens of print.Beautifully designed by Mary Plunkett and hand-printed by master printer Seán Sills on the Museum’s Vandercook No. 4 press, these exquisite broadsides are printed letterpress on handmade paper from the historic Velké Losiny paper mill and presented in portfolios hand-bound by Duffy Bookbinders. Produced in a limited edition of 100, Short Stories in Print marries Ireland’s literary excellence with the enduring artistry of. printmaking.This collection stands as both a tribute to the written word and a celebration of the craft of printing. Priced at €895, all proceeds support the ongoing development of the National Print Museum, safeguarding Ireland’s printing heritage for generations to come. nationalprintmuseum.ie *
The Irish Writers Centre, in partnership with Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and Dublin City Council, has released the fourth episode in its six-part video series, Dublin: One City, Many Stories. Titled An Island of Many Nations, it explores identity, belonging and creativity through the voices of writers who have made Ireland their home.
It features Cauvery Madhavan, Melatu-Uche Okorie, Amy Abdullah Barry, Nandi Jola, Suad Aldarra, Rafael Mendes, Ciara Ní É, and Gustav Parker Hibbett — all reading from their work and reflecting on what it means to write, live and belong in contemporary Ireland.
Madhavan, author of The Inheritance, said: “Curiosity is essential for any writer — and in Ireland, curiosity is part of who we are. Sometimes you need your own family to remind you you’re on the right path. I’m thrilled to see my books now studied in universities abroad — proof that writing from the heart resonates far beyond home.”
Mendes, author of The Migrant Dictionary, speaks about finding belonging through language and art: “I gained a language and a community — a sense of belonging. I’m from Dublin now; I’ve built my life and career here. Yet I often find I’m still the ‘other’ in the room. There are more than 100 languages spoken on the streets of Dublin, but not in our literary spaces. That imbalance drives my work.”
Aldarra, author of I Don’t Want to Talk About Home and winner of the 2024 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, reflects on writing beyond statistics and headlines: “I wanted to change the narrative — to talk about my grandmother’s cooking, my love story, how trauma shapes relationships. Those little details help people relate. Writing became more rewarding than anything else I’d done in my life.”
Okorie, author of This Hostel Life, shares her perspective on identity and ownership of the title “Irish writer”: “If you don’t call me an Irish writer, I’ll challenge you. I’m an Irish writer in every sense of the word. That used to feel like something someone else had to give me — now it’s mine to claim.”
Mags McLoughlin, Irish Writers Centre CEO, said: “This episode is one of the most moving in the series. It reminds us that Dublin and Ireland’s literary identity is not static — it’s a living, breathing reflection of everyone who calls this city home. These writers show us that creativity thrives at the crossroads of cultures.”
Anne-Marie Kelly of Dublin Unesco City of Literature, said: “An Island of Many Nations captures the essence of Dublin as a Unesco City of Literature — a place that welcomes, nurtures and celebrates diverse voices. Through this series, we see how writers from around the world have found a home in Dublin’s creative community, contributing richly to our shared cultural life.”
An Island of Many Nations is available on the Irish Writers Centre’s YouTube channel and at irishwriterscentre.ie.
