Manic maritime machismoTravel How far does a travel writer have to go these days in search of visceral thrills for his readers? The world, after all…Sat Jan 10 2004 - 00:00
The man behind the musicWhen his new work has its debut this week, Raymond Deane will forgo hispassion for Palestine to be there, writes Arminta Wallace…Wed Oct 22 2003 - 01:00
Auditions in Dublin seek tenor who is on the moneyWhat's a boy to sing? That was the question at the National Concert Hall yesterday as a steady stream of wannabe "popera" stars…Tue Sept 30 2003 - 01:00
Keeping the cross in crossing overOnce manager to the stars, Allen Bailey now promotes a greater God with the Harlem Gospel choir, he tells Arminta WallaceMon Sept 15 2003 - 01:00
Searching for the soul of Mother RussiaRussia: This is not a travel book, but "an attempt to touch on the essence of Russia".Sat Sept 06 2003 - 01:00
More bolshie than Bolshoi to surviveBallet isn't all glory and frilly tutus, Irish dancer Monica Loughman, soloist with the Perm Ballet, tells Arminta WallaceMon Jul 21 2003 - 01:00
Salmon and sushi go well with Mozart's sexy send-upIt has been billed as "Ireland's Glyndebourne", but Loughcrew Garden Opera's easy-going atmosphere gives it the feel of a teddy…Mon Jul 21 2003 - 01:00
Restoring a sense of justiceMeeting the young person who burgled or assaulted you is at the heart of theconcept of restorative justiceWed May 14 2003 - 01:00
Going easy on the lurve and lipstickFiction: Chicklit outings frequently begin by dunking their fictional heroine in disaster - a disaster to which the plucky lass…Sat Apr 26 2003 - 01:00
Putting dance into the blenderARTS/dance: Using music, text and assorted technologies, Daghdha Dance Company's latest production is far from conventionalTue Jan 21 2003 - 00:00
Macabre tale of Deep SouthFICTION: Mother's Day in a small town in Mississippi, and everyone in the Cleve household is rushing around organising a big…Sat Nov 09 2002 - 00:00
From one stage to anotherTom Conti explains why he's the happiest dad in the world this week, and why he is not so interested in the stage - apart from…Sat Aug 31 2002 - 01:00
From one stage to anotherTom Conti explains why he's the happiest dad in the world this week, and why he is not so interested in the stage - apart from…Fri Aug 30 2002 - 01:00
A year of myths rather than hitsA triumphant 'Parsifal' and Angela Hewitt playing the 'Goldburg Variations' were among the highlights of the Edinburgh International…Fri Aug 23 2002 - 01:00
Getting caught between the Rock and a hard placeKanan Makiya exposed the operation of Saddam Hussein and his inner circle to the outside world in the 1990sTue May 14 2002 - 01:00
Respect the songs, girlsIs it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a karaoke session? NoMon Apr 15 2002 - 01:00
'I am the music, and the music is me'Brought up in the then austere world of Catholic Spain, Teresa Berganza was inspired to change her life after playing the role…Thu Jan 31 2002 - 00:00
Stirring up a storm off shoreHarnessing the wind may still sound like a pie-in-the-sky fantasy to manyTue Jan 29 2002 - 00:00
Rough Rides in Dry Places by Gaye Shortland (Poolbeg, £6.99)Gaye Shortland's dΘbut novel, Turtles All the Way Down, was of a pretty weird bent: so weird, that one might have thought she…Sat Dec 22 2001 - 00:00
My Dream of You by Nuala O'Faolain (Penguin, £6.99)As a columnist for this newspaper, Nuala O'Faolain never shied from expressing the truth as she saw it - whether people liked…Sat Dec 22 2001 - 00:00
From Heaven Lake, by Vikram Seth (Phoenix, £7.99 in UK)You might describe this as a "low-key" travel book - except that on a scale of one to 10, hitch-hiking all the way from the eastern…Sat Dec 22 2001 - 00:00
Cannon Law by Vincent Banville (New Island, £6.99)Cannon Law is the third outing for Banville's private detective John Blaine, and it opens with him conducting a surveillance …Sat Dec 15 2001 - 00:00
In the pink?There can't be many people left who don't know that, come January, we'll have a new currencyFri Dec 14 2001 - 00:00
Dreaming of a stress-free ChristmasIf you're reading this with a view to making the festive season as painless as possible, I've got news for youFri Dec 07 2001 - 00:00
The Thing He Loves by Elizabeth Wassell (Brandon, £7.99)The wannabe artists of West Cork are at the centre of this tale of two love affairs; and a pretentious, self-important lot they…Sat Nov 17 2001 - 00:00
