In The Irish Times on Saturday, comic book artist and journalist Joe Sacco tells Tadhg Hoey about his latest work and his renewed focus on Gaza. And there is a Q&A with poet Annemarie Ní Churreáin about her new collection.
Reviews are Daniel Geary on America’s Middle East: The Ruination of a Region by Marc Lynch; Paschal Donohoe on The Great Global Transformation: National Market Liberalism in a Multipolar World by Branko Milanovic; Etain Tannam on The Irish Unity Dividend by Ben Collins; Claire Hennessy on the best new YA fiction; Adrienne Murphy on Ring of Salt: Finding Home and Hope on the Wild Coast of Ireland by Betsy Cornwall; Karlin Lillington on The Hour of the Predator: Encounters with the Autocrats and Tech Billionaires Taking Over the World by Giuliano da Empoli, translated by Sam Taylor; Diarmuid Hester on Ronan McCrea’s The End of the Gay Rights Revolution; Pat Carty on The Dublin Pub by Donal Fallon; John Walshe on The Dodger: DJ Carey & the Great Betrayal by Eimear Ni Bhraionain; Philippa Conlon on At Least It Looks Good from Space Carl Kinsella; Ruby Eastwood on Borderline Fiction by Derek Owusu; Helena Mulkerns on Julian Brave NoiseCat’s We Survived the Night; and Declan O’Driscoll on Blinding by Mircea Cărtărescu, tr. Sean Cotter.
This weekend’s Irish Times Eason offer is All Her Fault by Andrea Mara, just €5.99, a €6 saving.
Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann has appointed Claire Power as its new director as the organisation returns to its permanent home at Number 11 Parnell Square in early 2026.
Power previously served as special Aadviser to President Michael D. Higgins from 2016 until the conclusion of his presidency earlier this month, and was campaign director of the successful 2018 presidential election to re-elect President Higgins.
She succeeds Liz Kelly, who will step down next month to take up a new leadership role at the Mid-Western Cancer Foundation in Limerick where she lives.
Poetry Ireland chair John O’Donnell said: “We are delighted to welcome Claire Power as Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann’s new director. There was enormous interest in the position, with a number of excellent candidates shortlisted and interviewed. Claire was the unanimous choice of the interview panel. She has a wealth of experience in strategic leadership and cultural programming, and is well-placed to lead Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann in its mission to connect people and poetry. Claire will be central to realising Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann’s ambition to provide a permanent home for Irish poetry in the heart of the capital city as Number 11 Parnell Square re-opens early next year.”
Power said: “I am delighted to have been given this opportunity by the board to become the new Director of Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann.
“I believe the newly refurbished home of Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann, Number 11 Parnell Square, will be a moment of great renewal for an organisation that has done so much to nurture and sustain poetry and poets, and which continues to play such an important role in ensuring poetry flourishes on the island of Ireland, and around the world.
“I am deeply committed to ensuring Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann’s programmes, governance, and inclusive spaces reflect and serve diverse communities across the island of Ireland, with particular attention to accessibility and reaching audiences who may not traditionally engage with poetry. Poetry has the power to unite where other forms of communication divide - offering a space for shared humanity, mutual understanding, and collective imagination.
“I look forward to working with everyone connected with Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann as we realise our vision for the next phase of this organisation with care and creativity.
“Tá lúcháir orm bheith ceapaithe mar stiúritheoir ar Éigse Éireann agus táim ag tnúth go mór leis an eachtra atá romhainn agus múid ag bogadh isteach in ár bhfoirgneamh nua.”
O’Donnell also extended his sincere thanks to Liz Kelly, for leading Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann with imagination, integrity and purpose.
“The Board of Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann wish to pay tribute to the wonderful work of the outgoing Director, Liz Kelly, who has done so much for poetry all over Ireland since her appointment in 2022, and who led the organisation through a period of change and expansion, including the development of our new home. Liz’s ability to lead with integrity, combined with a genuine passion for poetry, has made a lasting impact on the direction of the organisation and the future of the artform in Ireland.”
