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OUR WRITERS
The Scribes of March: in praise of writers’ groups
Mary Hosty introduces DLR Lexicon writers’ group’s first anthology and her own short story
A Benedict Kiely Reader: Drink to the Bird and Selected Essays review - Words on the importance of place
Wisdom and deftness were tools of writer whose subjects ranged from the lyrical to the sectarian
Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year: Celebrity ‘manifesting’ influences 2024 choice
Dua Lipa and Simone Biles among celebrities known to imagine success in belief they will achieve it
MORE CULTURE
All Together Now music festival 2025: Fontaines DC, CMAT and Bicep revealed as part of line-up
Irish acts Fontaines DC and CMAT will headline the three-day festival in Waterford’s Curraghmore Estate
Cruel Intentions review: Bring back the oversexed, amoral rich kids. This remake is joyless, ludicrous and dull
Television: The only reason the series exists is to cash in on nostalgia for the original camp masterpiece
Maura Higgins on entering I’m A Celebrity: I’m scared of everything but this is a ‘pinch-me moment’
Love Island star Higgins ‘absolutely petrified’ of eating challenges and has ‘never slept outside before’
Wicked director Jon Chu: ‘Everyone’s whispering behind your back at what a terrible decision this is or that was’
Turning the $1bn stage musical into a Hollywood blockbuster brought high expectations for the maker of the Oscar-winning Crazy Rich Asians
Housewife of the Year: A wistful celebration of a generation of Irish women who competed for £300 and a gas stove
Ciaran Cassidy’s fine documentary is filled with much sadness but also allows a fair degree of celebration
Joy: Thomasin McKenzie is luminous in a film about the journey towards test-tube babies that feels more like classy telly
Spot-on lead performances and canny supporting players elevate a nuts-and-bolts script
Charlene McKenna: ‘Within three weeks, I turned 40, had my first baby and lost my father’
For the Irish actor this Christmas will be ‘incredibly bittersweet’ as she mourns the death of her dad and celebrates her much-fought-for daughter
Patrick Freyne: My favourite corporate psy-ops of the season – or Christmas ads, as they’re called in the suburbs
Patrick Freyne: here are my favourite corporate psy-ops of the season – or Christmas TV ads, as I believe you call them in the suburbs
My Animals and Other Animals by Bill Bailey: Tales of the comedian’s feathered, furred and scaled friends
Bailey’s irrepressible humour and boyish joy are a welcome antidote to the grim news cycle of 21st-century life
Family of Jean McConville criticise ‘hurtful’ Disney+ dramatisation
Nine-part series Say Nothing deals with abduction and murder of Belfast mother by Provisional IRA in December 1972
Poem of the Week: Gó gan Ghá/Unnecessary Lie
A new work by Aifric Mac Aodha, translated by David Wheatley
Journalist Ken Reid, a ‘giant’ of NI broadcasting, dies aged 69
Best known as the long-time political editor of UTV, he had previously spoken publicly about his battle with leukaemia
Everything Falls review: Family care presented as a wearying, compassionate dance
Theatre: Shaun Dunne and Brokentalkers’ collaboration portrays the challenges of looking after a partner with a long-term illness
Charli XCX announces two gigs in Ireland for 2025
Get ready for Brat summer 2.0 as the English pop sensation is set to play two outdoor concerts
Liam Payne: One Direction stars Harry Styles and Niall Horan join mourners at singer’s funeral
Former One Direction band members, friends and family remember singer who died in a hotel fall in Buenos Aires
Sugar review: Amiable amble through a factory worker’s life could do with more theatrical spice
Michael Patric’s play misses the opportunity to pull the drama of the end of Ireland’s sugar industry into the story of its craic-loving factory worker
Jon Kenny obituary: Portraits of Irish eccentricity that mingled hilarity with sadness
“It’s about people … people are funny,” he would say of his comedic philosophy
The Abbey has fun with Jane Austen’s Emma: ‘Our production is curious about her libido’
Kate Hamill’s adaptation, starring Toni O’Rourke, explores the psychology of what drives the much-loved protagonist, says director Claire O’Reilly
The Music Quiz: Charli XCX has sampled a song by which blues great?
Plus: What is the name of the upcoming Bruce Springsteen biopic starring Jeremy Allen White?
The Scribes of March: in praise of writers’ groups
Mary Hosty introduces DLR Lexicon writers’ group’s first anthology and her own short story
Witches: A pioneering investigation of post-partum psychosis
Elizabeth Sankey looks to cinematic tropes of occult-adjacent women in her fascinating documentary about mental health and motherhood
A Benedict Kiely Reader: Drink to the Bird and Selected Essays review - Words on the importance of place
Wisdom and deftness were tools of writer whose subjects ranged from the lyrical to the sectarian
Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year: Celebrity ‘manifesting’ influences 2024 choice
Dua Lipa and Simone Biles among celebrities known to imagine success in belief they will achieve it
The Listeners review: Creepy and absorbing thriller is a showcase for Irish actor Ollie West
Television review: West plays a school student struggling with a sound only he and teacher Rebecca Hall can hear
Wicked review: Yes, it’s a nightmare in digital wax, but you’ll leave the cinema in buoyant mood
Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are well paired. It’s easy to shake off the outside world and soar along beside them