Proposed changes to Arts at University of Galway have sparked a major debate. We’ve formally responded. This isn’t just about one degree — it’s about the place of Arts in higher education and who gets to shape its future. Read IFUT’s statement: www.ifut.ie/content/arts...

Today I have mostly been saying "read the article before you react to the headline" about 75,000 times an hour.

Our Third Year production of Laura.Wade's Posh looks like it's going to make an impact!

This is an excellent new study of Laura Wade's work - great information on production contexts and exceptionally careful analysis of her writing.

Elaine Sisson's new book - really is important, as Kathryn writes below: a must-read for anyone in Irish Studies.

Very glad to see that the Eye Cinema has re-opened in #Galway after several months of being out of action www.eyecinema.ie

I'm about to finish a second term on one of these RIA committees, and have found it very worthwhile and rewarding. It's a great way to meet people from across the island, with excellent opportunities for collaboration, hosting events, etc. Well worth considering.

Very pleased to share details of a new permanent academic job opportunity in Creative & Cultural Industries at University College Dublin. We are seeking candidates with a PhD whose work engages with the commercial creative industries. Deadline: 6 March 2026 universityvacancies.com/university-c....

Saw #Hamnet last night. Had already read book and seen play, but thought the film showed how there are some things only cinema can do - one of which was to show how there are some things only theatre can do. Jesse Buckley's performance is immense, yes - but Paul Mescal's is too, albeit differently.

In case we thought that ecological disasters were a special talent of modernity, let’s talk about how the 13th-century peat trade of Norfolk made it permanently vulnerable to flooding, including 3 catastrophic floods just since 2013. #medievalstorytime

Time for an update on the 2026 Dark Tower readalong schedule... The plan (approx) is: January 27th – The Talisman March 17th – Black House May – Wind Through the Keyhole August – Wolves of the Calla October – Hearts in Atlantis December – ??? Hope you join us for the journey.

Last call! ASLE-UKI online seminar on Eighteenth-Century Literature & Environment. Thur 29 Jan, 15:00-19:00 GMT. With me, Eric Gidal, James Metcalf, Nicolle Jordan, Alessio Mattana, Annette Hulbert, Jodie Matthews, & Tobias Menely. Register FREE at asle.org.uk/events/semin...

Hello Bluesky!

Earlier this week, we gathered at the Royal Irish Academy of Music for the Dublin launch of DRUID THEATRE: FIFTY YEARS by @pflonergan.bsky.social, published by @lilliputpress.bsky.social.

“a substantial and significant intervention” “The twelve essays […] are both individually and cumulatively impressive” “an exemplary illustration of the need for recalibrated methodologies for literary analysis at a time of planetary ecological crisis” www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Extremely full house to welcome President Connolly @president.ie at the @druidtheatre.bsky.social 50th ‘wrap party’ to launch ‘Druid Theatre Fifty Years’ by @pflonergan.bsky.social of @uniofgalway.bsky.social

Please join us at @ria.ie to celebrate the publication of Lucy McDiarmid's _Slightly Magical: Irish Poetry and the Long 1990s_. We'll be joined by Theo Dorgan, Paula Meehan, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, and Edna Longley. Registration is free but places are limited. www.tickettailor.com/events/royal...

We're really honoured that the Department of Drama and Theatre Studies at @uniofgalway.bsky.social is hosting a symposium to mark our 50th anniversary. 'Druid at 50: People, Place & Performance' will take place this Friday, 7 November, on the university campus.

Please join us at University of Galway next week for this one-day event about @druidtheatre.bsky.social, which features panels from academics and practitioners throughout the day. Registration is free but spaces are limited - and filling up quickly. www.eventbrite.ie/e/druid-at-5...

Fantastic selection of recent Irish writing here -

Very happy that my new article has just been published in _Green Letters_ - "‘To Know How It Ends/And Still Begin to Sing It Again’: Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown, the Climate Crisis, and Recursive Ecodramaturgies" www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

📣 📣 The CFP for IASIL 2026 is now LIVE! 📣 📣 Pázmány Péter Catholic University (PPCU) Budapest – 6-10 July 2026 Translating Ireland The deadline for receipt of abstracts is Friday, November 28, 2025. #IrishStudies #Translation #IrishLiterature Full CFP: www.iasil.org/2025/09/conf... Pls share

I was delighted to interview Lisa McInerney yesterday as part of ASLE-UKI at @uniofgalway.bsky.social

Charlie Byrnes here in #galway has created this beautiful window of Irish theatre books and posters, most of them from @druidtheatre.bsky.social!

