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Eason offer <\/p>\nIn The Irish Times tomorrow, Mick Herron talks to Donald Clarke about Clown Town, his latest Slough House thriller, and the new series on Apple TV. Caragh Maxwell tells Sarah Gilmartin about her debut novel, Sugartown. Miriam Margolyes, the British veteran of stage and screen discusses her new book, visiting Ireland, speaking out against Israel and being known for more than her \u2018naughty stories\u2019. Katriona O\u2019Sulivan tells R\u00f3is\u00edn Ingle about the Gate Theatre\u2019s adaptation of her bestselling and award-winning novel Poor. David Brennan, author of the novel Spit, reflects on his home in Japan and his Tipperary roots. Manch\u00e1n Magan reveals whether there truly are Ninety-Nine Words for Rain (and One for Sun) in theIrish language. And there is a Q&A with Natalie Haynes about her new novel, No Friend to This House.<\/p>\n
Reviews are Diarmaid Ferriter on Speaking My Mind by Leo Varadkar; Matthew O\u2019Toole on David Trimble: Peacemaker by Stephen Walker; R\u00f3n\u00e1n Hession on the best new fiction in translation; \u00c9il\u00eds N\u00ed Dhuibhne on Still by Julia Kelly; Neil Hegarty on A Year with Gilbert White by Jenny Uglow; Mei Chin on Ruby Tandoh\u2019s All Consuming; Sara Keating on Storyteller: The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson; Sin\u00e9ad Gibney on Could Should Might Don\u2019t: How We Think about the Future by Nick Foster; Rabeea Saleem on A Splintering by Dur E Aziz Amna; John Boyne on Half Light by Mahesh Rao; and Paschal Donohoe on Exile Economics: What Happens if Globalisation Fails by Ben Chu.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow\u2019s Irish Times Eason offer is May All Your Skies Be Blue by F\u00edona Scarlett, just \u20ac5.99, a \u20ac6 saving.<\/p>\n
Eason offer <\/p>\n
Caoilinn Hughes has been shortlisted for the 2025 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University (BBC NSSA) in the prestigious award\u2019s 20th anniversary. <\/p>\n
Selected by a panel of previous winners including Belfast writer Lucy Caldwell, the shortlist also features Costa Book of the Year 2011 and Booker Prize 2025 longlisted author Andrew Miller; Desmond Elliott Prize winning novelist Edward Hogan; and new names, British-Lebanese author Emily Abdeni-Holman, and Colwill Brown, whose debut novel was published this year. <\/p>\n
Set in locations from Derbyshire and Doncaster to Jerusalem and Co Kildare, the stories explore \u2018self-contained\u2019 worlds often inspired by personal memories and experiences, from the complexities of marriage, to the mysteries of survival in crisis; from newly formed intergenerational bonds, to the quiet tension between people and place, each reveals the short story\u2019s \u2018unparalleled\u2019 power to reflect \u2018the times we are living through.\u2019 <\/p>\n
The winning author receiving \u00a315,000, and the shortlisted authors \u00a3600 each. The winner will be announced live on BBC Radio 4\u2019s Front Row on September 30th. <\/p>\n
The five stories will be broadcast in turn next Monday to Friday, September 15th to 19th, on Radio 4 and available to listen to on BBC Sounds. The readers of this year\u2019s stories include Irish actor Ruth Bradley (Slow Horses, The Gold, Humans) reading Two Hands by Caoilinn Hughes; BAFTA award-winning actor Toby Jones (Mr Bates vs The Post Office, Detectorists, Harry Potter); British-Lebanese actor and comedian Isabelle Farah (To Catch a Copper, Ukraine\u2019s Stolen Children); Sophie McShera (Downton Abbey, Waterloo Road) and Dorothy Atkinson (Joan, Ludwig, Saltburn). The shortlisted stories will also be published in an anthology by Comma Press. <\/p>\n
William Boyd, one of the judges, said: \u201cI have always claimed that the taste for short stories has never gone away \u2013 as far as writers and readers are concerned. It\u2019s only publishers and editors who shy away from the form, for some perverse reason. When I was a judge of the first BBC short story competition twenty years ago the level of excellence confirmed that I was right and, twenty years later, judging it again, it is doubly confirmed. This year\u2019s stories, across the board, clearly established that the standard of writing and invention was admirably high and made it undeniably evident that the short story form is in vigorous, challenging, multifaceted life.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hughes has been shortlisted for Two Hands, a \u2018funny\u2019 and \u2018accomplished\u2019 story, inspired by the author\u2019s experience of a camper van crash on a Spanish motorway with her partner. The story, written to create a new set of associations around this difficult experience, follows a couple as they take a driving lesson with an elderly instructor in a quest to regain confidence after a car crash in Italy. Their move back to Ireland has skewed the dynamics of their relationship, and the story artfully explores the complexities and tensions within a marriage, with humour and poignancy. <\/p>\n
