Fiction reviews Non-Fiction reviews Books for Younger Readers Author Interviews Books News and Features Books Home Page
Irish Examiner view: Public has been sidelined in drone operator discussions
Irish Examiner view: Public has been sidelined in drone operator discussions
Parts of the city’s northside, the central island of the city, the Docklands, as well as Blackrock, Mahon, and Douglas is to join the existing red zone areas around Cork Airport and Cork Prison

Sat, 14 Feb, 2026

Book extract: ‘Turnover tax’ in 1963 was fraught with political risk
Book extract: ‘Turnover tax’ in 1963 was fraught with political risk
When finance minister James Ryan introduced a new sales tax of 2.5% on all goods and services it was the most significant change to the Irish taxation system since independence

Fri, 13 Feb, 2026

Ryan Cahill: Irish fantasy writer happy to ride the genre's rise in popularity 
Ryan Cahill: Irish fantasy writer happy to ride the genre's rise in popularity 
Cahill is happy that the fantasy genre is not only more popular than ever — it is also gaining more respect in the books industry

Thu, 12 Feb, 2026

Summer I Turned Pretty producers to adapt Cork author’s Boys of Tommen books for TV show
Summer I Turned Pretty producers to adapt Cork author’s Boys of Tommen books for TV show
Series one will be based on the first two novels in Chloe Walsh’s series, Binding 13 and Keeping 13

Wed, 11 Feb, 2026

Elmore Leonard
Book review: Ending leaves reader wanting more
'Picket Line: The Lost Novella' is a work from very long ago about a strike by honeydew melon pickers in south Texas’ Rio Grande Valley

Sat, 07 Feb, 2026

My Life in Books: ‘Reading provides an insight into a different world’
My Life in Books: ‘Reading provides an insight into a different world’
Multi-million-copy bestselling author of the DI Lottie Parker series Patricia Gibney

Sat, 07 Feb, 2026

Book review: Complex tale had too many plots
Book review: Complex tale had too many plots
Told from multiple points of view, all clearly marked, the story takes quite a number of far-fetched twists

Sat, 07 Feb, 2026

Musing on satire, power, and the long road to publication
Musing on satire, power, and the long road to publication
Aoife Feeney’s second novel is a satire, and satire in Feeney’s hands is not a decorative mode; it is a way of taking aim at what societies decide they must not question

Fri, 06 Feb, 2026

10 new books for February: Gisele Pelicot, Edel Coffey, and more...
10 new books for February: Gisele Pelicot, Edel Coffey, and more...
French sexual assault victim Gisele Pelicot has written a book about her experiences 

Tue, 03 Feb, 2026

Listowel Writers' Week looks to turn the page on funding controversy
Listowel Writers' Week looks to turn the page on funding controversy
A revived festival, major Arts Council funding and unanswered questions have sparked deep divisions within Kerry’s close-knit literary community

Tue, 03 Feb, 2026

Neil Gaiman
Author Neil Gaiman claims sexual assault allegations are result of ‘smear campaign’
Nine women have come forward to accuse the 65-year-old English author of sexual misconduct

Mon, 02 Feb, 2026

Heavy snowfall in Glasgow
Diaries, like personal growth, are forever a work in progress
Documenting the great and small moments in your every day life serves many purposes, even — perhaps especially — when it’s not for publication, writes Karl Whitney

Sat, 31 Jan, 2026

Book review: How criminals are making a killing
Book review: How criminals are making a killing
Never a better time to be a criminal, says author Oliver Bullough, saying around €50bn a year washes through Europe’s money laundering schemes

Sat, 31 Jan, 2026

My Life in Books:  ‘I've yet to see a film that does justice to the book’
My Life in Books:  ‘I've yet to see a film that does justice to the book’
Poet, novelist, screenwriter, translator and broadcaster Theo Dorgan 

Sat, 31 Jan, 2026

Book review: Family secrets meet cold-case thrills
Book review: Family secrets meet cold-case thrills
The narrative moves quickly and has lots of twists and turns

Sat, 31 Jan, 2026

Colm O'Regan: Once upon a time... there was violence, cruelty and murder
Colm O'Regan: Once upon a time... there was violence, cruelty and murder
Do you remember Stories for Eight Year Olds — and its companions, stories for under-fives, five-year-olds, six, going all the way up to the over-10s

Fri, 30 Jan, 2026

Book review: Finely-crafted examination of life’s uncomfortable truths at death’s door
Book review: Finely-crafted examination of life’s uncomfortable truths at death’s door
'Vigil' explores comfort, repentance, and the path to redemption, which must be sought again and again

Sat, 24 Jan, 2026

Book review: Terror that threatens to unravel it all
Book review: Terror that threatens to unravel it all
Ellie Levenson has created an eminently relatable protagonist and the narrative is full of action, tension, drama, all wrapped around what is essentially a love story

Sat, 24 Jan, 2026

Book review: Fresh look at old battle scars
Book review: Fresh look at old battle scars
'The War of Independence in East Cork' makes an important contribution to the understanding of what occurred in East Cork during the 1919 to 1921 period

Sat, 24 Jan, 2026

Beginner’s pluck: Writer and teacher Eilish Fisher
Beginner’s pluck: Writer and teacher Eilish Fisher
Written in verse, this glorious children’s book is one to treasure

Sat, 24 Jan, 2026

Book review: Tragicomedy with a very unsettling narrative
Book review: Tragicomedy with a very unsettling narrative
This is a very dark tale highlighting the tragedy of mental health struggles and the toxic side of celebrity fandom

Sat, 24 Jan, 2026

Children's book reviews: News travels fast as readers are left between a rock and a hard place
Children's book reviews: News travels fast as readers are left between a rock and a hard place
Pet O’Connell rounds up a selection of the latest children’s books, with tales of climate change and Ramadan fasting, mountain climbing, and the wonders of Irish seaweed

Fri, 23 Jan, 2026

94th Annual Academy Awards - Show
Upcoming non-fiction that may have an impact this year
From Liza Minnelli’s anticipated first release to insights into artistry and troubled upbringings, these are the non-fiction releases worth keeping an eye on, writes Marjorie Brennan

Fri, 23 Jan, 2026

Terry Prone: Should we burn books after finding out the author is a fraud?
S Terry Prone: Should we burn books after finding out the author is a fraud?
t’s a tough time to be a publisher... and a reader

Mon, 19 Jan, 2026

Book review: Radical shift in political culture
Book review: Radical shift in political culture
While the  focus of 'Abundance' is the US, the problems the authors consider — in housing, transportation, energy and healthcare — apply to most developed economies

Sat, 17 Jan, 2026

Beginner’s pluck: Full-time writer Rebecca Hannigan
Beginner’s pluck: Full-time writer Rebecca Hannigan
Ten years ago, meeting a writer in a pub, Rebecca Hannigan realised that ‘normal’ people like her could become writers

Sat, 17 Jan, 2026

"Kinds Of Kindness" New York Premiere
Book review: False dawns and incremental gains of a writer’s slow recovery through drugs
The general argument in 'Breaking Awake' seems to be in favour of across-the-board legalisation of drugs

Sat, 17 Jan, 2026

Book review: Going off-piste for success
Book review: Going off-piste for success
For those who write or aspire to write, there is enough quality information in 'Joyride' for it be considered something of an instructional manual

Sat, 17 Jan, 2026

Book review: Difficult path to novel’s hopeful end
Book review: Difficult path to novel’s hopeful end
The plot of 'Remain' develops too slowly to really engage the reader, and is weighed down by dialogue that feels forced and unnatural

Sat, 17 Jan, 2026

 Fiction to watch out for this year from an array of fan favourites
 Fiction to watch out for this year from an array of fan favourites
With a plethora of eagerly anticipated titles to come from local literary stars and and global publishing heavyweights, 2026 looks set to be an exciting year for readers, writes Marjorie Brennan

Fri, 16 Jan, 2026

Book review: Rare insight into an obscure Irish traditional music icon
Book review: Rare insight into an obscure Irish traditional music icon
This fine biography does that most rare of things: it brings to life, on the printed page, exactly how Tommie Potts felt the music that so defines him. And why

Fri, 16 Jan, 2026

First Part Of Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry Report Released
Book review: Surviving the ordeal that was the Post Office Horizon scandal
Jo Hamilton — one of the victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal — has written a personal account of the UK’s most widespread miscarriage of justice

Sat, 10 Jan, 2026

The British Book Awards - Arrivals
Book review: Uproarious whodunnit for ‘Traitors’ fans
'The Faithfuls' is a hilarious whodunnit mystery that just gets more bizarre and far-fetched after each page

Sat, 10 Jan, 2026

Beginner’s pluck: Artist Ted Turton
Beginner’s pluck: Artist Ted Turton
This memoir is so wonderfully entertaining and visually sumptuous that it leaves you with awe and envy

Sat, 10 Jan, 2026

Book review: Imagining a not so wee North
Book review: Imagining a not so wee North
If we are moving towards a 32-county Ireland anything that prepares the ground for the kind of difficult, uneasy sacrifices needed to make that evolution a success is welcome

