Introducing: Words in the Air, a new literary podcast from the Irish Writers Centre! The second episode, a writers' roundtable, features Aoife Barry chatting to writers Kevin Curran, Olivia Fitzsimons, Victoria Kennefick and Emmet Kirwan. open.spotify.com/episode/1V2W...

End of the month reading round up - March was great, especially good for translated fiction and re-reading old favourites. These 9 were the best books I read for the first time.

Some books just get better and better with every re-read. The Virgin Suicides at 46 is a completely different book from The Virgin Suicides I first encountered at 21.

✨ BOOK LAUNCH ✨ We are delighted to be launching FOUR NIGHT SEAS by Niamh Mac Cabe on April 14 at No Alibis 🐕 🌊 Join us for what will be a brilliant evening, all welcome ✨Book your spot via the link below! ‘Mac Cabe is a master of the short story.’ Lucy Sweeney Byrne noalibis.com/event/book-l...

Went to see Weisman’s documentary Ex Libris about the New York Public Library @qftbelfast this afternoon and it was so good I didn’t even notice the 3.5 hours going in. I wish more documentary makers gave the footage this much room to resonate.

It’s a really shitty photo but delighted that my backyard fix has reappeared. Almost a year since I last saw him/her. My “I keep my garden wild for the foxes” excuse was beginning to sound a bit redundant.

Belfast pals, I'd be delighted to see you at my collection's launch in No Alibis Bookshop on Tuesday 14th April at 6pm👁️ @lilliputpress.bsky.social noalibis.com/event/book-l...

You will be unsurprised to hear that Sinéad Morrissey’s memoir “Among Communists” is a tremendous piece of writing. Special edition currently available from No Alibis. Get yours quick. Such a great read

Your email finds me, once more on the Enterprise, somewhere outside Newry, wondering if Irish Rail do loyalty cards.

It’s my 3rd Flannery of the year and my 3rd time devouring this dark little slice of gothic guilt, all the time wondering how Flannery got away with writing what she wrote and whether her mother ever had words with her for putting religious hypocrisy under the microscope #MyYearWithFOC

Delightful postcard piece from @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social . Zoom in and take a read.

Delighted to have a newly commissioned Postcard Story included in this stunning anthology from the Redstone Press alongside luminaries like Ali Smith, Julian Barnes, JG Ballard and a load of other great writers I’ve been reading for years.

I do believe more people have liked my “I got bitten by a swan post” thank my “I have a new book posts.” In a stranger’s shoes I’d be similarly inclined.

Today’s Daily Cartoon, by Liz Montague.

You haven’t made it as a writer until you’re featured in the Ballymena Guardian beneath an article about the Milwaukee Tools Road Show. Thanks to Philip Taylor for the lovely write up and @waterstonesballymena for hosting the launch on April 16th at 7pm #FewAndFarBetween

@jancarsonwrites.bsky.social is a writer from Northern Ireland who has published several collections of short stories and 3 novels before "The Raptures", which was published in 2022. Her next novel, "Few And Far Between" will be published shortly. Review of "The Raptures" is in Alt text.

Photographer -“shall we take some shots with the swans?” Five minutes later I’ve been bitten on the leg and we’ve been chased off the slipway by a particularly vicious brute. Funniest photoshoot ever #FewAndFarBetween

Available for international order if you’re living outside the North. If you’re coming to the launch at the Crescent Arts Centre you’ll be able to pick up your preorder on the night.

Two weeks to publication for #FewAndFarBetween a gentle reminder that there are a limited number of the signed and numbered No Alibis editions with extra essay available to preorder from the website. Preorders make both writers and booksellers extremely happy.

Were you the person with whom I lately discussed wild, beast-like dogs roaming about the Ulster countryside? If so could you make yourself known again as I have some questions for you.

I can’t back up this claim with stats but I’m 99% sure Evan Davies’ Heat Pump Challenge is the most mind numbingly boring programme Radio 4 has ever aired and it’s not even a one off, it’s a whole bloody series.

This is a great interview with Noah Wyle on Front Row, utterly making the case for medical drama as important sociopolitical commentary.

Delighted to be doing a wee #FewAndFarBetween event with the lovely folk at Elk Books in Warrenpoint. Places are free but limited so reserve your spot asap if you’d like to join us.

Always have good shoes and a good mattress. If you're not in one then you're in the other.

Would anyone be interested in discussing cardigans? I have very strong feeling on the subject, mostly positive, and would be interested to hear your recommendations in regards to the best cardigan retailers. My current favourite is a red fluffy number with pockets, bought for £12 in the Next sale.