Hughes is author The Orchid & the Wasp (2018) The Wild Laughter (2020) and TheAlternwtives (2024). Her short stories have been awarded an O Henry Prize, the Moth International Short Story Prize and the Irish Book Awards\u2019 Story of the Year 2020.<\/p>\n
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President Michael D. Higgins has marked the appointment of Vona Groarke as the tenth Ireland Professor of Poetry at an event at \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in.<\/p>\n
President Higgins said: \u201cIn accepting this appointment, Vona Groarke joins a distinguished line of poets who have held this most prestigious of posts, each making their own profound contribution to the role and, in so doing, enriching the cultural and imaginative life of our nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cBorn in Mostrim, Co Longford, Vona has been one of the most compelling poetic voices of her generation. Through her 15 books, including nine collections of poetry, from \u2018Shale\u2019 in 1994 to \u2018Infinity Pool\u2019 in 2025, and her wonderful story \u2018Hereafter: The Telling Life of Ellen O\u2019Hara\u2019 \u2013 a complex dialogue with her late grandmother\u2019s life as an immigrant in New York \u2013 she has shaped a body of work remarkable for its lyric beauty and its acute and attentive gaze upon the world around us. <\/p>\n
Each of these collections has marked a deepening and widening of her work, at once intimate and expansive, attentive to the smallest details of daily life yet alive to the largest questions of history, identity and belonging.<\/p>\n
\u201cVona\u2019s work as a translator has also been of immense value, renewing the voices of earlier times for a new generation of readers. Her versions of \u2018Lament for Art O\u2019Leary\u2019 (Caoineadh Airt U\u00ed Laoghaire) and \u2018The Lament of the Hag of Beare\u2019 have carried into our own moment the profound sorrow and wisdom of the past, ensuring that our great poetic inheritance continues to live and speak.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlongside this remarkable body of creative work, Vona has been tireless in her service to the wider community of poetry. An esteemed member of Aosd\u00e1na since 2010, Vona has held many important roles, including Senior Lecturer in Poetry at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, Poet in Residence with the Yeats Society in Sligo, and Writer in Residence at St John\u2019s College, Cambridge. In all of these roles she has embodied that essential generosity of the poet: a willingness not only to give her own voice, but to foster and encourage the voices of others.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Vona\u2019s poems, with their elegance and clarity, we are witness to a rigour of form, precision and resonance of language, and complexity of feeling. She will, I know, bring to the Professorship of Poetry, her extraordinary artistry, along with her intellectual curiosity and profound commitment to the craft of poetry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Groarke\u2019s term as Ireland Professor of Poetry runs till November 2028, taking over from the previous holder Prof Paul Muldoon.<\/p>\n
During their tenure the Ireland Professor of Poetry is associated for one year with each of the three universities and resides for a period of approximately eight weeks at each. While in residence, the poet engages with students through a series of workshops and readings, performs outreach work and makes one formal presentation, usually in the form of a lecture.<\/p>\n
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Where Art Meets Nature is the alluring theme of Leaf Notes, a series of literary, cinematic, musical and outdoor events in Co Wicklow on October 11th and 12th.<\/p>\n
Run by The Shaking Bog in the Glencree Valley, outside Enniskerry, this autumn programme includes the premiere of Riverine, a new documentary film by Alan Gilsenan exploring the \u201cthe communities of people and nature that live in and around the Glencree and Dargle Rivers\u201d. The screening will be followed by a public conversation, Together for Nature. Both events will be held in the Mermaid Theatre in Bray on Saturday, October 11th.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, October 12 at 4pm, award-winning writer, Claire Keegan \u2013 who grew up on a farm in Co Wicklow \u2013 will speak about her writing process and much more in Curtletown Church, Curtletown, Co Wicklow. Trinidadian\/Scottish poet Anthony Vahni Capildeo will give a reading in the same venue at 6pm. And the festivities will end in the church with a solo performance by Glen Hansard, former lead singer with The Frames.<\/p>\n
Full programme details and booking information on shakingbog.ie\/riverscapes. <\/p>\n
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A Century of The New Yorker\u2019s Irish Writers is presented by I. NY, a cultural and diaspora project which explores and celebrates the relationship between Ireland and New York. I. NY welcomes Deborah Treisman, Cressida Leyshon, Anne Enright, Roddy Doyle, Colin Barrett and Belinda McKeon to The Abbey Theatre, Dublin on Sunday, October 12th. Doors open at 6.30pm, with conversation beginning from 7.30pm. Tickets are available from abbeytheatre.ie limited to 400, and priced at \u20ac48, plus booking fees. <\/p>\n
