Alanna turned just eight this month.

Elizabeth Strout tells Sue Leonard about how she has created a collection of short stories which build on the world inhabited in her last novel by Lucy Barton

Literary inspirations shaped some of this season’s finest fragrances, says Rachel Marie Walsh.

There is no easy way to tell parents at any stage of pregnancy that their baby has a severe fetal abnormality and may die in the hours or days after birth. But delivering a late diagnosis only adds to the trauma and grief. So say the doctors and parents who spoke to Health Correspondent Catherine Shanahan about the importance of a 20-week fetal anomaly scan.

Oscar nominee Isabelle Huppert proves her sartorial mettle in this Armani Privé ensemble. 

On the pig’s back

A Cork woman, who has been waiting for a double lung and heart transplant for 13 years, has launched a campaign to increase the number of organ donors in Ireland, reports Sarah Horgan.

It isn’t just his new film that’s put the smile on Gabriel Byrne’s face, writes Helen Barlow

An 11-year-old girl who has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair yesterday settled for €9m her High Court action over her care around the time of her birth.

They are having the time of their lives.

To prove that old dogs can learn new tricks, an animal charity in Sao Paulo trained four former street dogs to act as ’ball dogs’ for an exhibition tennis match this week at the Brazil Open.

We can imagine plenty of letters like this could have been exchanged around the nation today.

It’s a scenes that every household in Ireland could relate to this morning - trying to juggle school, job and family life while refreshing your four/five devices for those all important Bruce Springsteen tickets.

Cesca became addicted to writing whilst at university.

Check out our guide to tonight's best TV.

Two Irish sisters are taking Paris by storm - and all from the stage of the world-famous Moulin Rouge.

Nintendo last night announced that Mario Kart 8’s Animal Crossing-themed downloadable content will be released on April 23rd.

Collette O’Toole hoped she would get a few hours with her baby after she was born. Sadly, Isabelle didn’t make it that far, writes Noel Baker

Jeff Bridges says his family is his biggest accomplishment.

Everyman, Cork

Sheana Keane made a brief return to TV presenting last week, filling in for TV3’s Lucy Kennedy.

A woman gave birth in the street in New York city after a taxi she waved down to take her to hospital was swiped by a passer-by.

Breaking Bad, Gatsby and Game of Thrones have all inspired baby names in the UK this year, while the desire not to be seen as a “Kate copycat” had led to a decline in the popularity of royal names, according to website BabyCentre.

An 8-year-old Cork girl with cerebral palsy who had sued a consultant obstetrician has further settled her case with a payment of damages for the next two years totalling €635,000.

It came as little surprise to Freddie’s parents to discover their one-year-old son has an ear for music.

Emma Willis is replacing Holly Willoughby and Reggie Yates on 'The Voice' UK.

An entirely appropriate title for a film that steals from a number of superior movies, yet never appears sure of what it really wants to be.

The English folktale of ‘Jack And The Beanstalk’ is given a smart CGI-heavy makeover in Bryan Singer’s fast-paced fantasy.

Poor Neidín barely gets a chance to wolf down his oats this weather before The Menu has him back in harness and out and about on the high roads for all the autumnal food festivals.

ISABELLE GREY

The number of people actually born on Co Clare soil swelled by one in the early hours of Friday morning when baby Éirinn Christina Robbins Logue was born on the side of the road in the small Burren village of Corofin.

The parents of a six-year-old girl who died after suffering a fit at a campsite in Britain said today they were devastated at the loss of the youngster who they described as “our whole world”.

Ulster Rugby today confirmed that back-row forward Pedrie Wannenburg will leave the club at the end of this season.

Ruby Walsh is counting down to another Cheltenham Festival — by ensuring you're the best informed punters in the country next week. Our columnist, and racing's top jockey, has been busy as guest editor of the Irish Examiner's 20-page Cheltenham preview special with Monday's paper.

SATURDAY

WHEN I was asked this week to write about the highs and lows of 2011 my immediate reaction was to focus on the new whip rules brought in by the BHA across the water.

DOROTHY RODHAM, mother of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton’s mother-in-law, has died at the age of 92 after an illness.

AN interim settlement of €1.9m was approved by the High Court in a case in which a consultant obstetrician has apologised to a six-year-old girl left in a wheelchair from severe cerebral palsy.

A CONSULTANT obstetrician apologised to a girl who must use a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy as talks over a settlement continued before the High Court.

THE Department of Education is paying an estimated €1,800 a week to transport two west Clare teenagers with special needs by taxi to Ennis because of the lack of a suitable educational facility unit in their locality.