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Booker Prize 2025
Overdue Booker nod brings Szalay in from the margins
A unique talent with a track record of challenging work, David Szalay creates worlds that are full of despicable characters and delectable prose

Fri, 21 Nov, 2025

Booker Prize 2025
Colin Sheridan: The Booker shows what we're willing to celebrate — a new, questioning, masculinity
The 'death of the introspective male novel' has been greatly exaggerated — see Karl Ove Knausgaard’s newest nine-volume, 6,000-page meditation on the misery of being alive

Thu, 20 Nov, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Researcher and ambassador for Shine Cathy Shah
Beginner’s pluck: Researcher and ambassador for Shine Cathy Shah
'Rabbit Hole and Rainbows' charts Cathy’s mental health struggles; her trauma, her moments of stigma, silence, and despair, as she battles addiction and dysfunctional relationships

Sat, 15 Nov, 2025

FRANCE-LITERATURE-PORTRAIT
Book review: A fresh view on international politics
Exploring the parallel rise to power of amoral autocrats and tech billionaires, and the chronic inability of our political structures to do anything about the ascendancy of either

Sat, 15 Nov, 2025

Book review: Shocking downfall of a legend
Book review: Shocking downfall of a legend
DJ Carey was the game of hurling's first great superstar but there was always something that suggested his spirit was in some way troubled

Sat, 15 Nov, 2025

Book review: Witty, robust defence of the power of sentimentality to effect change
Book review: Witty, robust defence of the power of sentimentality to effect change
The central thesis of Ferdinand Mount's 'Soft' is compelling: Sentimentality is a form of mass soft power that steers us towards a better, more humane world

Sat, 15 Nov, 2025

Book review: Get clued up on Irish slang
Book review: Get clued up on Irish slang
Colm O’Regan’s entertaining account of the Irish version of the English language is an etymologist’s delight, being nicely scholarly, but it wears its learning lightly, which means it’s accessible to all of us

Sat, 15 Nov, 2025

Young girl reading a book by the fireplace
Children's book reviews: Books to warm up the imagination as autumn comes to a close
Children’s Books Ireland has some recommended stories which can perfectly fill the gap before the Christmas winter period takes full effect, writes Ruth Concannon

Fri, 14 Nov, 2025

Author interview: Youth facing challenges need ‘revolutionary changes’
Author interview: Youth facing challenges need ‘revolutionary changes’
Sara Cullen hopes her novel, 'Blood Red Sky', will cause policymakers and adult readers to reflect on how we as a society view young people who get into trouble

Fri, 14 Nov, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Copywriter and translator Patrick Doherty
Beginner’s pluck: Copywriter and translator Patrick Doherty
'Pure Innocent Boy', which started as a short story, is a powerful, poignant account of deep dissociation

Sat, 08 Nov, 2025

Missing person Tina Satchwell case
Book review: Rushed mess that badly needed an edit
That the nuts and bolts of story are revealed in the eight-page prologue almost makes wading through the subsequent 355 pages unnecessary

Sat, 08 Nov, 2025

Book review: No need to shop around for this story of Dunnes’ burgeoning retail empire
Book review: No need to shop around for this story of Dunnes’ burgeoning retail empire
From the 1960s, Dunnes Stores, or family members, have been embroiled in some of the most infamous disputes and scandals

Sat, 08 Nov, 2025

Book review: Witty jab at smartphone era
Book review: Witty jab at smartphone era
Anika Jade Levy's 'Flat Earth' is very good at illustrating how very differently men and women experience the world

Sat, 08 Nov, 2025

Book review: Answers from a life well lived
Book review: Answers from a life well lived
In her 33rd novel, 'Weathering Storms', Alice Taylor reflects on her nostalgic childhood while coming to terms with her own mortality

Sat, 08 Nov, 2025

The Children’s Booker Prize will be a boon to young readers everywhere
The Children’s Booker Prize will be a boon to young readers everywhere
The announcement has sparked great excitement in the realm of children’s literature, with the prize sure to shine a light on some of the best stories available for young and eager readers, writes Deirdre McArdle

Fri, 07 Nov, 2025

FILE PICS: Former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald is understood to be seriously ill in hospital.
Book review: Class, corruption, and rivalry at the birth of modern Ireland
Eoin O’Malley’s thesis is that the rivalry between these two individuals shaped the Ireland that was to evolve after they had both departed the frontline

Fri, 07 Nov, 2025

IRELAND-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-NATURE
Beginner's pluck: Poet, cinematographer and rewilder Randal Plunkett 
Part biography, part a treatise on rewilding, 'Wild Thing' is an insightful and inspirational read

