Imbolc (or Imbolg); the first day of spring in Ireland! Imbolc also marks the publication of this wonderful new memoir In Ordinary Time by Carmel McMahon. While this is the first year we have a public holiday to mark it, this day has long been associated with Saint Brigid, one of the three Patron Saints of Ireland. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Bealtaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain. Many of us who grew up in Ireland …
Category: Irish Writers

This week is Irish Book Week, celebrating Irish authors, illustrators, publishers, and bookshops, so we thought we’d celebrate by asking some of the Irish Book Week Ambassadors a couple of …
Small Things Like These by Irish author Claire Keegan is one of the six-strong shortlisted books for the Booker Prize 2022. There are various reasons as to why this belongs …
My fiction debut, The Amusements, is a novel of interconnected stories set in the seaside town of Tramore – a place I know well because my family are from Waterford. With the …
The strange thing about summer jobs is that we often take them at a time in our lives when we are waiting for ‘real life’ to begin. When I was …
Short stories are the subject of so much myth and mysticism that for a long time, I was afraid to try writing them. So when I was struck with a …
Be they scholars or enthusiasts, millions have bowed at the feet of Joyce, to be confounded or delighted, in equal measure. In celebration of the enduring fascination with this book, …
The Murder Rule grew from the smallest of seeds. I came across an article in a newspaper about a young Irish law student who had spent a summer volunteering in …

We are over half way through the Read Irish Women Challenge 2022 and it has been wonderful to behold the enthusiasm and response on social media. Thank you to everyone …
For me, writing brings together my interests and hobbies into something unique and pleasurable. I love to paint – I enjoy historical research – and I like writing stories. I …
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