Midwinter by Michael Harding: A beguiling meditation on life and death
Bleak yet comforting book captures perfectly that damp, decaying feeling of Irish countryside winter
Michael Harding
Michael Harding columns
Michael Harding: From November on I surrender... We are both entangled in this winter
I take my winters lightly, on the inside. I look out at the world and feel that the falling leaves are beautiful. How well they die
Depression came down on me like a terrible cloud. I thought it would never lift, but it did
Grief is always harsh and cruel for people left behind after a death. But there is nothing more terrible than losing a child or partner to suicide
An old friend asked if I was ‘still at the writing’. ‘When I can get the ink,’ I said
A cosy evening by the stove lay before me dispatching messages to loved ones penned in my elegant poetic backhand
‘One Christmas Day my brother set me on fire’: seven writers spill their most bizarre Yuletide yarns
John Boyne, Ann Ingle, Michael Harding, Caitríona Ní Mhurchú and others on testing a mother’s limits, a marriage-threatening event, the Santa conspiracy and a misplaced bird
A poet, a singer and an infant called at my door on election day and ended up staying
I am committed to democracy as an art form, but the election didn’t interest me in the slightest
‘He drinks too much. But what else can he do? He lives alone’
The General, who was in with a broken leg, seemed surprisingly compassionate
I take angels very seriously, having met two in my life
Christmastime is a journey through the darkness for lots of people
‘I love this man. I love his golden locks’: my friend’s love for Donald Trump comes at a price
The General admires that Trump can still climb up into the cabin of a truck. But then Trump doesn’t drink
I went to the cinema to see Small Things Like These. By the time I emerged I had concluded the film was crap
The fact is the film was beautiful, earnest, poetic and sublime. But that’s not what I saw in the moment
A house visit from a bee in autumn felt like a harbinger of something mystical. And I wasn’t even drinking
It’s impossible for me not to feel some affinity with bees and birds and a sense of belonging in the natural world I live in
Michael Harding: As I left the graveyard, I reflected on what November does to the soul
I was thinking of a forgotten soldier who fought in the first World War recently as I walked around the place where my own family members are buried
‘She has no one to mind only herself’: The husband tossed a phrase in the air as lethal as a missile
Words can wound, like the father who says he’s disappointed with the child
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Stardust
Inquests into the nightclub fire that led to the deaths of 48 people
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
Family NoticesOpens in new window
Weddings, Births, Deaths and other family notices