Matt Williams: Rugby teaches us to be driven, resilient and healthy - and to teach
The essence of rugby is not on show in the Six Nations or the World Cup
Patrick Kavanagh
Éamon de Valera was the first to suggest ‘garden cabins’ as a solution to an Irish social dilemma
Continuity of ‘implacable social systems’ witnesses the refloating of an old focus on the back garden
‘Conflict, religion and poetry are the three energies that I hold together, and they’re all about language’
The man behind the immensely popular Poetry Unbound podcast discusses the two books he’s publishing this year, early objections to Patrick Kavanagh, and the vitalness of surprise
Lisa O’Neill at the Gate: Story-telling artist has never sounded better
Legacy and history weave through this singular performance, which resonates long after it ends
Killarney then and now: Aspects recognisable from when Harry Kernoff painted them in 1943
Some of the views Irish artist Harry Aaron Kernoff painted of Killarney while on a cycling trip with Patrick Kavanagh haven’t changed much in more than 70 years
David Marcus, The Irish Times and a golden age of literary journalism
Even at a time of much cross-fertilisation between the literary and journalistic worlds, it was a brave and radical idea to run a regular creative-writing page in a daily newspaper. In pursuing this, David Marcus nurtured many young talents
Field Outing – Frank McNally on an impromptu trip to the National Ploughing Championships
It was a jaunt reminiscent of the inaugural Bloomsday, albeit with more speed and less alcohol
Mouthing by Orla Mackey: An engrossing and adept work of fiction about a rural Irish community like any other
In her debut novel, Mackey keeps moving the goalposts in delightfully wicked fashion for readers to catch up
The Kafkaesque charade on Dublin’s Grand Canal is not ‘common sense’. It is common stupidity
In preventing homeless people from finding a place of temporary shelter, the authorities have wrecked a particularly lovely public space
Writer Maggie Armstrong: ‘I wanted to be a wastrel. I had no ambitions ever, for anything. Is that a symptom of the age?’
Maggie Armstrong, a former journalist, was always a ‘bit envious’ of the people she interviewed. She reflects on her decision to take her writing seriously
Author Andrew Hughes on his new novel, writing the mind of a teenager and Killua Castle
Hughes’s new book, Emma, Disappeared, follows James Lyster, whose life begins to unravel after the disappearance of a high-achieving university graduate
All That Glit – Frank McNally on the ancient origins of a slippery word
Patrick Kavanagh may not have used the word in his poetry, but Seamus Heaney did
The Guide: The events to see, the shows to book, and the ones to catch before they end
The best movies, music, art and more coming your way September 23rd-29th
Tower of Song – Frank McNally on the Joycenights Festival, rude hand gestures, and improving Patrick Kavanagh
I somehow found a free corner (not easy in a round tower) among the capacity attendance
Ghosts of Baggotonia: Homage to a lost Dublin, never to return
Television: As an outsider who associates Baggot Street with rugby fans, traffic jams and office workers, it is a revelation
Dublin Marathon misattributing a quote to Yeats makes a mockery of him and his Nobel Prize
Presenting runners with a tribute to Yeats featuring a line he almost certainly never said is an embarrassing travesty for a city that prides itself on its literary heritage
Patrick Kavanagh’s death mask and the skull of a giant Irish deer at upcoming sale
De Burca’s Rare Books latest catalogue features two first editions of James Joyce’s masterpiece, Ulysses
John Betjeman in Ireland: Affectionate overview of poet laureate’s many Irish links
Role in Ireland allowed him to develop friendships with a coterie of Irish writers including Patrick Kavanagh, Frank O’Connor and Seán Ó Faoláin
When a ‘dungeon’ on Leeson Street cost £2 a week and swarmed with literary life
A new book explores Dublin’s literary past, an active part of living or working in the city
Celebrate Dublin’s literary heritage with a city break
There are watery wonders and wordy treats in this week’s travel news
In a Word ... Complaint
A story about Brendan Behan’s lighthouse painting days is amusing enough to be true
I will have a lifelong post-Covid allergy: to public parks
Kevin Power: Embracing the banal on canal bank walks kept me sane during lockdown
Room to Disimprove – Frank McNally on the demise of the drawing room and other social tragedies
An Irishman’s Diary
James Webb Space Telescope being readied to capture first infrared images
Hubble successor is a next-generation infrared telescope, says researcher Patrick Kavanagh
Vortex wins best film at Dublin International Film Festival
Laura Samani wins best director for Small Body and Udo Kier takes best actor
Marian Keyes: How I brought my Dad back from the dead (sort of)
‘Dad’s still alive!’ said author’s sister when she read first draft of her new novel
The year of Ulysses: 2022 marks centenary of Joyce’s experimental masterpiece
Beloved by millions, incomprehensible to millions more, the novel is now firmly embedded in Irish culture
Could the new space telescope unlock the secrets of the universe?
The James Webb Space Telescope may tell us more about dark matter and other mysteries
Brendan Kennelly obituary: Gifted poet, academic and storyteller
A writer who grew up in a pub, Kennelly learned how to tell a story and hold an audience
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