Moira Buffini: ‘I’ve had this love affair with Ireland, and for a long time I just thought it was unrequited’
The writer discusses telepathy, the ‘quiet problem’ facing the world and doing the one thing she said she’d never do
Elif Shafak: ‘I wanted to honour water. I think water is the story of our times’
Prolific British-Turkish author on her latest novel, colonial archaeology, the plight of the Yazidis, her sense of belonging and the complexity of Turkish culture
‘I lost to a very strong eight-year-old’: how chess is capturing the imagination of a new generation in Ireland
Set to feature in a new Sally Rooney novel, the game is officially having a moment. But what makes it so appealing to young players?
Everyone I Know Is Dying by Emily Slapper: The shadow of a good novel
A generous reader will feel what the author is trying to do - but there’s not enough cause and effect in the telling
Meet Taylor Swift’s superfans: ‘You feel like she’s a part of your life that you can’t do away with’
Online culture has made it easier for fans to find each other and amplify their voices - but is superfandom always a healthy pursuit?
The story of Ireland’s first witch and the taboo of a woman’s rage
Molly Aitken’s Bright I Burn tells the story of the fierce and ambitious Alice Kyteler, and how ‘creative writing is a way of revoicing the past’
Sarah Crossan: ‘I wanted to write about abuse and love and how those things intersect’
Author Sarah Crossan on her pivot from teaching to writing and her latest books on forbidden love affairs and sex dolls
The Lost Love Songs of Boysie Singh by Ingrid Persaud: Colourful tale of real-life Trinidad gangster never adds up to sum of its parts
The novel is unflinching in its study of what it is like to be the woman behind the man
Deirdre O’Kane: ‘I’ve reached a point where I’m not afraid to make people uncomfortable’
Comic has blazed trail in Ireland, carving a career as woman stand-up at a time when such things were unheard of
Caoilinn Hughes: ‘I suppose it’s in our DNA, that instinct to leave and to move’
Irish author Hughes talks about her third novel, The Alternatives, writing in a camper van and getting hit by a truck
Old Romantics by Maggie Armstrong: An audacious debut collection with a personality all its own
A dozen short stories are linked by a protagonist called Margaret, who is hapless, often bewildered, at times mean. You will love her
Nuala O’Connor on her adult autism diagnosis: ‘I’d found out it was my brain pushing me in these directions ... I was euphoric’
Author was at her lowest two years ago, but hope arrived via an interview on the radio, when she realised she might be autistic
Niamh Mulvey: ‘I thought people who wrote books were in a different category of brain. I didn’t think I had that’
The author has surprised herself by writing her first novel, The Amendments, after a career in publishing
Sinéad Gleeson: ‘If I go too long without writing I feel a bit off. I can’t imagine not doing it’
Twelve years ago the critic, memoirist and broadcaster began crafting what would become her debut novel. It’s been a tough process but she has embraced the writing life
Anna Fitzgerald: I wrote seven novels over 15 years but ‘pure fear’ of rejection stopped me from seeking publication
Debut novelist on the power of reading, 1960s Ireland and her book, Girl in the Making