President Catherine Connolly visits her alma mater in Leeds for first time since graduating
Connolly also visited Leeds Irish Centre which has long roots stretching back to waves of emigration in the 1830s
Bram Stoker
Ryan Coogler on Sinners’ hit Celtic vampire dance: ‘Rocky Road to Dublin is an affirmation of humanity’
The director of one of 2025’s most talked-about films on the links between Irish and black communities
Dracula director Luc Besson: ‘If you want a traditional horror film, watch something else’
The film-maker returns to the swashbuckling, maximalist production values that made him, with features such as Léon: The Professional and The Fifth Element, an auteur superstar
How to earn €100,000 a year for reading the newspaper
Plus: Ryder Cup experiences in far-flung destinations; a prominent Romanian’s beef with Bram Stoker; and the councillor who doesn’t believe in a potholing God
Exploring Transylvania: Home of Dracula provides a trip with teeth
Take away the tourists in Transylvania and you could be back in the Middle Ages with historic castles, enchanting forests and soaring mountains
‘Roll up your sleeves’: the IBTS wants your blood this Halloween
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service has launched a somewhat spooky seasonal campaign
Best things to do around Ireland in the week ahead from Halloween festivals to Niall Breslin’s gigs
October 25th-31st, 2025: The best movies, music, art and more coming your way this week
Bram Stoker, the corncrake and ‘folklore as resistance’: Making Macnas’s Halloween parade
Louise Lowe and Owen Boss of Anu are swapping intimate immersive theatre for this year’s Macnas parade, An Truen: The Summoning of the Lost
Storm names: Bram, Marty and Wubbo among weather systems
Irish storm names for the coming year include literary nods, cultural odes and heartwarming personal anecdotes
Zealous book bans and brilliant writers forged strong Irish Penguin links from the start
The publisher celebrates its 90th anniversary this month
Dracula author’s Dublin birthplace available for €400 a night on Airbnb
Plus Catherine Connolly’s limo life, national anthem lessons and a recession-busting ruse in waiting
Derelict Dublin: 10 unused northside buildings in a city gripped by a housing crisis
Including the former Coláiste Mhuire on Parnell Square, the former Guineys department store on Talbot Street, and a ‘shrine’ to Bram Stoker
Festivals in Ireland 2025: From Longitude to All Together Now – a guide to 80 of the best
From Brigit and Dublin Lunar New Year to Culture Night, Space Week and Cork Jazz Festival, here’s our round-up of cultural showcases to catch this year
Nosferatu director Robert Eggers: ‘We needed to find a way to make the vampire scary again’
The film-maker follows in the eerie footsteps of FW Murnau and Werner Herzog in his new feature, starring Lily-Rose Depp and Nicholas Hoult
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Stardust
Inquests into the nightclub fire that led to the deaths of 48 people
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
Family NoticesOpens in new window
Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices