LOATH to describe herself as a vocational writer as she thinks that’s pretentious, Sarah Harte says her need to write is “more like a disease.”

Paul Muldoon has gathered a motley crew of writers and musicians for a tour of Ireland, writes Alan O’Riordan.

An element of Stano’s multi-faceted art work has found a home at UCC, writes Ellie O’Byrne.

Silence, in this country, has been a sort of malignant tumour — a virus you inherit at birth and pass along the family tree, writes Joyce Fegan.

A new anthology book offers a deeply compassionate and powerful insight into the movement to repeal the 8th Amendment. Ciara McDonnell talks to its editor, Una Mullally.

Three Irish writers — Maggie O’Farrell, Bernard MacLaverty, and Mark O’Connell — have made the longlist of 12 authors for the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize.

Light reads, accessible history and gripping novels are championed by the people we asked to recommend their best reads of 2017, writes Richard Fitzpatrick.

After college in Dublin, Orlagh worked in the production department for various films, then she left for London and worked in the city in IT recruitment.

Being a writer is mostly a question of typing.

Maria Hoey left school at 16 and took an office job in Swords, Co Dublin.

Molly McCloskey’s novel, When Light is Like Water, is about an American woman who moves to Ireland and falls in love, and then divorces, as she did, says Sue Leonard

The candidates for the International Dublin Literary Award (former Impac) have just been announced. Alan O’Riordan looks at the contenders for the €100,000 prize.

Family-owned bookseller Dubray Books last year posted its “best trading performance since the recession” as it recorded profits of €495,589.

Trust us, it’s exactly what you need for the week that's in it.

Revenues at the Irish arm of bookseller WH Smith hit record levels of €26.85m last year.

Rory’s parents made sure that he became a reader.

Works by a number of Irish writers have been longlisted for the world’s most valuable annual literary prize for a single work of fiction published in English.

Galway-born author Lisa McInerney was inspired by the Cork vernacular to write a prize-winning novel set in her adopted city, says Colette Sheridan

SINCE the publication of the collection of stories, A Lazy Eye, back in 1993, it has been clear that Mary Morrissy has talent to burn. 

Ten novels have been shortlisted for the 2016 International Dublin Literary Award.

Bumper sales of the Fifty Shades of Grey series and publishing phenomenon The Girl on the Train helped boost profits at the Irish arm of WH Smith. Accounts filed by WH Smith Ireland Ltd show pre-tax profit rose 20% to €1.8m last year.

Brought up as the eldest of seven, Clár was always interested in words. 

Michael started life as a journalist. He worked for Hot Press, writing news-based stories, and eventually moved to Magill. He was at the stage of securing a staff job, but he’d always wanted to study law.

We bring you a round up of all the latest news and reviews from the world of entertainment. 

There was huge excitement yesterday as Ireland’s authors gathered at the Bord Gáis Theatre for the announcement of the shortlist for the Irish Book Awards 2015.

The acclaimed Jim McGuinness memoir, Until Victory Always, has been shortlisted for the Irish Sports Book of the Year award at the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards which will be held in the Double Tree Hilton Hotel in Dublin on Wednesday, November 25. 

With the Carrickmines Travellers losing their home and loved ones and the migrants fleeing theirs, Elizabeth O’Neill, who hated seeing her family home go on the market, got to thinking about what a home really is.

In a relatively short writing career Danielle McLaughlin has made huge strides and her latest collection, suggests Billy O’Callaghan, marks her down as a writer of exceptional perception and potential.

TRY THIS

The Canadian novelist Jane Urquhart has spent so much time in Ireland, particularly Kerry, that she has based her latest book — The Night Stages — here. She spoke to Sue Leonard about her more than enjoyable journey.

We must be a nation of optimists — this bank holiday weekend is one of the biggest for outdoor events this year.

Anne Enright’s latest novel The Green Road is set on that great Irish battleground — the family. She spoke to Caroline O’Doherty about the institution and all its foibles — and trying to be an inspiring teacher.

It’s a story that might have made another book in a town that has more literary output than most.

TV host Graham Norton will return to Irish shores this summer to top the bill at a festival to celebrate literature.

THIS has been a good week for book lovers. Despite an endless litany of woe — or gloating technocrats predicting the death of printed books — sales of hard copy books are resurgent.

Anne Enright has been named as the Inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction.

See what book Ted Walsh, Anne Enright, Peter Sheridan, Theo Dorgan and Gary Cooke think should be in your Christmas stocking.

 

It was an itch that would not go away and in the end Mary Costello could not help becoming a writer, a very good one at that. She spoke to Sue Leonard about her debut novel has come garlanded with high praise.

The Arts Council has published the full list of nominees for the inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction.

Ghost Moth