Polishing an operatic crown jewel'I'm in charge of what goes on in the name of opera at the Royal Opera HouseFri Nov 16 2001 - 00:00
An Unsung Hero: Tom Crean, Antarctic Survivor by Michael Smith (Collins Press, £12.99 in UK)Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Tom Crean was the strong, silent type, the Quiet Man of Antarctic explorationSat Nov 03 2001 - 00:00
Those Bones Are Not My Child. By Toni Cade Bambara. ( The Women's Press, £7.99 in UK)This book opens with a mother's discovery that her teenage boy is missing: it develops into a multilayered examination of race…Sat Oct 27 2001 - 01:00
Wexford's operatic trilogyAlessandro Stradella, by Friedrich Flotow (1812-1883)Thu Oct 18 2001 - 01:00
My Favourite Year edited by Nick Hornby (Phoenix, £6.99 in UK)Footie heads will snap up this collection of specially-commissioned essays on fandom as a matter of courseSat Oct 06 2001 - 01:00
An Irishwoman's DiaryWhen the teams are announced at Lansdowne Road this evening, just before Ireland's World Cup qualifying soccer match against …Sat Oct 06 2001 - 01:00
Weekend walkWhen you need a modicum of action combined with hardly any thinking, try the Glencree StressbusterFri Oct 05 2001 - 01:00
PaperbacksShe appears to be ideal for the job - calm, conscientious, tidy - but beneath her docile exterior, Josephine Strane is the childminder…Sat Sept 22 2001 - 01:00
Eclipse by John Banville (Picador, £6.99 in UK)The premise of this slim novel is startlingly simple: Alexander Cleave, actor - yes, as he would say himself, that Alex Cleave…Sat Sept 15 2001 - 01:00
Air on the longlistEverybody loved Andrew Miller's first novel - and with good reasonSat Sept 15 2001 - 01:00
Father & I: A Memoir, by Carlo GΘbler. (Abacus, £7.99 in UKErnest GΘbler was an extraordinary and, in many ways, a visionary man: who else, in the Ireland of the 1950s, refused to eat …Sat Sept 08 2001 - 01:00
Mr Mee by Andrew Crumey (Picador, £6.99 in UK)Given that the Internet is such an all-pervasive presence, it seems odd that nobody has attempted to write an intelligent dotcom…Sat Sept 01 2001 - 01:00
Story of secret drawersIn late 16th-century Istanbul, the Sultan commissions a great bookSat Aug 25 2001 - 01:00
Jaw-dropping and well-nigh perfectAs the Edinburgh Festival opened, so did the heavensWed Aug 22 2001 - 01:00
The Deposition of Father McGreevy, by Brian O'Doherty (Arcadia, £6.99 in UK)I badly wanted this book to workSat Aug 18 2001 - 01:00
The Angel in the House, by Kate O'Riordan (Flamingo, £6.99 in UK)A middle-aged art restorer and...Sat Aug 18 2001 - 01:00
Unlikely characters in an impropable plotAn abusive priest, damaged teenagers, the wilful ignorance of the church; a structure which incorporates flashbacks and flashforwards…Sat Aug 18 2001 - 01:00
The Twins by Tessa de Loo (Arcadia Books, £6.99 in UK)Two elderly women meet at a Belgian health resort, and talkSat Aug 11 2001 - 01:00
Sony: the Private Life, by John Nathan (HarperCollins Business, £8.99 in UK)Anyone who has had a Walkman will be intrigued by this study of the global giant, written by biographer and translator of Yukio…Sat Aug 04 2001 - 01:00
The Photograph, by Eamonn Sweeney (Picador, £6.99 in UK)Our grubby recent history is given a thorough airing in Eamon Sweeney's beautifully realised second novel, which takes as its…Sat Aug 04 2001 - 01:00
Hell's bellsYou know the feeling. You're nicely settled in the sunshine with a cuppa and something to read when it startsWed Jul 25 2001 - 01:00
Shooting Sean, by Colin Bateman (HarperCollins, £6.99 in UK)If there is such a thing as a high-class Irish thriller tradition - and don't tell anyone, but I think it may be about to develop…Sat Jul 21 2001 - 01:00
Exploring a post-Beckettian worldThe advance description of James Kelman's new novel sounded intriguing, to say the leastSat Jul 21 2001 - 01:00
Slammerkin, by Emma Donoghue (Virago, 7.99 in UK)First thought, upon finishing this retelling of the story of Mary Saunders, an 18th-century girl who was born on the wrong side…Sat Jul 21 2001 - 01:00
Inishowen, by Joseph O'Connor (Vintage, £6.99 in UK)It seems that Joseph O'Connor can turn his writing hand to just about anything: literary fiction, travel books, journalism, that…Sat Jul 14 2001 - 01:00
