In The Irish Times this Saturday, Adrian Duncan tells Niamh Donnelly about his latest novel, The Gorgeous Inertia of the Earth. Catherine Airey talks to Nadine O’Regan about her debut, Confessions. We do not know what will come first: peace or spring, writes Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov in his essay. Plus there is a Q&A with Roisín O’Donnell about Nesting, her first novel.
Reviews are Denis Staunton on The New Cold War: How the Contest Between the US and China Will Shape Our Century by Robin Niblett; The Political Thought of Xi Jinping by Steve Tsang and Olivia Cheung; and On Xi Jinping by Kevin Rudd; Kevin Power on Confessions by Catherine Airey; Anthony Roche on Slow Train Coming by Todd Almond; Declan Burke on crime fiction; John Boyne on The Whale Tattoo and The Gallopers by Jon Ransom; Éilís Ní Dhuibhne on Otherworld by Lisa M Bitel; Edel Coffey on Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan; Eugene Brennan on Didier Fassin’s Moral Abdication: How the West Failed to Stop the Destruction of Gaza; Máirtín Mac Con Iomhaire on Filthy Queens: A History of Beer in Ireland by Dr Christina Wade; Tim Fanning on Patria: Lost Countries of South America by Laurence Blair; Catherine Toal on The Sound of Utopia: Musicians in the Time of Stalin by Michel Krielaars and Jonathan Reeder; Colm McKenna on My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria by Andrée Blouin; and Sara Keating on children’s fiction.
This weekend’s Irish Times Eason offer is Topographia Hibernica by Blindboy Boatclub, just €5.99, a €5 saving.
The Arts Council has named the seven Irish writers who have been appointed artists in residence across six universities for 2025. Each award is worth €30,000.
Sarah Gilmartin is to be English language writer in residence at Dublin City University with Réaltán Ní Leannáin as Irish language writer in residence.
Ellen Dillon is the new writer in residence at University College Cork, joined by Tom Hall as film artist in residence and Eithne Ní Chatháin as traditional artist in residence.
Molly Hennigan is the new writer in residence at University of Galway; Annemarie Ní Churreáin is the new writer in residence at University College Dublin; Victoria Kennefick is the new writer in residence at Trinity College Dublin; and Gavin McCrea joins Maynooth University as writer in residence.
The residencies, developed in partnership with third-level institutions, are a cornerstone of the Arts Council’s commitment to fostering artistic excellence and enriching educational environments.
Maureen Kennelly, Director of the Arts Council, emphasised the transformative value of these residencies: “The Artist in Residence programmes demonstrate the Arts Council’s dedication to helping artists build meaningful careers. They help embed creativity in education, providing critical support to artists as they advance their practice, while also creating vibrant opportunities for students and staff to engage directly with professional artistic expression. They make for a profound exchange that inspires and uplifts both the artistic and academic communities.
“We are hugely grateful to all the institutions who work with us to deliver these residency programmes. Their partnership and continued support are immensely valued.”
The Arts Council’s investment in university residencies has expanded significantly since Tom Kilroy was appointed as the first Writer in Residence at University College, Galway (now the University of Galway) in 1976.
This year six universities will benefit from this flagship programme, and will reflect the diversity and richness of Ireland’s creative landscape, with programmes spanning English-language and Irish-language literature, film and traditional arts.
A further residency programme for digital artists is planned for later this year, in addition to residencies in children and young people’s arts already in place for 2024-2025. The total investment to date from the Arts Council for residency programmes in 2025 at third-level institutions is €260,000, with further investment planned.
Also in attendance at the reception were six artists who were already appointed to artists residencies in Children and Young People’s arts, supporting artists or arts organisations to spend an academic year in residence in a higher education institution in Ireland that provides initial teacher education.
Classics Now festival returns next weekend, running in Dublin from Friday, January 31st to Sunday, February 2nd. Now in its fifth year, this eye-opening festival presents contemporary artists who are reimagining the literature, arts and ideas of the Ancient Greeks and Romans in exciting and thought-provoking ways.
This year’s line-up from festival director Helen Meany includes writers Edith Hall, Ferdia Lennon, Clare Pollard and Yiannis Gabriel. Ferdia Lennon’s award-winning first novel, Glorious Exploits, explores the bonds forged in wartime as Athenian prisoners in Sicily perform Medea in a quarry during the Peloponnesian War. He will be joined by English poet and playwright Clare Pollard, whose captivating debut novel, Delphi, reads between the lines of ancient prophecies.
On Sunday, playwright Gavin Kostick presents episodes from his dynamic adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey. This will be performed with a score by composer Andrew Synnott, and with dance artist Megan Kennedy, RIAM, 12.30pm. In Prometheus Off-Grid – Excerpts and Explorations, dance-theatre artist Luke Murphy presents excerpts from The Prometheus Project, his enthralling series of installations. This work-in-progress reimagines the myth of the fire-stealing god Prometheus as a drama of power dynamics, power-cuts and the earth’s shrinking resources. Smock Alley Theatre, 6.30pm.
For all event information and booking, see classicsnow.ie
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The name George Brewster will be sweeping across the media next month. At the age of 11, Brewster was the last chimney sweep ‘climbing boy’ to tragically get stuck inside a chimney, and his death was the catalyst for change in child labour laws in the UK and Ireland that saved thousands of young lives. Carnegie Award-nominated Irish children’s author Eve McDonnell captured Brewster’s all but forgotten legacy and reimagined his life in her captivating historical fantasy novel, The Last Boy (10+, Everything with Words), an emotional and thrilling fusion of wonder, science and hope set in Birr Castle, Co Offaly. On Tuesday, February 11th, on the 150th anniversary of his death, George Brewster becomes Britain’s youngest ever blue plaque recipient, to be unveiled at the place of his death in Fulbourn, Cambridge. A perfect epilogue to the remarkable tale that is The Last Boy.