Sabotage at #Giaf25 is brilliant - from NoFitState circus in the Claddagh here in #Galway

Strongly recommending @gatetheatredublin.bsky.social's production of THE PILLOWMAN. Lovely balance of cruelty and tenderness in the acting, design, direction - confirming my hunch that this is Martin McDonagh's best play. Will be going again for definite.

A Bluesky welcome to AEDEI, the Spanish Association of Irish Studies

#IFTR2025 ready to go...

Come and work with us in Drama and Film in Galway - newly advertised role covering at least 2 areas in performance studies, screen studies, acting, stage and screen design, playwriting, directing/devising, practice-based research, or short-form filmmaking. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNJ402/l...

A bit of Galway in Dublin - Macnas bringing Con Mór to the Phoenix park for Bloom

Fantastic day at the @ria.ie, learning about intersectional and interdisciplinary #ecological practices and reflecting on what the #Arts and #Humanities do and can do. Many thanks to all organisers, particularly @pflonergan.bsky.social, and all speakers!

I'm a couple of years late to it but am exceptionally impressed by Audrey Magee's the Colony. Feels thematically important but also so precise on the small details of ordinary lives.

Excited that, as part of @druidtheatre.bsky.social's 50th birthday we're publishing two new books - an anthology of plays with @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social and a new history of the company (written by me) with @lilliputpress.bsky.social www.druid.ie/about/news/d...

Would agree with most of the @irishtimes.com review of @irishnationalopera.bsky.social's FLYING DUTCHMAN - Francis O'Connor's designs are stupendously good, the direction was carefully balanced between intimacy and excess, and two male leads were outstanding. www.irishtimes.com/culture/stag...

In Galway next Monday? Do come along to the O'Donoghue Centre to hear Caitriona McLoughlin deliver the annual Siobhan McKenna lecture. She'll also present the McKenna scholarship award and will launch Charlotte McIvor and Ian Walsh's Contemporary Irish Theatre: Histories and Theories.

Shortlist out tomorrow⬇️

I'm very happy that our @ria.ie committee on Languages, Literature, Culture and Communications is organising this seminar and workshop - 'The Climate Crisis - What Can the Arts and Humanities Do?' More information soon but registration is already open! www.ria.ie/events/the-c...

Three-year postdoc at Cambridge on 'Ireland and the "ends" of the British Empire'. www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/50601/

Theatre Ireland now sadly gone, as is ITM. I agree with Barry about the need for a replacement, not least because of the huge gap in the historical record since 2008. Future historians will know more about theatre in the 1810s and 1910s than they will about the 2010s - is that the legacy we want?

I got my copy of this new collection from Stinging Fly a few days ago - Every One Still Here by Liadan Ní Chuinn. I didn't intend to read it immediately - but glanced at the first page and have been hooked ever since - it's just so surprising, engrossing & original

Loved Emmet Kerwan's ACCENTS in Galway last night (script published by @methuendrama.bsky.social)

Excellent programme for this year's @cuirtfestival.bsky.social - Eimear McBride, Kevin Barry, Sally Rooney, Paul Muldoon, Anne Enright, talks, masterclasses, workshops and a million other things - and a lot of it happening in our Drama building at University of Galway! www.cuirt.ie/whats-on/

This is getting attention because of Conleth Hill's role as Varys in Game of Thrones, but he's also one of the best stage actors I've seen: Stones in his Pockets, After Darwin, Seafarer, etc. I've seen some very good Lears recently (Branagh, McKellen, Sapani); this one excites me most. Can't wait!

@druidtheatre.bsky.social feature as the picture of the day in today's @irishtimes.com

Really enjoyed Irish National Opera's FLEDERMAUS at the Town Hall in #Galway last night, and now on a national tour. Excellent directing, a spiky new translation, and strong, funny performances all round, especially from Jade Phoenix as Rosalinde. www.irishnationalopera.ie/whats-on/cur...

Bittersweet that we can now have a definitive - and thus a final - collection of Heaney's poems. But this will of course be one to cherish.

Talk tomorrow online from Galway including a focus on Patricia Burke Brogan. Looks great and thanks to @sarahannebuckley.bsky.social for organising

Student societies here in Galway have a busy week of performances coming up...

Coming up at the O'Donoghue Theatre here in Galway - our third years' production of the Beaux Strategem, directed by Aideen Wylde. They are rehearsing next door to my office and I can already tell that this is going to be a great one!

Not for the first time, I'm wondering why theatre critics and marketing people use words like 'searing', 'blistering', and 'compelling' to tell us that a play is worth seeing. Doesn't it make theatre seem a bit, I don't know, Spanish Inquisition-ish?