Coddle and Coin Tossing in Dublin’s inner cityA feelgood night of stories and gamesMon Sept 16 2013 - 14:28
Stealing the showA performance focusing on theft and swindles is given resonance in this post-Wikileaks worldMon Sept 09 2013 - 13:14
Rachel Kushner’s broad brush creates art from politics, science and motorbikesThe writer’s second novel is set in 1970s’ New York when art left the canvas and drew on the detritus left by a growing financial sectorThu Aug 15 2013 - 01:00
Evie Wyld: ‘It certainly wasn’t the book I was hoping to write’The writer’s second novel, about a female sheep shearer in Australia, reinforces that she is a distinctive and important new voiceTue Aug 06 2013 - 01:00
Eimear McBride: ‘I really didn’t want to write about this’The writer’s exceptional debut novel, about family, emigration and death, echoes her life – but it almost didn’t get publishedTue Jul 23 2013 - 01:00
Women with convictions: ‘This is a female show and it’s badass’Netflix’s ‘Orange Is the New Black’, about a middle-class citizen who ends up in a tough prison, hands strong roles to its overwhelmingly female ensemble castMon Jul 22 2013 - 01:00
MAs in action: dispatches from writing’s frontlinesDebut novelist Susan Stairs credits a creative-writing MA with the completion of her book ‘The Story of Before’Fri Jul 05 2013 - 00:00
The herbalist who captured a market-town mobNiamh Boyce’s fictional debut – about a 1930s potion seller whose real business is a dark secret – captures small-town Ireland of both then and nowWed Jun 05 2013 - 01:00
The return of Arrested DevelopmentJason Bateman, Portia Di Rossi and David Cross discuss the long-awaited return of ‘Arrested Development’Thu May 23 2013 - 02:00
Taiye Selasi: ‘The images that I see don’t represent the Africa that I know’Her strong sense of identity reaches deep into the fiction of Taiye Selasi, one of Granta’s Best of Young British NovelistsSat May 11 2013 - 01:00
Savages: Where the wild things areIt may have an anchor to the past, but Savages are blaringly of today – and Gemma Thompson and Jehn Beth are having an absolute rrriotFri May 10 2013 - 01:00
Heidi Talbot: ‘If I could work with anyone it would be Jack White.’Heidi Talbot’s voice has taken her from Kildare to the upper echelons of folk – and gained some big fans along the waySat Apr 20 2013 - 01:00
Young British novelists: The best young writers who have been taken for GrantaGranta has published its list of the best young British novelists, but can one publisher define a generation and what do young writers have over their older colleagues?Mon Apr 15 2013 - 21:01
Lucy Caldwell: Drawing on dynamics, from Belfast to IraqLucy Caldwell’s latest novel is inspired by an ancestor’s dramatic life, and her own career has taken her from the stage to the page and recently to IraqFri Apr 05 2013 - 06:00
John Green: ‘You have to be honest about the fact that some lives are short’Cancer books suck, John Green writes in ‘The Fault in Our Stars’, but this one has made him a literary phenomenonSat Mar 23 2013 - 06:00
Deborah Levy: ‘Did you notice when you said the word feminist an alarm went off?’Deborah Levy’s recent novel was declined for being ‘too literary’. A Booker-nomination followedTue Mar 19 2013 - 06:00
Savages aren’t a great girl band. They’re a great bandLast month in Derry I sat in a church pew chatting with Savages. Not the “all-girl band Savages” or the “all-female quartet Savages”. Just Savages.Fri Mar 08 2013 - 00:00
A very Derry mix of arts and pastsNew plays, Other Voices and the presentation of the Turner Prize: Derry is relishing its role as UK City of CultureSat Feb 16 2013 - 00:00
Nick Cave and the Bad SeedsCave is 55 and still knows how to work every inch of a stageThu Feb 14 2013 - 00:00
Many voices make light work of weekend of music in walled cityAfter 11 years nestled snugly in Dingle, Other Voices is branching outMon Feb 11 2013 - 00:00
'I tried to send writing underground'After some initial success in the 1990s, Mary Costello tried to give up writing but, thankfully, she found the habit too hard…Sat Jan 05 2013 - 00:00
Forget plot, be honest, read in orderAt the Cork Short Story Festival, writers Kevin Barry, Will Boast and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne discuss the…Fri Dec 21 2012 - 00:00
'Formal music-making in casual clothes'Hungry for a cultural night out, but not sure what you want? Then sink your teeth into KaleidoscopeMon Nov 26 2012 - 00:00
