Sakina’s Kiss by Vivek Shanbhag: Another compact masterpiece
A comical and unsettling exploration of the human delusion of being in charge of our own lives
By Claire Adam
Two Irish writers up for Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize
Demystifying the path to publication, for free
Saraswati by Gurnaik Johal: A novel of immense range that deserves a very wide readership
Poem on ecology and friendship wins Caterpillar Poetry Prize 2025
Serve: My Lost Years at the Heart of Ireland’s Opus Dei: ‘Catholicism on cocaine’
Days of Light by Megan Hunter: Echoes of the Bloomsbury set
Bloomsday: Aficionados enjoy a Full Joyce for breakfast then devour extra helpings of Ulysses
SHORT STORIES
Book Club
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POETRY
Crime fiction: Megan Abbott, Elmore Leonard, Luke Beirne, Paul Vidich, Karin Slaughter and K Anis Ahmed
By Elizabeth Mannion and Brian Cliff
‘I wanted to do something radical’: Wendy Erskine on her debut novel, which deals with class, rape and parenting
By Martin Doyle
Albion by Anna Hope: Shades of Brideshead in this fine novel about inherited wealth and difficult family dynamics
By John Boyne
Daughters of the Bamboo Grove by Barbara Demick: Chilling insight into the birth of modern China
By Jessica Traynor
Heading to the Fleadh: Festival, cultural revival and Irish traditional music, 1951-1969 – Professing the power of ‘festival time’
By Siobhán Long
