Mike McCormack’s Solar Bones is novel of the year. Winners include Marian Keyes, Graham Norton, Paul Howard, Paul O’Connell and Tana French

Some well-known Irish people tell us what would put a smile on their faces, and we want to hear from you too

There are myriad outlets, but how does a novice author get signed after the final draft?

The countdown is on to find Ireland’s favourite Irish poem, so we’ve asked a selection of writers and readers to tell us their favourite few lines of verse, and to nominate which poem they think is best from RTÉ’s A Poem for Ireland shortlist

12 months, 138 productions and three judges - we take you behind the scenes of the Irish Theatre Awards nominations

Twenty years ago, a former Wall Street trader sold a book over the internet. With this first sale on Amazon, Jeff Bezos changed the world

It’s hard to beat the pleasure of settling down on a sun lounger or sofa with a good book. Here are 25 of the season’s best to choose from

Joël Dicker’s bestseller is thriller escapism writ large, irrepressibly exuberant storytelling that tramples realism underfoot as it rattles along at a thunderous pace

If you doubt your characters, your readers will doubt them too, so it is important to understand characters’ motivation and make their behaviour and speech convincing

Irish authors tell us how and where they find inspiration for an idea strong enough to sustain a book, and how they go about turning that into an extended narrative

Crime Beat

Irish crime and thriller writers have made quite a mark in recent years. Now it’s the turn of a new wave of Irish literary novelists. Five debut writers introduce their books

Becoming a local councillor, writing a second novel, becoming a make-up artist and making it in Aussie rules: seven people reveal their disparate dreams for the coming year