How do you paint pain?Telling stories is how we make sense of the world, and articulating the experience of life-changing illness can be part of recovery…Sat Nov 24 2012 - 00:00
When the cracks can't be papered overOscar Wilde reputedly said on his deathbed: “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the deathThu Nov 22 2012 - 00:00
What is the appeal of a Hilary Mantel novel?Hilary Mantel is the first woman and first British writer to win the Man Booker Prize twice, but does the ‘historical fiction…Sat Oct 20 2012 - 01:00
TV writers take the throne - that wasn't in the scriptUNTIL THE 2007-2008 writers’ strike in the US, few people gave much thought to the plight of the TV writerFri Oct 05 2012 - 01:00
Women gaining power, page by pageAT FIRST GLANCE, there is nothing unusual about Antoine Wiertz’s 1853 painting The Reader of NovelsTue Aug 14 2012 - 01:00
Revealing the person at the heart of tragedyNorthern Irish writer Dave Duggan's second novel explores the devastating impact of bereavement and a mother's attempt to find…Mon Aug 13 2012 - 01:00
A cultural antidote to padded play centresThe Ark cultural centre for children in Dublin’s Temple Bar is a haven of happy, carefree stimulation – but its biggest ongoing…Mon Jul 23 2012 - 01:00
A daring tale of dreams in the desertFICTION: If This Is Home, By Stuart Evers, Picador, 310pp. £12.99Sat Jul 07 2012 - 01:00
Graphic detail: Dublin celebrates BloomsdayFROM LEOPOLD Bloom’s legendary breakfast of “thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards..Sat Jun 16 2012 - 01:00
Swimming with sharksON THE MORNING after the first preview of Glengarry Glen Ross at Dublin’s Gate Theatre, it’s not a surprise to find director …Mon Jun 11 2012 - 01:00
Why writers are making Hay in BorrisTHERE WAS A TIME when literary festivals in Ireland were dominated by a handful of heavyweights, or a second tier of small, worthy…Fri Jun 08 2012 - 01:00
Living in the shadowsSHORT STORIES: The Shelter of Neighbours By Éilís Ní Dhuibhne The Blackstaff Press, 265pp. £12.99Sat Apr 21 2012 - 01:00
Portraits of the artistsThe artist Colin Davidson is best known for his urban paintings; now his first solo show, a collection of portraits, uncovers…Sat Mar 31 2012 - 01:00
Travelling back in timeMore than 40 years ago, two Americans researched the Travelling community in Dublin, and now they have come back for an emotional…Thu Mar 29 2012 - 01:00
In the shadow of giantsCapturing a family tale on screen is always a complicated business, but particularly so when the subjects are the chroniclers…Wed Mar 28 2012 - 01:00
If you read just one Anne Frank comedy this year . . .‘THERE SHOULD be a God, even though I know there probably isn’tFri Mar 16 2012 - 00:00
'There isn't a musical culture in France'UNTIL THE spring of 2011, Yann Tiersen found himself constantly on the road, touring with the relentless zeal of a preacherMon Mar 05 2012 - 00:00
The Ticket gig of the weekAfter two outstanding Whelan’s shows, it was inevitable that Tune-yards’ next Irish gig would need a much bigger venueFri Feb 17 2012 - 00:00
A Gruff act to follow for DonaldsonSince becoming the UK Children’s Laureate, author Julia Donaldson is enjoying talking about things other than how she wrote children…Wed Feb 08 2012 - 00:00
Emergency measures means Dublin dolls hospital faces closureSMALL PRINT: MANY PEOPLE once owned a beloved doll or teddy bear whose constant companionship may have caused the loss of a …Fri Feb 03 2012 - 00:00
The fine art of acting upWhat’s it like to play the Virgin Mary? Does good writing make acting easy? And how do you screech like Eliza Doolittle? This…Sat Jan 28 2012 - 00:00
Can guitar and orchestra be friends electric?OF ALL OF the instruments associated with classical music – violin, cello, piano – the electric guitar remains an unlikely boisterous…Fri Jan 20 2012 - 00:00
Why these 'Jaws' still have biteSMALL PRINT: ONE MORNING in the 1980s, my younger brother and I shuffled down the stairs, bleary-eyed and slightly shell-shocked…Mon Jan 16 2012 - 00:00
Drawing DiagramsMost people know you as a member of the band Tunng, what prompted you to leave? “I loved my time in the bandFri Jan 13 2012 - 00:00
Fine dining on day of The DeadTHE CHAMPAGNE corks had barely fallen silent on January 1st and James Joyce was already taking up headlines and column inches…Fri Jan 06 2012 - 00:00
