SET in locations including coastal Ireland, Fleet Street pubs and big spooky houses,

The last of the great Anglo-Irish writers, Molly Keane, who died 20 years ago today, has been the chief focus of the 13th Cork World Book Fest — a six-day literary jamboree currently packing out both the Central Library and Triskel Christchurch.

Alannah Hopkin discusses the inspiration behind her new book of poems and songs about Cork City, On the Banks.

Michael Moynihan looks back on the past month’s big GAA news...

From Rory Gallagher to Frank O’Connor, there’s an eclectic mix in a new anthology of Cork writings, says Colette Sheridan

As we mark the fiftieth anniversary of 1966, Jon Savage’s book pinpoints the year as the turning point of the sixties, a decade that divided the twentieth century into old world and new, says Alannah Hopkin.

SWEETLAND opens with ghostly voices heard against the wail of the foghorn by Moses Sweetland, a fisherman stranded at sea overnight in the fog. The voices belong to a boatload of dying Sri Lankan migrants, set adrift without food or water in the North Atlantic by unscrupulous people-traffickers.

Ajax Penumbra 1969

Richard Zimler

Levels of Life

Rosenheim & Windermere

Brian Lalor has survived by pursuing his interests as a printmaker, illustrator and author, says Colette Sheridan

THE veteran Irish writer Edna O’Brien was last night named the winner of the 2011 Frank O’Connor Short Story Award for her collection, Saints and Sinners. O’Brien received the prize in person, at the Metropole Hotel in Cork. She is the first Irish writer to win.

The veteran Irish writer Edna O’Brien has been named the winner of the 2011 Frank O’Connor Short Story Award for her collection, 'Saints and Sinners'.

The Uncoupling. Meg Wolitzer Chatto & Windus; £12.99

AT Christmas, one finds time to walk and take the air and, perhaps, time to sit at home and read a book.

Damien Enright enjoys a new book on a famed Cork region.