Sat, 10 Jan, 2026

Book review: 'Escape from the Anthill' is both illuminating and wise
Book review: 'Escape from the Anthill' is both illuminating and wise
The essays in this reissued collection are told with great wit and on a variety of fascinating subjects where there is neither a dull sentence nor a careless thought

Sat, 10 Jan, 2026

Sun rising over a cute little boy reading the Bible in the middle of a winter park
Children's book reviews: Children’s and YA books that offer free chapter to kickstart 2026
From newborns and new homes to space adventures, reimagined classics and unsettling futures, January’s releases offer a fresh start, writes Ruth Concannon of Children’s Books Ireland

Fri, 09 Jan, 2026

Discarded Christmas Tree Waiting To Be Collected
Karl Whitney: Don’t let the spoils of the old year ruin the lure of the new 
End-of-year lists can flatten culture into sameness; real taste is built by curiosity, scepticism, and a willingness to stray off the well-worn path

Fri, 09 Jan, 2026

France Sarkozy Legion of Honor
Book review: When a president goes to prison
The overarching sentiment of this book is that a former French president should not have to suffer the indignity of being classed with with other detainees inside Paris’ La Sante prison

Sat, 03 Jan, 2026

Book review: A particular kind of courage
Book review: A particular kind of courage
The narrative of 'Seized' is vulnerably raw and deeply human, documenting not only illness but the endurance required to live alongside it

Sat, 03 Jan, 2026

Book review: Hurling, land, and legacy
Book review: Hurling, land, and legacy
Conor Power's 'Hurling 1810' is a short glimpse into the life of early 19th century rural Ireland

Sat, 03 Jan, 2026

Beginner’s pluck: Insurance broker worker Deidre O’Neill
Beginner’s pluck: Insurance broker worker Deidre O’Neill
'Remnants of Our Past' gives a real sense of Ireland’s social history

Sat, 03 Jan, 2026

Book review: That was then, this is now in mingling of the personal and the polemical
Book review: That was then, this is now in mingling of the personal and the polemical
Westerners dismiss their ancestors, individually and en masse, as 'racists, thieves, and murderers', but this brown-skinned woman from North Africa has come to tell whitey to get over himself

Sat, 03 Jan, 2026

International Booker Prize 2025 Award Ceremony in London
Books of the year: Berlin millennials, Belfast mothers, crime, and word-of-mouth successes
Social media malaise, moral reckoning, art and faith, crime fiction at its peak, and a quietly devastating debut all feature in Marjorie Brennan’s selection of the best books of 2025

Fri, 02 Jan, 2026

Books of the year: Novel of the year ‘Nesting’ an achingly real story for women
Books of the year: Novel of the year ‘Nesting’ an achingly real story for women
Critic Deirdre McArdle selects her best books of the year, featuring Irish writers, an AI office romance, and a brilliant book for children and parents alike

Fri, 02 Jan, 2026

GERMANY-LITERATURE-PRIZE
Book review: Reflections on being German
'Sanderling' is a rare book: meticulous, honest, unpretentious, interrogative, and utterly compelling

Sat, 27 Dec, 2025

Book review: Short life of Mary mattered
Book review: Short life of Mary mattered
All trace of 14-year-old Mary Doherty faded from view days after her brutal murder in 1844 yet her presence is evident on every single page of this moving book

Sat, 27 Dec, 2025

Book review: Touching memoir of EB sufferer’s life
Book review: Touching memoir of EB sufferer’s life
When she was born, Emma’s parents were told she wouldn’t survive infancy yet, despite countless obstacles, aged 41, she is now the oldest Irish person living with butterfly skin

Sat, 27 Dec, 2025

Poetry review: Poems where the seemingly mundane can reveal itself as spiritually radiant
Poetry review: Poems where the seemingly mundane can reveal itself as spiritually radiant
'Jonah and Me' is a chance for readers to sit with poet John F Deane as he reflects on an immense career, a life lived in service of his art and his faith

Sat, 27 Dec, 2025

DNA structure anniversary
Book review: Rich and rewarding biography of a brainiac
Francis Crick was a prolific writer, always happy to advance theories, and biographer Matthew Cobb continues that work of sharing the ideas that try to map our world and existence

Sat, 27 Dec, 2025

Latest

Scene & Heard

Newsletter

Music, film art, culture, books and more from Munster and beyond.......curated weekly by the Irish Examiner Arts Editor.

Cookie Policy Privacy Policy Brand Safety FAQ Help Contact Us Terms and Conditions

© Examiner Echo Group Limited