Three decades after her last exhibition in her home county, Vivienne Roche joins four other Cork-based artists to display their work in Kinsale, writes Ellie O’Byrne

Ireland has lost yet another great writer. A little more than a month since the death of William Trevor at the age of 88, it was announced yesterday that Anthony Cronin had died, also aged 88.

Nigel Rolfe’s work has become stiller, more focused and internal as he’s aged, writes Ellie O’Byrne

My idea of misery is to be stuck in a house without a book. When I was a child, being a writer never entered my consciousness.

The yellow cabs tick downtown in the rain,                                                            sparked electrons in the bright-lit veins.

Gardaí are investigating an incident on the M7 Limerick to Dublin motorway in which well-known artist John Shinnors was injured in a collision with a van driven by an off-duty garda.

Too much energy has been wasted on the bushfire which flared since the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) board appointments debacle.

The annual general assembly of Aosdána this week, and the conduct of its affairs in private, should prompt a reforming response from the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan.

IT STRUCK a sensitive nerve when the poet WJ Mc Cormack, aka Hugh Maxton, this week defended Aosdána’s annual funding of €2.7 million by mentioning that Fair City cost €11 million. This fact was met, according to an RTÉ report, with laughter from the floor of Aosdána’s general assembly meeting at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham.

An elite artists’ group has rejected public criticism over the amount of funding it receives from the taxpayer, claiming the Government would drive “JCBs full of money” to any private business that provided such a return on the “investment”.

For Marie Heaney

Lately in the pages of this newspaper, you may have seen a lengthy interview with Jim Nolan, the Waterford playwright.

As the scandals unfold at the Central Remedial Clinic, and other top payments that look more like grand larceny, we learn that a 79-year-old Aosdána member and long-time human rights activist Margaretta Darcy has been jailed in Limerick prison for protesting against the use of Shannon airport by torturers, human rights abusers and US war criminals.

MUSIC NEWS: Arcade Fire have exploded back on to the music scene with a promotional blitz for their forthcoming album Reflektor, due out on Oct 29. Last Monday, the band released the single ‘Reflektor’, complete with backing vocals from David Bowie.

A Year’s Midnight

Writer Samuel Beckett abandoned Ireland in 1937, but his birthplace informed his work, says Alan Graham

JOHN BRENDAN KEANE is ten years dead today.

IN his response to my letter (June 9) on the acceptance of British titles by Irish citizens, Cian Martin (‘Flawed case against accepting honours’ (June 30) accuses me of xenophobia — a charge I reject emphatically.

IN light of the current disproportionate response of the Chinese government in occupied Tibet, various individuals and organisations in Ireland who have expressed concern over similar occurrences in other parts of the world should now give voice to their revulsion at these excesses.

POET Cathal Ó Searcaigh has rejected his portrayal in a documentary suggesting that he sexually exploited teenage boys in Nepal as distorted and inaccurate.

One of Ireland’s best-known poets today denied he sexually exploited young men as gardaí investigated allegations against him.

Playwright and novelist Thomas Kilroy today received a prestigious award to celebrate a lifetime of literary achievement.

I BELIEVE it’s time for ordinary people to protest to the Government, or through the media, against the cultural vandalism threatening the ancient, sacred site of Tara.

Grammy-winning singer Enya is to be honoured by NUI Galway today.

The 150-page Fianna Fáil election manifesto ’Now The Next Steps’ ,which was launched today, sets out the party’s policy blueprint for the next five years in government. As well as the previously-announced measures, it proposes:

A former director of the National College of Art and Design in Dublin has died today.

The award-winning novelist and playwright John McGahern has died in hospital in Dublin at the age of 72.

BRIAN FRIEL’S status in the arts world was recognised yesterday after the legendary playwright was presented with a golden torc.

Eminent playwright Brian Friel joked as he received the Aosdana’s highest honour today that it was like being read the last rites.

One of Ireland’s finest playwrights, Brian Friel, is to be presented with a major award by President Mary McAleese today in an honorary ceremony.