Merry Christmas’

Tis the season to manifest a brighter, joyful future. If you fancy submitting to #BendingTheArcMagazine in January, find all the details and read Edition 1 and 2 here: bendingthearcmagazine.substack.com/p/can-you-wr.... Submissions open: Monday 12th January to Sunday 1st February 2026. Can't wait!

📣Announcement!📣 My debut novel, Dwell, will still be published in 2026 by @northodoxpress.bsky.social, despite changes there, but is now going to come out in June not Feb. If you preordered, thanks. Those preorders remain valid. If you haven’t, why not do that now with 25% off code NORTHODOXMAS?

This will be a wonderful start to 2026! Thank you so much to Paul McVeigh and the judges, Cathy Galvin and Hilary White. 😊 paulmcveighwriter.com/news/

Thought I might post some short stories for advent - but I may be overestimating my industry & your interest Still, here's day one at least - something quietly astonishing from the great David Means in Zoetrope www.all-story.com/preview-exce... (Not an excerpt despite what the link says)

There's only one week left to apply for a 2026 New Writers Award! Tell your talented writer friends. . . 📲

Someone needs to start a literary prize for short story collections. It seems really odd to me that we don’t have one in Ireland or the UK. Before everyone shouts about the Edgehill Prize, it doesn’t seem to be happening this year.

New Substack post! open.substack.com/pub/victoria...

Did you know? Swifts eat, sleep, drink, mate, & even bathe on the wing...rarely landing except to nest. They can switch off one half of their brain to rest, drink by gliding low over water to take sips, & fly through rain to bathe! 🌧️ #SwiftAwarenessWeek 📽️ @theHALLofEINAR

I started to read a book which quotes this poem by Eavan Boland as epigraph and it blew me away. “Night and day / words fell on me./ Seeds. Raindrops./ Chips of frost”. www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...

Paul Durcan wrote this, but I feel he had the soul of a hare as well

Featuring Personal Anthology debuts for: Carol Farrelly @carolfarrelly.bsky.social relly.bsky.social Tracy Fells @theliterarypig.bsky.social ypig.bsky.social Alice Fowler @alicefwrites.bsky.social writes.bsky.social Hana Gammon Robyn Jefferson Ross Raisin So congrats to them!

My anthology includes stories by @demimondaine.bsky.social (Robyn Jefferson), @theliterarypig.bsky.social (Tracy Fells), @carolfarrelly.bsky.social (Carol Farrelly) @alicefwrites.bsky.social (Alice Fowler) And from @flyonthewallpress.bsky.social

Fellow authors, I love you, and I know it feels like we don’t have a choice, but B&N and Am*zon both scheduled sales this week to preempt Independent Bookstore Day, a hugely vital source of income for indie bookstores. Please don’t promote their sales; please promote your local indie this week.

My creepy new novel will be clawing its way out of the woods and onto shelves, with a big thank you to Polygon and my awesome agent Sara Langham birlinn.co.uk/2025/03/13/p...

Happy first birthday to this electric blue paperback baby! 💙 FOR THY GREAT PAIN HAVE MERCY ON MY LITTLE PAIN explores the lives of medieval mystics #JulianofNorwich and #MargeryKempe. Winner of the Saltire First Book Award and a Book of the Year in the Guardian, Sunday Times and Irish Times! 😍📚

My happy place. #MoniackMhor

Jenni Fagan’s ‘visceral’ memoir of growing up in care wins Gordon Burn prize

Final tweaks to Jan Morris's wonderful 'A Venetian Bestiary' before it goes to the printers. It's going to be a gorgeous pocket sized hardback. New Introduction by the author and journalist Sophy Roberts. Publishing in April. Feel free to pre order here! www.littletoller.co.uk/shop/books/l...

Thank you to the @scottishbooktrust.bsky.social for supporting my new writing project with an Ignite Fellowship. I'm thrilled. After emerging from a long hibernation, a door swings open. www.scottishbooktrust.com/writing-and-...

2025 is the new 2016. David Lynch RIP.

I can’t wait to read Rue Baldry’s novel ‘Dwell’. Congratulations, Rue! 💃🎉🙌

Ireland's government is trialling a Basic Income for Artists programme. This is my argument for why it's necessary for the well-being of artists who contribute so much to the nation's economy, but are mined as a resource, instead of being treated as valued workers. oisinmcgann.com/how-the-crea...

Happy New Year!

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 20/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 19/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 18/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 17/20

Today, the UK government announced a proposal to change copyright law - for the benefit of AI companies - that would cause huge, irreversible harm to creators. More info below, but most importantly here's what you can do (wherever you live): 1. Email your MP. Template letter in 🧵 👇 1/10

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 16/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 15/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 14/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 13/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 12/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 11/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 10/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 9/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 8/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 7/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 6/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 5/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 4/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge 3/20

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge

The challenge is to choose twenty books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for twenty days, in no particular order. No explanations. No reviews. Just covers. #BookSky #BookChallenge

I couldnt see one, so I started one! I literally just threw this up on my coffee break so will have missed many awesome people. Shout if you’re one of them go.bsky.app/MeKxG4G

Here's hoping more Irish lit mags will join the great migration, but for now I've included all the ones I could find!! go.bsky.app/M7713mj

Slowly moving here - if we knew each other elsewhere, or we should know each other here, please tell me so that I can add you to my lists/starter packs This one is writers - go.bsky.app/6pYSigx