Sat, 01 Nov, 2025

Book review: Explore faith and psyche in ‘The Vanishing Place’
Book review: Explore faith and psyche in ‘The Vanishing Place’
This mesmerising thriller plunges the reader straight into the murky New Zealand wilderness and pulls back the curtain on what can happen in the isolated, rural darkness

Sat, 01 Nov, 2025

Zadie Smith Receives WELT-Literaturpreis 2016 In Berlin
Book review: Incisive Smith offers insights on creativity in random collection
Through 'Dead and Alive', Smith retains her crown as one of the sharpest, sanest, perceptively unpretentious minds of our generation

Sat, 01 Nov, 2025

Book review: Witty, wry, yet poignant and thought-provoking
Book review: Witty, wry, yet poignant and thought-provoking
This is a self-deprecating, insightful and humorous collection of stories where it feels like journalist Carl Kinsella is trying to understand the world, and himself

Sat, 01 Nov, 2025

Book review: An engaging, if chastising, judgement on the foolishnesses we indulge
Book review: An engaging, if chastising, judgement on the foolishnesses we indulge
Anthony Gardner's satire may not be a cure all, but it is a wonderfully enjoyable tonic for our current reality

Sat, 01 Nov, 2025

Soccer - Barclays Premier League - Fulham v Reading - Craven Cottage
Book review: Cameras, microphones, and money used to isolate Al-Fayed’s victims
The Monster of Harrods: Al-Fayed and the secret, shameful history of a British institution

Fri, 31 Oct, 2025

Prince
Book review: Extensive portrait of a Prince of music invites questions
Prince bestrode popular culture during the late 20th century and his legacy extends far beyond his considerable mainstream commercial success.

Fri, 31 Oct, 2025

"Che Tempo Che Fa" TV Show
Book review: Langdon is back with a bang
'The Secret of Secrets' is the sixth book that Dan Brown has written starring Robert Langdon as the unflinching hero 

Sat, 25 Oct, 2025

Book review: Searching for a reason amid the gloom
Book review: Searching for a reason amid the gloom
'Saltwash' skilfully blends the themes of decay both personal and general with a ticking tension over an impending game which turns out to have high stakes 

Sat, 25 Oct, 2025

Book review: How the housing crisis has created Ireland’s unique bailout babies
Book review: How the housing crisis has created Ireland’s unique bailout babies
The bailout babies were born in Ireland between 1990 and 2007. Those born in 2007 are 'officially the last cubs of the Celtic Tiger'

Sat, 25 Oct, 2025

Priscilla Presley In Conversation "Softly, As I Leave You"
Book review: Reflection of a ‘Burning Love’
In this candid memoir Priscilla Presley comes across as a kind, compassionate woman, who is forgiving towards those who hurt her

Sat, 25 Oct, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Educator, writer, and language activist Mollie Guidera
Beginner’s pluck: Educator, writer, and language activist Mollie Guidera
'The Gaeilge Guide' explains Irish in a fun, joyful way. Mollie interlaces stories and her own biography with useful words and phrases

Sat, 25 Oct, 2025

Celebrity Burial Sites and Landmarks
Karl Whitney: Is it better to let ideas fumble on the long route or set them in stone?
Etching into stone implies permanence, and that requires an eye on the eternal. When a sentence is for life, it’s best to keep it short, writes Karl Whitney

Fri, 24 Oct, 2025

Children's books review: Things that go bump in the night on an opulent cruise liner
Children's books review: Things that go bump in the night on an opulent cruise liner
Pet O’Connell rounds up a fresh selection of children’s books, including Amy Clarkin’s third Paranormal Surveyance Ireland novel, a WB Yeats illustrated poem, and a hilarious Halloween tale

Fri, 24 Oct, 2025

2022 Booker prize
Booker Prize announces launch of first award for children’s fiction
The Children’s Booker Prize will see an author selected annually from 2027 to celebrate the 'best contemporary fiction' for children aged eight to 12 years old

Fri, 24 Oct, 2025

Revealed: Manchán Magan among authors shortlisted for Irish Book Awards
Revealed: Manchán Magan among authors shortlisted for Irish Book Awards
The Irish Book Awards has shortlisted both new and established writers across 19 categories

Wed, 22 Oct, 2025

Katriona O'Sullivan: 'Even in the darkest moments, there was so much brightness, too'
Katriona O'Sullivan: 'Even in the darkest moments, there was so much brightness, too'
As guest editor, Annmarie O’Connor wanted to interview a person who had faced the rubble of life. Here, she talks to Katriona O’Sullivan about picking up the pieces