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An exciting new programme has been announced for the Red Line Book Festival from October 13th to 19th with over 40 literary events and an eclectic mix of established writers and new voices. Highlights include a unique celebration of Jane Austen with Bridget Jones creator, Helen Fielding and \u2018Longbourn\u2019 author Jo Baker; insights from Booker Prize winning author Paul Lynch and a reflection on Hector \u00d3 hEochag\u00e1in\u2019s life, career and passion for the Irish language. Those with a keen eye on politics will enjoy Gavan Reilly\u2019s exploration of The Secret Life of Leinster House, while award-winning authors Rois\u00edn O\u2019Donnell and Xiaolu Guo invite audiences into their creative worlds, sharing experiences from their remarkable writing journeys. <\/p>\n
Now in its 14th year, The Red Line Book Festival has grown to become one of the highlights of the cultural calendar. Is more than a celebration of literature. It is a platform for dialogue, imagination, and diverse yet shared experiences and a time where readers and writers meet in fantastic local cultural spaces such as Rathfarnham Castle, Clondalkin Round Tower, Parthal\u00e1n Place, Rathcoole Courthouse and many more. From engaging discussions with authors to exciting workshops and performances, this festival creates a space for reflection, imagination, and community. See redlinefestival.ie for all details <\/p>\n
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Home Again: A Celebration of Gerald Dawe (1952-2024) is presented by Poetry Ireland in association with D\u00fan Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Arts Office on Sunday, September 21st, at 7.30pm in The Studio, dlr LexIcon, D\u00fan Laoghaire.<\/p>\n
Hosted by journalist and broadcaster Dearbhail McDonald, readers include Gerry Smyth, Leontia Flynn, Iggy McGovern, Eleanor Methven, Owen Roe, Alice Kinsella, Claire Cunningham, Florence Impens and Melatu Ochie Okorie with music by Eleanor Shanley and Conor Linnie. Tickets: poetryireland.ie<\/p>\n
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Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton has won the 2025 Wainwright Book of the Year Prize and the Wainwright Nature Writing Prize. Dalton is a writer, political adviser and foreign policy specialist. She spent over a decade working in the UK Parliament and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and was William Hague\u2019s speech writer and was named in the Evening Standard\u2019s Most Influential Londoners in 2023. Dalton\u2019s book chronicles her sudden departure from her high-pressure job in London to the English countryside, where she befriends a baby leveret \u2013 despite feeling like the least likely caregiver. <\/p>\n
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The shortlist for the British Academy Book Prize 2025 has been announced.<\/p>\n
Now in its 13th year, the international prize, worth \u00a325,000, rewards and celebrates writing grounded in high-quality research \u2013 works of non-fiction that will inspire readers to deepen their understanding of people, society and cultures across time and place. <\/p>\n
The judges of this year\u2019s British Academy Book Prize have chosen a shortlist of six bold and original works by distinguished authors \u2013 all recognised authorities in their fields. Spanning a broad range of subjects from the global politics of women\u2019s health to Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church, these books lead readers across continents and the pivotal moments in their history. Each title offers a new perspective on issues of global importance, united by rigorous research and a remarkable ability to tell powerful stories in an engaging and compelling way.<\/p>\n
The six books are: The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years by Sunil Amrith; The Baton and The Cross: Russia\u2019s Church from Pagans to Putin by Lucy Ash; The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World by William Dalrymple; Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance by Bronwen Everill; Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women\u2019s Health by Sophie Harman; and Sound Tracks: A Musical Detective Story by Graeme Lawson.<\/p>\n
The winner will be revealed on October 21st.<\/p>\n
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This year\u2019s annual Stinging Fly lecture will be delivered by Sarah Moss and is titled Losing the Plot: Reading, writing, realism and reality in Pearse Street Library, Dublin 2, on Thursday, September 25th, at 7pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In The Irish Times tomorrow, Mick Herron talks to Donald Clarke about Clown Town, his latest Slough House…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[4905,489,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-19778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-book-club","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}