Leaving the Church behind him, Thomas MacDonagh found a new calling almost by accident, writes Shane Kenna

The lucrative Ballymaloe International Poetry Prize attracts thousands of entries from around the world, writes Colette Sheridan

Andrew Melsom on a collection remembering Irish soldiers’ often heroic roles in World War I    

A new visitor centre has just opened in Flanders commemorating the 30,000 Irish soldiers who died in the First World War.

IN his letter (November 6), Nick Folley makes the sensible point that for those in British uniform during the First World War, “there was no way out for the duration except as an invalid or in a body-bag”. He mentions the possibility of a firing squad in the background as a deterrent to free choice.

THERE’S rhyme and reason to a Killarney new homes scheme — it is called after one of Ireland’s early 20th century poets.

ON April 27, 1916, three days after Patrick Pearse stepped onto the portico of the General Post Office in Dublin to proclaim the new Irish Republic, 2,128 men of the 16th (Irish) Division suffered horrifically from a German gas attack.

ROBIN BURY of the Reform Movement failed to answer the question I asked as to what would have resulted if the Rising had not taken place (Irish Examiner letters, March 13).

THE Irish Examiner is to be commended for its sympathetic coverage of the D-Day anniversary and for showing us the faces of Irish heroes of the Normandy landings.