Books

Book Reviews • Fighting Words

Poem of the Week: Steps

By Peter Sirr

Sophie Hannah: ‘My mum normalised writing as a career, so it felt like a possibility for me’

By Martin Doyle

Patrick; Ada’s Realm; Sidle Creek

Author Cathy Kelly confirms breast cancer diagnosis: ‘I’m doing well’

By Ellen O’Donoghue

Asylum by Brendan Kelly: Ireland’s ‘awkward institutions’ laid bare

By Matthew Shipsey

Dromineer Literary Festival; Dublin Festival of History; Echoes; Bookshop of the Year; Polari Prizes

By Martin Doyle

Maurice Leitch, acclaimed Irish author, dies, aged 90

By Martin Doyle

Children’s books: All kinds of adventures with animals, and a tale about teaming up with a bully to foil a witch

By Sara Keating

The End of August by Yu Miri: A monumental work of real importance

By Rónán Hession

Katherine Rundell: ‘Extraordinary wealth should be looked at the same way as punching a baby in the face’

We Need to Talk: Tony Holohan doesn’t shy away from saying when he felt let down by others

By Jack Horgan-Jones

The Coming Thing by Martina Evans: Punks and teenage poses in 1980s Cork

By Joseph O'Connor

Stakeknife’s Dirty War: Revealing insider account of brutal IRA double agent

By Stephen Walker

Wild longings: women and gardening, both practical and poetic

By Helen Paris

Michael Viney: Nature writer, illustrator and journalist’s last book launched in Letterfrack

By Marese McDonagh

Jason Byrne: ‘My brain still thinks I’m going to swing up home in a few months’ time and Dad will be there’

By Kate Demolder

How often do you think of the Roman Empire? Quite a lot if you are Mary Beard

By Anna Carey

September’s YA fiction: Sending shivers down the spine of anyone who was ever a teenage girl

By Claire Hennessy

The Booker Prize boost: ‘It certainly changed the way people look at me’

By Ellen O'Riordan and Martin Doyle

Stakeknife: The inside story of IRA double agent Freddie Scappaticci

By Mark Devenport

Goth: Three fascinating books explore a musical subculture that is both dead and very much alive

By Ann Scanlon

Daniel Mason: ‘The more time I spend in the woods, the more in awe I am at the richness of the natural world’

By Martin Doyle

Cures of Ireland: A Treasury of Irish Folk Remedies - An authoritative exploration of alternative medicine

By Dr Muiris Houston

Books in brief: When Things Come To Light; The God Desire; Quartet

The Celestial Realm by Molly Hennigan: A brave new voice in Irish literature

By Aimée Walsh

The Padre by Jennifer O’Leary: A priest with blood on his hands

By Freya McClements

An Invitation To The Kennedys by Emily Hourican: Glamorous historical novel has echoes of the present

Booker Prize 2023: Irish authors Paul Murray and Paul Lynch make shortlist

By Martin Doyle

Gutter Bookshop changes hands; Irish on Edge Hill prize shortlist; Dublin Book Festival launched

By Martin Doyle

‘Never write to chase trends or give others what you think they want’

1

Apology sought from Dublin school for employing former Nazi SS officer as a teacher

2

‘My mom always had to ask my dad for money and I remember thinking I never wanted to have to rely on anyone else for money’

3

For years, Ireland has been doing something just as economically stupid as Brexit

4

One of America's oldest mummies to be buried as 128-year-old mystery is solved

5

‘People call the US the land of opportunities and dreams, they’ve obviously not heard of Ireland’