My sister Gabriella always says that during sibling whispers all I ever wanted was to be on stage.

Hanging by the telephone, waiting for offers of work, was not something that actor and writer, Clare Monnelly, could tolerate.

Ciarán Collins is a writer from Inniscarra, Co Cork. His debut novel The Gamal was published by Bloomsbury, and his play Primal will premiere at Cork Arts Theatre from March 5-9. He teaches English and Irish as well as hurling, film-making and creative writing at Hamilton High School, Bandon. He lives in Kinsale with his wife and has two children.

Bestselling author Caroline Foran has plenty to look forward to in 2019. Not only did she get married recently, but the author of Owning It and The Confidence Kit has secured a US publishing deal.

Cork author and former lawyer Danielle McLaughlin has edited a collection of stories by people from the legal profession, writes Colette Sheridan.

Ailís Ní Rian hasn’t let a hearing impairment stop her from composing music and writing plays, one of which will be performed at Dublin Fringe Fest, writes Colette Sheridan.

I always knew that I wanted to write.

When the recession hit, Cork-born solicitor Dervla McTiernan moved to Australia and started a writing career. It was the best decision she ever made, reports Marjorie Brennan.

Writer and blogger Jane Gilheaney Barry runs thatcuriousloveofgreen.com and her first gothic novel, Cailleach ~ Witch, is due to be published next month.

You could say it was the twinkle in his eye, his default Ulster earthiness, or the armchair-by-the-Aga warmth in his voice that made Seamus Heaney such a loved Irishman but, as anyone beguiled, seduced or challenged by his poetry will admit, our relationship with the great poet runs far, far deeper.

Irish writer Maura McHugh is proud to be a part of an all-female issue of the famous sci-fi comic, says Don O’Mahony.

Cork-based writer David Mitchell talks to Richard Fitzpatrick about autism, the influence of his folk-star namesake, and helping out with the local Tidy Towns.

Top crime writer Liz Nugent has spoken of how her family was held hostage at knife-point when she was a child.

Cork poet Leanne O’Sullivan has always had personal themes in her work. So it isn’t surprising that her husband’s recovery from a life-threatening coma has made its way into her latest collection, writes Colette Sheridan.

That Greta Gerwig, writer and director of Lady Bird, is a confident young woman making movies about confident young women feels especially meaningful right now, writes Christine Smallwood.

Irish novelist, journalist, and essayist, Colm Tóibín, is this year’s winner of a US lifetime achievement award that celebrates the power of literature to foster peace, social justice, and global understanding.

Being a writer is mostly a question of typing.

As the final instalment of her Ruby Redfort series is released, Lauren Child reflects on the quirky kids and teen detectives that have made her so popular, writes Ellie O’Byrne.

Pet O’Connell meets Corkman Seán Ó Muimhneacháin who is set to take up the role of president of Oireachtas na Gaeilge.

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.

You know you want to.

Irish writer Alphie McCourt has died at the age of 75.

Patrick Leigh Fermor died five years ago this month, aged 96, and though he claimed to be part Irish, he was a man of the world, who walked from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul in his teens, and who later became a great travel writer, says Michael Duggan

A new film about Dervla Murphy paints a fascinating picture of the 85-year-old travel writer, says Ellie O’Byrne

Eilis Barrett has just released her debut novel, having decided at age 12 that writing would be her career, writes Rita deBrun

Oscar-winning writer and actor Colin Welland has died aged 81.

Henning Mankell, the internationally renowned Swedish crime writer whose books about the gloomy, soul-searching police inspector Kurt Wallander enticed readers around the world, has died aged 67.

At 89, JP Donleavy is happy that people are still reading The Ginger Man, despite its banning in 1955, writes John Daly

It’s just as well Mick O’Rourke is in the business of renewable energy as his daughter Caoimhe May, 12, is as close to perpetual motion as you can get.

American short story writer Ben Marcus tells JP O’Malley that it’s important to learn from tradition but that it’s also important to redefine it.

Many novels include a damsel in distress, but for one of Ireland’s leading authors, it was a "Hailo"ed-saint not a knight who came to her aid.