Books of the year 2025: Authors and critics pick their favourites
Roisín O’Donnell’s Nesting, Helen Garner’s How to End a Story and Liadan Ní Chuinn’s Every One Still Here are among the year’s top choices
Lucy Caldwell
Articles about Lucy Caldwell
I’m always surprised at the whiff of condescension that greets historical novels
Historical fiction is a broad church, spanning detective fiction, romance, family sagas, war stories, feminist polemics, political thrillers and more
Lucy Caldwell: ‘People often misunderstand the appeal of a short story’
Lucy Caldwell celebrates the undervalued art of the short story
‘I wanted to do something radical’: Wendy Erskine on her debut novel, which deals with class, rape and parenting
The writer on the necessity of humour amid bleakness, how she likes to challenge her readers, and misogyny in the North
Winter Papers: This handsome volume, now in its 10th issue, is full of wakeful, creative energy
Kevin Barry, Aingeala Flannery, Lucy Caldwell and more contribute to ambitious collection
The best books of 2024 so far: writers and critics choose their favourite reads
Colm Tóibín’s Long Island, Lucy Caldwell’s Openings, Ferdia Lennon’s Glorious Exploits and Niamh Mulvey’s The Amendments are among the novels with multiple selections
Openings by Lucy Caldwell: Enlightening and enriching collection of stories that closes a loose triptych
The Belfast writer explores the gap between how people behave and how they would like to behave
Lucy Caldwell: ‘It took me more than a decade of trying to write short stories before any of them worked. It was long and gruelling’
Award-winning author explains the process behind Openings, her new short story collection
North stars: ‘The vitality of Northern Irish writing has always coincided with political upheaval’
Belfast has a healthy literary scene, closely connected with Queen’s University, whose creative writing tutors include poets Gail McConnell and Stephen Sexton
Lucy Caldwell: ‘In ways it was a normal childhood...and yet’
Author on how the Troubles affected her life, her writing and her Irish identity
Violets by Alex Hyde: Inventive story of motherhood in wartime Britain
Hyde draws attention to how women’s lives were considered interchangeable
Tides by Sara Freeman: A beautifully observed debut
Book review: One woman’s attempts to retrieve herself after loss
The Irish Times books of the year: Anne Enright’s favourite titles of 2021
Seeking inspiration for a book to read or give as a gift? This selection could help you
‘I don’t think I would be a writer were it not for Irish writers’
US playwright Brian Watkins takes inspiration from Joyce’s The Dead for his latest work, Epiphany
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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