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In a strong year for Irish debut novels, Sugar Town by Caragh Maxwell is right up there with the best of them. Out September 16th from Oneworld. In 2019, her essay for Ticket about having Hodgkin’s lymphoma went viral and she also wrote a great short story for us, Spelunking.

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Claire Adam on childhood summers in Ireland: ‘My grandmother from Skibbereen lived to 108’ The author on her upbringing in Trinidad, childhood summers in Cork, and William Trevor’s advice to her www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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Two Irish writers up for Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. Congratulations to Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin and Catherine Airey. And to Clair Wills, shortlisted for the Ackerley memoir prize www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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"I groaned my way through The Emperor of Gladness. I writhed. I felt real despair every time I forced myself to open the covers. It was one of the worst ordeals of my reading life." Tom Crewe on Ocean Vuong's new novel:

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Poem on ecology and friendship wins Caterpillar Poetry Prize 2025. Winner Laura Theis grew up in a German town where each street was named after a fairy tale www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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Today is the anniversary of Jo Cox's murder by a white supremacist eight years ago on her way to a surgery in Birstall in her constituency whose ethnic diversity she praised in her maiden speech to the Commons. She was a supporter of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.

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My Bloomsday Q&A: I thought Bloomsday was last bank holiday weekend in Phoenix Park? No, that was Bloom, Ireland’s largest gardening festival. Bloomsday is a celebration of James Joyce’s literary masterpiece, Ulysses, named after its anti-hero, Leopold Bloom. www.irishtimes.com/culture/2025...

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Genocide in Gaza: three new books take stock. Genocide in Gaza: Israel’s Long War on Palestine by Avi Shlaim; Catastrophe: Nakba II by Fintan Drury; and The Gaza Catastrophe: The Genocide in World-Historical Perspective by Gilbert Achcar - reviewed by Oliver Farry www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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‘I wanted to do something radical’: Wendy Erskine on her debut novel, The Benefactors, which deals with love, class, rape and parenting. The writer on the necessity of humour amid bleakness, how she likes to challenge her readers, and misogyny in the North www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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As part of the Ulster Fleadh in Warrenpoint next month, I’ll be talking about Dirty Linen alongside Eoin McNamee, who’ll be talking about his great new autobiographical novel, The Bureau. It’s free in! ulsterfleadh.ie/events/local...

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You gotta admit, that's commitment to the bit. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

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Many Northern nationalists doubt Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s commitment to Irish unity www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

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The Bloomsday episode of The Fifth Court podcast - Frank McNally of The Irishman’s Diary on the legal issues in Ulysses. (Please share with the Joyceans in your life.) open.spotify.com/episode/064R...

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Reading Ulysses: Splendid literature that can suck the life out of you and your family. Six or seven pages of James Joyce’s masterpiece every night for five months shouldn’t be too hard. Right? Maggie Armstrong struggles with her Bloomsday homework www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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Did nobody actually read this book before it went to print?: Kevin Power on The Emperor of Gladness. “Ocean Vuong’s books are enormously popular but it’s hard to see why. He is often an incompetent writer of prose and his plots are sentimental mush.” www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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One of the five best thrillers of the 20th century.

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Good books: The 20 best holiday reads this summer. Anna Carey’s annual big read of personal recommendations www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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My Q&A with Sarah Maria Griffin: ‘I will be trying to figure out what the internet means to me for the rest of my life’. The author on her new novel, Eat the Ones You Love; the importance of libraries; and her love of video games www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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Edmund White: ‘He dealt with homosexuality not as a life sentence, but as a predicament that was exciting and filled with possibility’. Friend and fellow author Barry McCrea celebrates the life and work of the distinguished US writer www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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Siobhán Flynn and Sarah Davy win Mairtín Crawford Awards. Books newsletter: a wrap of the latest news and preview of tomorrow’s pages www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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I wrote this guide to being a better reader: how to read, what to read and why jmarriott.substack.com/p/how-i-read

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My interview with Elaine Feeney on her new novel: ‘I was pushing a sort of Chekhov dinner party in the west of Ireland’ www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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We are excited to announce the shortlist for the Prix de Traduction Centre Culturel Irlandais- Literature Ireland 2025

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Niall Williams’s Time of the Child wins Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award. Clare-based author wins €20,000 prize ahead of July release of film adaptation of his debut novel, Four Letters of Love www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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Really surprised, honoured and delighted to discover that Leonard and Hungry Paul has been included as one of the novels on the Junior Cert curriculum. Will be part of the exams in 2028-2030. @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social

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This should be good at the Galway Arts Featival in July - Máiría Cahill in conversation with Kathy Sheridan www.giaf.ie/festival/eve...

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I'm doing the May fiction in translation column this Saturday. Novels from France, Réunion, Bulgaria, Denmark and Spain.

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Ferdia Lennon’s Glorious Exploits wins Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award. Books newsletter: a roundup of the latest news and preview of tomorrow’s pages www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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Dublin Literary Award: The Adversary by Canadian author Michael Crummey wins €100,000 prize. Story of sibling rivalry in harsh 19th-century Newfoundland wins valuable international prize www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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Ps. The director, Andrew Chaplin, won a BAFTA last week.

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International Booker Prize 2025: Indian author and translators are first to win with a short story collection. Banu Mushtaq’s Heart Lamp, translated by Deepa Bhasthi, chronicles the lives of women in southern India www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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Very sad news tonight about Paul Durcan RIP. A great loss to Irish poetry. Here’s an old interview I did with him from the 90s.

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Acclaimed poet Paul Durcan dies aged 80. RIP www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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Blackpilled: Incels, Media and Masculinity by Meadhbh Park and The New Age of Sexism How the AI Revolution is Reinventing Misogyny by Laura Bates. deeply researched, brave and fascinating new books explore how AI-powered tools are reinventing the abuse of women www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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Pigott Poetry Prize shortlist revealed. Books newsletter: a roundup of the latest news and a preview of tomorrow’s pages www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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The bliss of going rogue. A wonderful interview with Patrick McCabe in the @irishtimes.com on the publication of GOLDENGROVE by @unboundsocials.bsky.social www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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My brother Noel – an Augustinian priest – with the new Pope (also an Augustinian) prior to him becoming Pope (possibly even before he became a cardinal in 2023 – not exactly sure when the photo was taken).

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Irish student leads Cambridge team to victory on BBC’s University Challenge

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Malachy Clerkin on The Last Ditch by Eamonn Sweeney: Brave admissions about mental health struggles hit hard in follow-up. Sportswriter does not hit heights of 2004 classic but searingly honest accounts make it well worth reading www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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A glorious weekend at Ballyscullion Park Book Festival in Bellaghy, Co Derry with Louis de Bernières and Owen O’Neill

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How Northern Ireland commemorates the second World War on the 80th anniversary of VE Day

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Writers’ shelfies: a book that holds permanent residency. Six Belfast Book Festival authors share one book that has a permanent place on their bookshelf www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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Shane Tivenan on To Avenge a Dead Glacier: It’s a gathering of stories and characters tied together by outsiderhood (detachment, longing, confusion, unshared panic). I’ve avoided cliched scenarios, trying to unearth outsiders who’ve gotten little to no airplay www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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Celebrating 35 years of the Children’s Books Ireland Awards. Elaina Ryan of Children’s Books Ireland and some of this year’s shortlisted authors on the award-winning Irish books that mean most to them www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

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