Poet Grace Wilentz: ‘Ireland has been very generous to me. There’s an abundance of fresh air and bookstores and intellectual stimulation’
The New York-born poet on having resilience foisted upon her as a teenager when both of her parents died
Brendan Behan
A critique of those who have opinions on everything but do very little about anything
You may find the following attitude strange from an ex-theatre critic
David Marcus, The Irish Times and a golden age of literary journalism
Even at a time of much cross-fertilisation between the literary and journalistic worlds, it was a brave and radical idea to run a regular creative-writing page in a daily newspaper. In pursuing this, David Marcus nurtured many young talents
Dublin portal reminds us that our capital has an uneasy edge of wildness
Fintan O’Toole: The erection of the portal linking night-time inner city Dublin to daytime New York was a heroic act of denial
The Quare Fellow review: Hugely enjoyable romp packs sombre reflection in with profane laughter
Theatre: At the Abbey, Tom Creed recasts Brendan Behan’s prison comedy entirely with female and nonbinary actors. The effect is teasingly ambiguous
‘I think the Abbey knew I might do something a little bit queer with this Quare Fellow’
Tom Creed’s new production of Brendan Behan’s play – the first at the theatre for almost 40 years – features a cast of all female and nonbinary actors
Ghosts of Baggotonia: Homage to a lost Dublin, never to return
Television: As an outsider who associates Baggot Street with rugby fans, traffic jams and office workers, it is a revelation
Mother of All the Behans: Imelda May sings gloriously – and shows an eye for bringing characters to life
Theatre: This revival of Rosaleen Linehan’s one-woman show throws the singer in at the deep end, but she delivers a highly entertaining evening
The Guide: The events to see, the shows to book and the ones to catch before they end
The best movies, music, art and more coming your way this week
When a ‘dungeon’ on Leeson Street cost £2 a week and swarmed with literary life
A new book explores Dublin’s literary past, an active part of living or working in the city
Brendan Behan’s papers are in New Jersey. Surely they belong in his native city?
Working-class Dublin was intrinsic to the creative output of a highly individual writer who was born a century ago this week
Brendan Behan was born 100 years ago today. This is how he went from jail cell to literary sensation
Picture Brendan Behan and you probably imagine a man with shirt wide open and a pint in his hand. But the writer was far more complicated than that
Shamrock Rovers, the Down footballers and bullfights - remembering Brendan Behan
Thursday marks the 100 year anniversary of Irish playwright’s birth
The Bell magazine aimed for nothing less than to sound in a new Ireland
A new book enters into conversation with Sean O’Faolain’s publication, which offered a creative space to mid-century Irish writers
Greece Letter: How Brendan Behan influenced the resistance
The image of The Laughing Boy has become a mantra of the Greek Left
In a Word ... Complaint
A story about Brendan Behan’s lighthouse painting days is amusing enough to be true
Vortex wins best film at Dublin International Film Festival
Laura Samani wins best director for Small Body and Udo Kier takes best actor
Archive covers more than 100 years of the Irish language movement
Exchange of letters among items in new Conradh na Gaeilge archive at NUI Galway
Fintan O’Toole: It’s the first birthday of the Brexit hole and they have to keep digging
Those who sold it are slithering away from responsibility for its consequences. Those to whom it was sold are left to bear them
Fintan O’Toole: Humans are just apes who burn stuff. Now we must put out the fire
Cop26 delegates have the power to create a turning point in the evolution of our species
Jail Journeyman – On Behan’s lighthouse, the glory of French supermarkets, and confidence-building Christian names
An Irishman’s Diary
Voice of dissent a remote echo after death of heroic Greek artist
Greece Letter: Mikis Theodorakis considerably more than a citizen who did ‘his duty’
Donald Clarke: Thanksgiving? Thanks but no thanks
Can we please not give the public another opportunity to ape American traditions?
Poetic Parishes – Frank McNally on a new book about Baggotonia and the new Kavanagh museum in Inniskeen
An Irishman’s Diary
Brigid O’Dea: ‘These days, to live really is so startling’
After 17 months of gestation, we are leaving the wombs of our homes and learning once more the ways of this world
Marching to a Drumlin Beat – Frank McNally on Brendan Behan’s ‘mad republican’ from Monaghan
An Irishman’s Diary
Ciarán Murphy: Kerry-Dublin storyline can live without an ending . . . for now
It may not be a satisfactory ending but satisfactory endings are actually pretty rare
London’s restaurants struggle for staff after exodus of EU citizens
London Letter: Many who went home to sit out the pandemic have stayed away
The Mary Wallopers: ‘Folk was never supposed to be safe’
The Dundalk ballad band are tapping into the political power of folk, punk and hip-hop
Fintan O’Toole: Why we should welcome the new tribe of Anglo-Irish people
Up to half a million British people are becoming Irish citizens. They help us to recognise our own past
Future Imperfect – Frank McNally on Patrick Kavanagh’s 1950s vision of the year 2021
An Irishman’s Diary
Put a head on that: Croke Park headers and ageing stout
An Irishman’s Diary: On heading the ball in GAA and vintage Brendan Behan
On the Ball, Off the Wall – Frank McNally on the mysterious origins of a Dublin phrase
An Irishman’s Diary
Sotheby’s sale to feature further items from Michael Smurfit collection
Fine Art & Antiques auction results
Jack B Yeats’ Romeo and Juliet to headline at de Veres’ upcoming sale
Auction will be first Irish sale to offer a body of work by bohemian artist Reginald Gray
No-Water Quarter – Frank McNally on a part of Dublin whose placenames were overtaken by history
An Irishman’s Diary
A Brush with Fame – Frank McNally on William Rowan Hamilton, lockdown exercise, and alliterative bridges of the Royal Canal
An Irishman’s Diary
Catherine Freeman obituary: TV producer who shook up BBC’s ‘male club’
Cultured and opinionated producer was a ‘path breaker’ for women in TV
Dave Hannigan: 20 years of highs and lows in the US with sport at the centre
As my eldest son left home I reflected on the last two decades and the experiences of life
Fintan O’Toole: Newstalk’s Irish Times ban is a classic case of ‘cancel culture’
Cancel culture isn’t new, just a new term for an old concept of cynical hypocrisy
‘I am deeply interested in Ireland’s complex past’
‘I have a ritual of making tea, lighting a candle and then I am gone into my fictional world’
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