In The Irish Times tomorrow, Miriam Toews tells Niamh Donnelly about her new memoir, A Truce That Is Not Peace. And there is a Q&A with Sophie White about her career and latest novel, Such a Good Couple.
Reviews are Tom Clonan on War and Power: Who Wins Wars, and Why by Phillips Payson O’Brien; Adam Wyeth on The Quiet Ear: An Investigation of Missing Sound by Raymond Antrobus; Orla Tinsley on Intensive Care: An Irish doctor’s story of healing, heartbreak and hope in children’s ICU by Suzanne Crowe; Claire Hennessy on the best new YA fiction; Michael Cronin on A Long Winter and Ship in Full Sail by Colm Tóibín; Lucy Sweeney-Byrne on Katabasis by RF Kuang; Éilís Ní Dhuibhne on Mint & Other Stories by Adrian Kenny; Mei Chin on The Girls that Grew Big by Leila Mottley; Emily Formstone on Helm by Sarah Hall; Charleen Hurtubise on The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri; Ruby Eastwood on Conversation with the Sea by Hugo Hamilton; Paige Reynolds on Paper Heart by Cecelia Ahern; and Mia Levitin on We Used to Dance Here by Dave Tynan.
This weekend’s Irish Times Eason offer is The Seventh Body by Catherine Kirwan, just €5.99, a €6 saving.
Julia Roberts has joined the cast of the upcoming six-part comedy drama series Leonard and Hungry Paul as the narrator. The series, produced for BBC Northern Ireland by Irish production company Subotica, with support from Screen Ireland, also stars Alex Lawther, Laurie Kynaston and Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, and is coming soon to BBC One Northern Ireland, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.
Leonard and Hungry Paul is based on the award-winning, best-selling novel of the same name by Rónán Hession and has been adapted for television by writers Richie Conroy and Mark Hodkinson. The series is directed by Andrew Chaplin and co-produced with Avalon.
Tristan Orpen Lynch, executive producer said: “It is truly wonderful to have the amazingly talented Julia Roberts join the production. We had heard she was a big fan of Rónán’s beautiful book and she brings a real warmth and genuine compassionate understanding to this important role which guides us through the unique world and special characters.”
Eddie Doyle, Senior Head of Content Commissioning, BBC Northern Ireland, said: “To have Julia Roberts lend her extraordinary voice and storytelling talent to this series is another ringing endorsement for how special this project is. Her narration will add to the magic of this story and we are excited to bring it to audiences very soon.”
Set to air this autumn, the feel-good series follows two board-gaming friends in their thirties; Leonard, a ghost writer of children’s encyclopaedias, and Hungry Paul, a part-time postal worker who still lives at home, who meander through leafy suburban life finding solace in their quiet routines. The unexpected death of Leonard’s mother, the approaching wedding of Hungry Paul’s sister and a tentative new romance for Leonard, prompts both men to meet a world that is suddenly wider and full of unfamiliar possibilities.
Alongside Julia Roberts as the narrator it is set to star Alex Lawther (The End Of The F***ing World, ALIEN: EARTH) as Leonard, Laurie Kynaston (Fool Me Once, Sandman) as Hungry Paul and Jamie-Lee O’Donnell (Derry Girls, Screw) as Shelley.
Also joining the cast are Helen Behan (The Virtues), Lorcan Cranitch (Bloodlands), Niamh Branigan (Harry Wild), Paul Reid (Sherlock & Daughter), Charlotte McCurry (Say Nothing) and David O’Reilly (Doctors).
Featuring internationally renowned crime writers, Murder One, Ireland’s International Crime Writing Festival, returns to Dublin from October 17th to 19th for its eighth year with a host of events, readings and masterclasses taking place in Dún Laoghaire’s DLR Lexicon Library & Cultural Centre.
Supported by the Arts Council and DLR Libraries, the festival features Chris Whitaker on his first public visit to Ireland, as well as Ruth Ware, Steve Cavanagh, Gillian McAllister, Jane Casey, Andrea Mara, AJ West, Amanda Cassidy, Conor McAnally and Catherine Ryan Howard to name but a few.
Whether you are an avid crime reader, a budding writer with an exciting idea for a thriller of your own, or a book club looking for a new read, Murder One has something for everyone to enjoy this October.
Tickets are on sale now at murderone.ie
The literary strand of Clifden Arts Festival 2025 offers a powerful programme of talks, readings and conversations from September 17th–28th in the heart of Connemara.
Renowned historian Diarmaid Ferriter reflects on Ireland’s transformation since the 1990s in his lecture The Revelation of Ireland 1995–2025. Branding expert John Fanning, former MD of McConnells and UCD lecturer, explores advertising, identity and storytelling in The Making of an Irish Icon: Barry’s Tea.
Broadcaster John Creedon shares stories from his bestselling memoir This Boy’s Heart, while Irish Times GAA columnist Ciarán Murphy presents Old Parish, his witty account of learning hurling later in life.
Poetry features strongly with Luke Morgan, winner of the 2025 Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award, Séamus Ruttledge, and guests from Gallery Press.
Together, these voices offer insight, humour and reflection—celebrating the richness of Irish experience through the written and spoken word.
Full programme and tickets: clifdenartsfestival.ie
Poet and memoirist Afric McGlinchey will lead an immersive creative writing workshop at the 2025 Allingham Festival on Setting and Weather as Metaphor. The two-hour workshop for 15 participants will be held in Kilbarron House, Ballyshannon on Saturday, November 8th.
An Irish-born poet, freelance book editor and mentor for the Munster Literature Centre, McGlinchey spent her early childhood in Zambia and Zimbabwe. She has published poetry collections including The Lucky Star of Hidden Things and Ghost of the Fisher Cat, and a memoir titled Tied to the Wind.
McGlinchey will launch her new collection À la Belle Étoile at the Literary Lunch, also on November 8th. Tickets for the workshop on are available at allinghamfestival.com
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B O Y is a unique presentation. Commissioned by Sligo’s Hawk’s Well Theatre, it is a collaboration between acclaimed poet Damian Gorman and master uileann piper Leonard Barry. In 16 poems and musical responses to them it tells the story of Damian’s brother Gerard, who was abused as a child and spent many years of his adult life struggling for justice from the Catholic Church.
B O Y has been described as ‘an unforgettable story, unforgettably told’.
Gorman says that he and Barry were concerned to make that telling bearable. ‘Though it has devastating experience at its core, we wanted people to be able to walk out of the theatre intact – enhanced even’, he says.
B O Y has its world premiere in the Hawk’s Well, Sligo on September 10th, before moving to Belfast’s Linenhall Library the following day. The show travels to London, to the Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith, on September 19th, and finishes its mini tour in the Newgate Arts and Cultural Centre, Derry, on the 25th. Tickets from the venues.
B O Y will have a full national tour in 2026.
