Norman Mailer

Where to now after one of the most corrosive US presidential elections in history

16,000 sing 37-year-old’s name at 5am in Manchester as sport continues to blossom

Analysis: Irish fighter now fully cognisant of quality of tall American rival

Irish anti-abortion campaigners should stop basing their case on a wild untruth

Studies show that swearing eases pain, is cathartic, helps bonding and lets off destructive steam... but beware of overuse, lest you lessen the effect

‘A Brief History of Seven Killings’ is based on attempt to kill reggae king Bob Marley

The three times US poet laureate is in residence at the Kilkenny Arts Festival

Tom McCarthy’s ‘Satin Island’ is the highlight of a varied and intriguing selection

Doctorow was born in New York and named after American writer Edgar Allen Poe

War writing at heart is about the ambivalence of loyalty to class, nation, and friends, and of belief and the business of being human, and more recent Irish writing on the Great War, in reopening a closed chapter in our history, is no different in exploring all those ambiguities

The biggest and richest fight in boxing to finally take place at the MGM Grand on May 2nd

Alain de Botton explains the thinking that prompted him to marshal leading writers into closed organisations

‘Not a single respected critic spoke up for him. He was 40-1 with some bookmakers and nearly every expert feared for his safety against the monster that was Foreman’

‘Learn the word for everything and remember them. Learn the rules and forget them’

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

Review: The deterioration of Behan’s health and talent during his three-year love affair with the US is the subject of a fascinating book

What writing trends have struck you lately? Pornography! I’m astounded at how many women want to read explicit descriptions of sex.

‘I watch some crazy clips of myself from back then and I can say that I probably wasn’t sane for a period in my life’

From the realistic (books, video games, DVDs) to the less so (Rothko Painting No 1, Bond’s Aston Martin), ‘Irish Times’ writers reveal what’s on their Santa lists

Britain’s ‘Literary Review’ draws attention to ‘crude, badly written’ passages

Author of The Rocky Road

Reinventing Kennedy to suit books, TV and film has blurred his significance

More than 25 of his works were made into movies or television shows

Anthony Burgess had an apologetic intellect and a fury on the page that few writers can match