Inside judging one of the big literary prizes: searching for sinister outside forces, table banging and some gems of books
Writers love to complain that literary awards committees are black boxes of partisan conspiracy. I am, in a way, sorry to disappoint
By Kevin Power
Ellmann’s Joyce: Zachary Leader provides fascinating but flawed insight into biographer of literary genius
Paul Durcan: One of the great mavericks with a commitment to poetry as a calling
Can a name determine our fate? Florence Knapp on her debut novel
Author Paul Perry: ‘The myth of the starving genius is harmful nonsense’
New crime fiction: Michael Connelly revels in fresh freedom, Brian McGilloway serves up a suffocatingly claustrophobic affair
Acclaimed poet Paul Durcan dies aged 80
John Boyne on the art of book reviews: Never lie to readers, but deliver truth in a way that respects the writer
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POETRY
The Episode by Mary Ann Kenny: Moving memoir about loss and healing exposes troubling frailties in mental health services
By Paul D’Alton
Writers Anonymous by William Wall: A literary thriller that is emotionally taut and structurally inventive
By Adam Wyeth
