Sebastian Barry, Elaine Feeney, Paul Lynch and Paul Murray join nine other authors in the running for the literary award

We round up some opinions on the finest reads this year which you might think worth bringing on holidays with you

Whether you’re crammed on a bus on the way to work or lounging with a cocktail by the pool, audiobooks are a perfect way to transport you to another place

The novelist talks about about the release of her first novel in more than a decade, on the struggles of motherhood that had stopped her from writing for so long

Television: The actor was ‘fettered’ by self-absorption, according to Barry, whose father apparently regarded philandering as his mission in life

Sebastian Barry uses a cocoon of language to magical effect in a tale full of the warnings of mortality

An Irishman’s Diary

The Goosebumps author on his rules for writing and the new Fear Street films on Netflix

Authors and critics choose the books that have moved and impressed them this year

Yes, schools should be a safe place, as the callers to Liveline insisted. But safe does not mean sanitised

Vast and handsome house built in 1840 was home to Lady Eliza Deane among others

She is the latest of many actors to wrestle with the blue suit and tortured vowels

Theatre, dance and literature events can all be enjoyed online

A Japanese mentor helped to inspire Conor Hanratty’s online short play War Paint

Men’s health charity Movember’s Conversation Piece campaign paired artists, writers and musicians to talk about mental health and create a piece of art

Celebrating the men and women flying flags for Ireland from Auckland to Rockland, Paris to Belgrade

Seen and heard: Reports of multimillion euro data centres for Drogheda and Arklow

Are Ireland’s wars truly over? For some people, there is still a hierarchy of victims

Donald Clarke: BBC’s ‘novels that shaped our world’ list is terrible in a very particular way

Derek O’Connor remembers the actor, who was a giant of Irish theatre