Literature

The Things in Between by David O'Neill His hair is too short. It is harsh like thousands of tiny needles and paired with a balding suit that flaps helplessly on the shoulder, he looks somewhere between nearly beaten and very…

It is the first of February, the beginning of spring, Imbolc. It is also known as the festival of Brigid, goddess of poetry and healing, and so to celebrate the day we want to share some of the most exciting women writers in Ireland today.…

Fictionalise By Yu-Hsuan Wu Reality rises one gesture fictionalises one silver thread behind the clouds A dreamer passing by looks through the implication of the cloud thread he says: we bridge the…

Luke and Anya get engaged on a trip to France, Luke’s parents invite them to their house in Cornwall to celebrate, and Luke finally convinces Anya to take a trip home so that he can, at long last, meet her parents. Homecoming, as it turns…

Re-reading The Great Gatsby felt like revisiting an experience that made a good impression on me first time round, only to find the new experience empty of pleasure, meaning or purpose. There are beautiful sentences, a blizzard of expensive…

Social Boats, Sinking By Maeve McKenna I am screened, polished, mimicked by dumb  mouths in artificial mirrors, talking back. The scent of my body, its pungent genetics, lingers on thin bandages of light…

2020 has been another great year for Irish fiction. Whether you are interested in crime or literary fiction or genre fiction (I am not even sure what that is) there has been a constant stream of reading material to keep us going through the…

The Abolition of What's Next By Kevin Higgins It is ten to whenever  and must remain so. The living room door will remain ajar at exactly that angle. The cat will forever have just opened…

Exciting Times is the debut novel from Irish writer Naoise Dolan (and one of the Headstuff Picks of 2020). In addition to appearing in best selling lists in the original English, it has also been translated into Italian where it has got…

Bioluminescence By Clare Mulvany The waves of West Cork are dancing with light.  They hide under the canopy of darkness,  growing in their secret.  In this lake: liquid lore.  In these waters: tincture of stars. …