What do Irish writers read? Donal Ryan, Mark Tighe, Nuala O’Connor, Claire Hennessy and more give recommendations
The Irish Writers Handbook 2025 contributors recommend books and bookshops for Irish Book Week
By Ruth McKee
Sam Thompson: ‘I really don’t think there is a distinction to be made between writing for adults and writing for children’
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden: Beguiling love story told in language that entertains and enthrals
New sci-fi novels: Time police, other dimensions, terror orbs, escape into genre and black holes
The Breath of Consolation. Finding Solace in Cancer Literature: a sensitive compilation
Cancer abruptly ended my career but led to a quest for literary treasure
Translated fiction: A sublime novel by Jon Fosse, and one of the best stories of the year from Yao Emei
Victorian lady detectives: The advantage of being a woman with ‘very captivating manners’
Ian Rankin: ‘Serious writers are attracted to the crime novel because it takes on morally complex themes in a digestible way’
By Martin Doyle
Obsessed. The Autobiography by Johnny Sexton: One of the best Irish sports books ever written
By Paul Howard
Ecological anxiety, a black American family and tennis feature in books by Paola Ferrante, Shannon Sanders and Jessica Anthony
By Brigid O'Dea
The Unfinished Harauld Hughes: In Richard Ayoade’s debut novel, the joke is on the reader
By John Boyne
Murder by Mail: A Global History of The Letter Bomb – Absorbing and grizzly insight into a centuries-old deadly tactic
By Kieran McConaghy
The Turning Tide – A Biography of the Irish Sea: An idiosyncratic exploration of histories and coastal connections
By Nicholas Allen
Only a Soldier Knows by Ray Lane: A high-ranking Irish Army insider’s scathing view of national defence policy
By Conor Brady
Poem of the Week: Gó gan Ghá by Aifric Mac Aodha
By Aifric Mac Aodha
Nature Boy by Seán Ronayne: A refreshingly open account of autism, difference and finding peace in nature
By NJ McGarrigle
Putting a screen life on the page
By Wayne Byrne
80 at 80 by Paul Durcan: a poet with a deep understanding
By Philip Coleman
When will we see the next Irish Nobel Prize in Literature laureate?
By Daniel Mulhall
On Duty: Reflections on a Life in the Guards by John O’Driscoll & Traces of Truth by Ciaran Prior: two sides of the beat
By Conor Brady
How Painting Happens (and why it matters) by Martin Gayford: unlocking the puzzles of art
By Gemma Tipton
Crime fiction: Graeme McCrae Burnet, Paula Hawkins, Kate Summerscale, Ian Rankin and the debut of the year from IS Berry
By Declan Burke
‘We used to be invisible as Irish speakers in Belfast but there’s a new confidence now to shout it from the rooftops’
By Martin Doyle
Colm Tóibín on poet Paul Durcan turning 80: ‘Beside the wildness, there is tenderness’
By Colm Tóibín
Atlas of the Irish Civil War. New Perspectives: History presented with imagination and innovation
By Catriona Crowe