The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley is this weekend’s Irish Times offer at Eason

A sneak preview of Saturday’s books pages


The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley is this weekend’s Irish Times offer at Eason. Whne you buy the newspaper at any branch, you can also buy this bestselling thriller for just €4.99, a €5 saving.

The ninth annual Doolin Writers’ Weekend will take place at Hotel Doolin from January 24th-26th. Packed with workshops, seminars and readings, the Festival is run by writers for writers and is curated by Susan Tomaselli, editor of literary journal, Gorse. Weekend tickets are €99. Individual workshops tickets are €40. To book, visit doolinfestivals.ie or hoteldoolin.ie.

Highlights include a reading with David Bowie’s favourite writer, Rupert Thompson; a seminar with Eoin McNamee; a performance by artist-in-residence, Vicky Langan which will focus on the sounds of the body and its functions; and a workshop on literary translation with Booker-nominated Jen Calleja. The weekend will also announce the winners of the Writers’ Weekend Competition which offers three talents the opportunity to win €1,000 each. The judges are June Caldwell, Jess Traynor and Dave Lordan.

Saturday’s books pages feature an essay by Booker winner Anne Enright on her past life as an actor with Rough Magic theatre company. Reviews include Fintan O’Toole on Recalling the Celtic Tiger, edited by Brian Lucey, Eamon Maher and Eugene O’Brien; Becky Long on In the Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado; Michael O’Loughlin on Last Stop Auschwitz by Eddy de Wind; Laura Hackett on Reading Brendan Behan, edited by John McCourt; Gerald Dawe on Thomas MacGreevy and the Rise of the Irish Avant-Garde by Francis Hutton-Williams; Helen Cullen on Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid; Paschal Donohoe on Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events by Robert J Shiller; John Self on The Other Name: Septology I-II by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls; Niamh Donnelly on There There by Tommy Orange; Sara Keating on the best new children’s books; and Paris Syndrome author Lucy Sweeney Byrne takes over the Old Favourites column for 2020, kicking off with Revolution in the Head (1994) by Ian MacDonald.