Kelly said: “It has been an honour to work for Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann. I consider myself extremely lucky to have worked with artists throughout my professional life and to have led this great organisation in its mission to make poetry, the artform for which Ireland is internationally renowned, accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. I wish the organisation every success in its new home.”
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The Nero Book Awards have announced their shortlists for 2025, recognising the best books from the last 12 months in Fiction, Non-Fiction, Debut Fiction and Children’s Fiction. The winner swill be announced on January 13th and the Nero Gold Prize, Book of the Year, on March4th.
The fiction shortlist, co-judged by Irish author Sinéad Gleeson, is The Two Roberts by Damian Barr; Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite; What We Can Know by Ian McEwan; and Seascraper by Benjamin Wood.
The nonfiction shortlist is We Came by Sea by Horatio Clare; The Finest Hotel in Kabul by Lyse Doucet; Craftland: A Journey Through Britain’s Lost Arts and Vanishing Trades by James Fox; and Death of an Ordinary Man by Sarah Perry.
The debut fiction shortlist is The Expansion Project by Ben Pester; Lush by Rochelle Dowden-Lord; Season by George Harrison; and A Family Matter by Claire Lynch.
The children’s and YA fiction shortlist My Soul, A Shining Tree by Jamila Gavin; People Like Stars by Patrice Lawrence; Dragonborn by Struan Murray; and Shrapnel Boys by Jenny Pearson.
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The Dublin Literary Award, sponsored by Dublin City Council, has announce the full list of nominated titles for the 2026 award, the most valuable prize in the world for a single work of fiction, worth €100,000 to the winner. If the winning book has been translated, the author receives €75,000 and the translator receives €25,000.
Sixty-nine titles have been nominated by 80 libraries from 36 countries, reflecting the best in fiction from Africa, Europe, Asia, USA, Canada, South America, Australia and New Zealand.
Five Irish authors are included on the 2026 list of nominated titles which also features 20 debut authors, 30 translated titles with translations in 17 languages including Brazilian Portuguese, Catalan, Chinese, Japanese and Polish.
The Irish titles nominated are: Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey; Camarade by Theo Dorgan; The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr; Intermezzo by Sally Rooney; andOrdinary Saints by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin
In a new development, the judges will select a longlist of up to 20 titles, which will be announced on February 17th, 2026 while the shortlist of six titles will be revealed on April 7th. The 31St winner of the Dublin Literary Award will be announced on May 21st at the Winner’s Ceremony, as part of International Literature Festival Dublin (ILFD).
The international panel of Judges for the 2026 Dublin Literary Award features Xiaolu Guo, an award-winning novelist and film director, who has published a dozen books with Random House; Daniel Mulhall, a former Irish Ambassador to Malaysia, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States who has lectured and published extensively on Irish history and literature; Clara Ministral, who studied Translation and Comparative Literature in Madrid and London and has been translating fiction and non-fiction from English to Spanish for over fifteen years; Dike Chukwumerije, a performance poet, spoken word theatre practitioner, author, public speaker, and cultural administrator and Disha Bose, an author whose novel, Dirty Laundry, was an Irish Times bestseller, a Good Morning America Book Club pick, and the inaugural An Post Book Club selection.
The non-voting chairperson is Professor Chris Morash, the Seamus Heaney Professor of Irish Writing at Trinity College Dublin who has led the judging process since 2019.
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The Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool, is seeking submissions to The 2025 John McGahern Annual Book Prize, which was set up with the approval of John McGahern’s literary estate, in 2019. The prize of £5,000 will be awarded to the best debut work of fiction – either novel or collection of short stories – by an Irish writer or writer resident in Ireland for more than five years, published in 2025. The deadlione to submit is December 12th. All submissions should also be accompanied by a submission form which can be downloaded here.
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