Wed, 22 Oct, 2025

Book review: Vibes aplenty in excellent debut novel
Book review: Vibes aplenty in excellent debut novel
Souvankham Thammavongsa is one to watch, and this debut is a certifiable knockout

Sat, 18 Oct, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Artist and writer Brendan Mac Evilly
Beginner’s pluck: Artist and writer Brendan Mac Evilly
'Deep Burn' is an absorbing novel, based in the world of conceptual art, it examines obsession, fame, and envy

Sat, 18 Oct, 2025

Haiti Air Ambulance Reception
Book review: Sincere but syrupy, Albom’s familiar premise won’t get a second chance
Mitch Albom’s commitment to his story is commendable, but comes at the expense of style and clarity

Sat, 18 Oct, 2025

Book review: Finger on the pulsing beats
Book review: Finger on the pulsing beats
Liam Cagney mixes interviews with DJs and club owners, past and present, as he charts the evolution of Berlin’s club scene

Sat, 18 Oct, 2025

Book review: A brave dissection of terror
Book review: A brave dissection of terror
'An Accidental Villain' is a questionable title as Hugh Tudor’s racism, ruthlessness, and duplicity suggests there was nothing accidental about his terror career in Ireland

Sat, 18 Oct, 2025

File Photo The Health Service Executive has said it is working to establish how many patients may need to have their medical tes
Irish Examiner View: HSE procurement shambles is a national embarrassment
Taxpayers deserve much better

Sat, 18 Oct, 2025

Three small girls reading a children's book in autumn day.
Children's book reviews: Plenty of portals for young readers to escape into magical worlds
Ruth Concannon rounds up the best books that capture the imagination and embrace the mystical mysteries of both our world and the otherworld

Fri, 17 Oct, 2025

"The Happy Prince" Premiere At UGC Cine Cite Les Halles In Paris
Book review: Revealing dive into the ripple effects of Wilde’s scandal
Over time,  the accumulation of myths, half-truths, gossip, and in much more serious instances, egregious misrepresentations and downright lies, have continued to distort the facts about Oscar Wilde

Fri, 17 Oct, 2025

Mark Ronson
Book review: A love letter to more humble beginnings
Mark Ronson's 'Night People' is about chasing the highs of a great mix while documenting a city that no longer exists

Sat, 11 Oct, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Former politician Katherine Zappone
Beginner’s pluck: Former politician Katherine Zappone
'Love in a Time of Politics' is a fascinating, moving, and highly readable account of a life lived with conviction

Sat, 11 Oct, 2025

Hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic 1923
Book review: A lesson still not learned
Why do we ignore warnings drawn from the actuality of our world and rush headlong towards catastrophe time after time?

Sat, 11 Oct, 2025

Book review: Feisty, forensic Dublin thriller
Book review: Feisty, forensic Dublin thriller
Marie Cassidy’s debut was praised for its compelling storyline and its authentic forensic detail, and the same is true of ‘Deadly Evidence’

Sat, 11 Oct, 2025

Book review: O’Connor finds quiet certainty to carry on after Parkinson’s diagnosis
Book review: O’Connor finds quiet certainty to carry on after Parkinson’s diagnosis
Annmarie O’Connor’s 'Twitch' is a must-read for anyone affected by Parkinson’s

Sat, 11 Oct, 2025

Jane Casey, Author of crime fiction. Photographed at her home in Wandsworth, London.
Author interview: Jane Casey on the Cork crime writing scene, stand-alone books, and her heroine Maeve Kerrigan
London-based Irish novelist Casey has released the latest book in the Maeve Kerrigan detective series but modestly tells Marjorie Brennan that she has none of her main character’s skills in sleuthing

Fri, 10 Oct, 2025

FILE PICS: Former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald is understood to be seriously ill in hospital.
Autumn round up: Varadkar and Zappone tell all while Enright casts artful eye
From FitzGerald v Haughey and ‘Bailout Babies’ to Dan Brown and Anne Enright, Marjorie Brennan rounds up a selection of new and forthcoming releases

Fri, 10 Oct, 2025

Sue Leonard: Jilly Cooper charted the excesses of Thatcher's 1980s
Sue Leonard: Jilly Cooper charted the excesses of Thatcher's 1980s
Although the author's 'bonkbusters' were sneered at by critics, her fun and empathy opened up conversations around sex and influenced a generation, writes Sue Leonard

Fri, 10 Oct, 2025

Beginner’s pluck: Charity administrator Caragh Maxwell
Beginner’s pluck: Charity administrator Caragh Maxwell
 'I loved 'Sugartown' for its rawness, its assured writing, and its empathetic characters. Caragh Maxwell is a writer to watch'

Sat, 04 Oct, 2025

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