Two Irish writers have made the longlist for the world’s largest and most prestigious literary award for young writers, the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize: Seán Hewitt for his poetry collection Rapture’s Road and Ferdia Lennon for his novel Glorious Exploits.
Worth £20,000, this global accolade recognises exceptional literary talent aged 39 or under, celebrates the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama. The prize invokes the memory of Welsh writer Dylan Thomas to support the writers of today.
Also longlisted are Mosab Abu Toha for Forest of Noise; Emma Glass for Mrs Jekyll; Jo Hamya for The Hypocrite; Andrew McMillan for Pity; Lottie Mills for Monstrum; Ruthvika Rao for The Fertile Earth; Yael van der Wouden for The Safekeep; Rebecca Watson for I Will Crash; Eley Williams for Moderate to Poor, Occasionally Good; and Yasmin Zaher for The Coin.
The shortlist will be announced on March 20th. The winner’s ceremony will be held in Swansea on May 15th.
Mick Herron is the 2025 recipient of the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Diamond Dagger – the highest accolade in the genre. The award recognises authors whose crime writing careers have been marked by sustained excellence, and who have made a significant contribution to the genre.
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Herron studied English Literature at Oxford, where he continues to live. He began writing fiction while working as a subeditor in London. His first novel, Down Cemetery Road, was published in 2003. This was the start of Herron’s Zoë Boehm series.
In 2008, inspired by world events, he began writing the Slough House series, featuring MI5 agents who have been exiled from the mainstream for various offences. The first novel, Slow Horses, was published in 2010. The Slough House thrillers were adapted into an Apple TV series, starring Oscar-winning actor Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, and have been published in 25 languages.
Irish writer Susan Cahill has been longlisted for the prestigious 2025 Branford Boase Award, celebrating the most talented debut writers for children and their editors.
The Clonakilty author is longlisted, along with her editor Mikka Haugaard of Everything With Words, for The world Between the Rain, “an impressive stylish debut”, The Irish Times said of this portal fantasy set in rain-soaked west Cork. She is the only Irish author on this year’s longlist, which was last won by an Irish author in 2007 for A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhán Dowd.
When 13-year-old Marina accidentally falls between the raindrops into the watery world of Ishka on the first anniversary of her father’s sudden death, she is thrown into a land of shadows, dreamweavers, and forgotten gods, where something terrifying lurks beneath the waters, threatening both worlds. So begins an epic journey of friendship, survival, and courage, and some very funny talking frogs.
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The aptly named James Connolly’s debut novel Contempt has been selected as the winner of the Writers & Artists Working-Class Writers’ Prize 2024.
He will receive a cash prize, mentoring sessions with author Clare Whitfield, access to a number of W&A events, one year’s membership to The Society of Authors, creative writing guides and ongoing support from the W&A Team.
From northwest England, Connolly is a full time journalist with an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway. Contempt follows a cynical, unhinged journalist who returns home for the first time in 15 years to report when the home of a successful migrant family is set alight and everybody inside killed.
Whitfield, author and judge, said: “The writing is bold and captivating – a standout! The pacing is spot on and has obvious potential with its compelling, impactful narrative. The prose has a sharp, cutting quality that draws the reader in and carries the story.”
This marks the sixth year of the W&A Working-Class Writers’ Prize. Inaugural winner Lucy Kissick went on to secure literary representation and a two book deal with Gollancz. Her debut novel, Plutoshine, was published in 2022.
Jon Doyle, the winner of our 2023 prize, has also secured literary agent representation with Emma Paterson at Aitken Alexander. He said: “It is no exaggeration to say the Writers & Artists Working-Class Writers Prize opened the door to the next stage of my writing career. The enthusiasm of everyone involved was a welcome boost to my confidence, and judge Kasim Ali went above and beyond with his support. […] With Kasim’s help and the W&A Prize under my belt, the querying process moved far more quickly than I ever expected. I’m delighted to have recently signed with a dream agent, and I’m very much looking forward to building a strong and lasting writing career over the coming years.”
Doyle has Irish roots. “Both sides of my family are proudly of Irish Catholic heritage. That said, they emigrated to Wales before even my grandparents were born. It’s maybe not so distinct these days, but I guess there’s something of an Irish enclave in Port Talbot, right down to a rugby team which plays in green, white and gold. My novel touches on this.”
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There won’t be a Northern Soul Roadshow at Irish Writers Centre this year, but Fiona O’Rourke will be facilitating an online course. Writing The Troubles with Fiona O’Rourke
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Launching next month, Laureate na nÓg Patricia Forde will welcome four debut children’s artists on to the Live Literature Mentorship Programme. Eilish Fisher (Fia and the Last Snow Deer) Isla McGuckin (April’s Garden), Judith McQuoid (Giant) and Molly Harris (The Big Squeeze) have been announced as the chosen Mentees on this year’s inaugural programme.
The Live Literature Mentoring Programme is a fully-funded programme which aims to support debut children’s artists to connect with the wider arts community and develop their live performance practice with guidance from award-winning children’s author and current Laureate na nÓg, Patricia Forde.
Speaking about this year’s scheme, Patricia Forde said: “We are delighted with the quality of the Mentees who have applied for this schema. These fabulous debut authors are already accomplished writers, but performing in front of children is a different skill entirely. I look forward to discussing the challenges of performance with them and helping them to find the best way of presenting their work to young audiences.”