After months and months of sleeping on an uncomfortable bed I finally got a nice new bed and an extremely comfortable mattress today and I will probably not emerge from it until ten minutes before the book launch on April 7th. Happiest I’ve been in years.

Wonderful to interview brilliant @stuhennigan.bsky.social today about his extraordinary debut Keshed for @minorliteratures.bsky.social. Words on: layered writing process, language, Dylan Thomas, vernacular, setting, people & place, visceral rhythms, love stories, class, belonging & what's left out.

Walked through M&S this morning and felt very seen

Some book festivals are just a wee bit fancier than others. Had a fantastic afternoon at Magheramorne Literary Festival talking about #FewAndFarBetween with Wendy Erskine and Freya McClements

Very aware we forgot to mention the translators’ names. Fever Dream was translated by Megan McDowell and The Summer Book by Thomas Teal.

The 3 books I picked to talk about on #Take4Books today were Samanta Schweblin’s Fever Dream, Tove Jansson’s Summer Book and Barbara Pym’s Excellent Women, all of which had a big influence on #FewAndFarBetween

I’ll be on Take 4 Books on Radio 4 at 4pm today chatting to James Crawford about the books that influenced #FewAndFarBetween. Tune in live or listen back via the link www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Had a great time chatting to director Brian Durnin about #SpiltMilk this evening. Thanks to Michael and the team at QFT for being such stellar hosts. Catch this great wee film while it’s in the cinema.

Huge thanks to @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social for flagging this. I hadn't read the 'blurb' properly and thought it was a short rather than a feature... it was FANTASTIC. Beautiful film, go see, absolutely loved it.

‘In her stories, one scenario crops up time and again: an over-educated adult child cooped up, for reasons of infirmity, with a smug, intellectually limited mother.’ Edmund Gordon on Flannery O’Connor. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Belfast was spoiled for brilliant women writers this evening. Launch of Sinéad Morrissey’s memoir Among Communist, then an excellent lecture on loneliness and poetry by Ireland Professor of Poetry, Vona Groarke. Starting the weekend with big thoughts.

Going to be honest, I struggled a bit with this one. The writing is great but it’s so long (and heavy to carry around), so dense and so complicated I could only read in 30 pages chunks so it’s taken me almost 3 weeks to finish and I’m still not sure who the goodies and baddies were. #MyYearWithHM

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The Derry launch for #FewAndFarBetween will take place in the mighty Little Acorns Bookshop on Wednesday April 8th at 7pm. Tickets are £4 and include light refreshments. You can book your place via this link www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launc...

Any advice for getting sticker residue off a shirt. I went to a thing with white stick on name badges and forgot to take it off before I ran my shirt through the wash and now the sticker is really baked in. Help

Russian poet, body-builder and futurist Vladimir Holzsmith being hypnotised by a chicken in 1923.

The sun is out. I got a story accepted by a nice American literary journal and I’m off to meet an old friend for outdoor wine. Hey there 2026, less of the doom and gloom and more of this vibe please.

🕯️New episode with @lucycaldwell.bsky.social is out now! It’s not often I’m left speechless, but Lucy’s capacity to meditate on life, love, and death had me grasping for words We were speaking about DEVOTIONS ahead of next week’s release @faberbooks.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/r...

NOTE CHANGE OF DATE Our @mexico_and_below read for April is Gregor Hens’ “Nicotine” (translated by Jen Cajella) we meet Wednesday 22nd at 6:30pm @noalibisbookstore all welcome. Please do read the book before coming along. You can purchase it 10% off in store. No smoking during book group.

First mistake, sitting down. Second mistake, thinking - I’ll just have a wee piece of toast. One hour and three pieces of toast later and I am still sitting down, contemplating a fourth piece of toast.

Exceptional work from the man himself. Hard recommend on Tim MacGabhann’s debut short story collection… out right now.

Have promised to read a Hunger Games book if my niece will read And Then There Were Done. Let us see how this goes. I feel like I’ve definitely got the short end of the stick.

I'm happy to have contributed an essay to @efacis.bsky.social Kaleidoscope project on Irish spirituality - honouring my RE teacher Miss Williams, who, like Miss Jean Brodie, led us out rather than shutting us in… kaleidoscope3.efacis.eu/publications...

Lots of Irish writers recommending their favourite Irish reads for the day it is, over on the Foyles website today. I went for Deirdre Madden’s Molly Fox’s Birthday which is such a cracking read. www.foyles.co.uk/further-read...

This is an enormous step forward for women of people.