Awesome writer Jan Carson @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social writes about awesome writer Barbara Pym. Barbara Pym is Jane Austen with a side of jumble sales, public transport and laugh-out-loud one-liners www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

Excited to sign again with @lilliputpress.bsky.social for my next novel Glorious Monsters. Features Mary Shelley of Frankenstein fame, set in 1819 … and Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley are also characters. Out Sep 2026. Here’s me with Antony Farrell of Lilliput #books #histfic

COW TOOLS COW TOOLS COW TOOLS

This book is utterly amazing, and genuinely original.

'My Fourth Time, We Drowned' is 4.99 pounds on Audible in the UK for January only. The audiobook version includes original audio from reporting I did over those years. Please consider listening if you haven't already. It (unfortunately) has not stopped being relevant. @4thestatebooks.bsky.social

The best fiction of 2026 to look forward to: Books from Louise Kennedy, Donal Ryan, Sebastian Barry, Maggie O’Farrell, Keith Ridgway, Danielle McLaughlin, Louise Nealon, Sarah Gilmartin, Patrick Freyne, Liz Nugent, Jan Carson, Tana French, Kathleen MacMahon & more www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

Good. Quite aside from Walliams being a creep, there are MUCH, MUCH better children’s books out there. www.thebookseller.com/news/david-w...

E-books are reading. Comics are reading. Genre is reading. Fanfic is reading. Text-based games are reading. Audiobooks are reading. Braille books are reading. Non-fiction is reading. Picture books are reading. There is no single way to read, nor is any reading style more worthy than another.

Happy New Year! 🎉 Walking into 2026 like Victor Laszlo ... 🗃️ #HATM www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOli...

Why ‘failed’? She didn’t fail to restore it. It looked different is all. ‘After news broke of the restoration the small town of Borja saw a boom in tourism from people eager to see it.’ Success! jrnl.ie/6914979 Spanish woman known for failed restoration of Jesus Christ fresco dies

This year the British establishment covered up this new #Banksy. Can we get it Retweeted 10,000 times to show that they can never cover up their complicity in war crimes?? Protect the right to protest! RT!

If, like me, you did NOT get the ONE thing you wanted from Santy (a 95-year-old bachelor farmer with plenty land and a bad cough), treat yourself to a print from an Irish doodler instead - big discounts across the shop, including on bundles, so go on. Go on go on go ON. www.ciaraioch.com/artprints

The most brutal way of telling someone they’re a few sandwiches short of a picnic that I’ve heard in French is t’es pas la truite la plus oxygénée de la rivière. It means “you’re not the most oxygenated trout in the river.” * read on for similar insults from around the world (a thread)…

This show jumped the shark several seasons ago.

Please stop reposting that vicious amoral man's words. You're spreading poison.

There’s also a feature that blocks screenshots from X and other media. However, it doesn’t always work, so I IMPLORE people to *STOP* sharing deranged and toxic content on here. If I wanted to read it, I’d be on those networks. Thanks.

Overheard in the supermarket. Two teenagers. 1: 'Where's Dad?' 2 (with ineffable weariness): 'In the cheese aisle, having the time of his life.'

Public service announcement to anyone in the UK trying to phone people in Ireland. Chances are that, unless you are a ‘contact’, you won’t get through. We’re being bombarded by spam calls from 0044 numbers atm, & so most of us are not answering unknown UK numbers. #SpeirGorm #IrishBluesky

In my latest piece for @thebookseller.com, I talk about my experience working as a Champion of Reading in a secondary school in Dublin with reluctant readers. Rather than concentrating on text, I made my focus the point where language triggers the imagination. www.thebookseller.com/comment/copy...

📌 ciaraioch.com is now taking Christmas orders for prints, cards, and vouchers - each archival-quality print on heavy art paper is made in Ireland, ships internationally in eco-friendly packaging with discount tracked postage, and comes with a FREE card and treats for every customer 🎁 #SpéirGorm

A brilliant idea by the marketing manager of my hot coffee drone delivery company to send President Zelensky a welcoming steaming oat milk caramel latte. Now to log onto BlueSky and see how it went down.

First year selling my art at Christmas without the Other site, where most of my sales came from, as well as losing US orders to new tariffs, so it'll be a tough one - I put huge work into every order, so even if you can't buy, shares help get them in front of eyes. GRMA! www.ciaraioch.com/artprints

I’m hearing rumors about a “new year”, do we really want another one of these things?

Not doing Black Friday because I'm against the creeping Americanisation of Irish life and can't afford to as a small artist, but WILL be doing Vengeful Hag Friday where for every piece of art you purchase from www.ciaraioch.com/artprints I will fervently wish bad cess to your enemies

Gerald Dawe Poetry Bursary - Deadline extended to Wednesday 3rd Dec. Poetry Ireland / Éigse Éireann invites applications from poets for the inaugural Home Again - Gerald Dawe Poetry Bursary aimed at the development and creation of new work. www.poetryireland.ie/news/home-ag...

Nature: Winter is a time of slowing down, resting, conserving energy and recovering for the year ahead Capitalism: NOW IS THE TIME TO SELL SELL SELL, EXTENDED OPENING HOURS, CHECK OUT OUR SALES, BUY EVERYTHING WE SAY YOU NEED FOR AN ELABORATE LABOUR-INTENSIVE FESTIVAL, WORK YOURSELF TO THE BONE

This email could have been a heartbreaking debut novel for fans of Matt Haig and Jodi Picoult.

‘This decision (a ‘bathroom ban’) will not make women safer, but it will undoubtedly endanger trans and non-binary people, who already face higher rates of harassment and violence.’

Dublin bookshop to host festive late-night shopping event following arson attack | Irish Independent share.google/spCMW7qYvg79...

Hey @miseryvulture.bsky.social , nach mbeadh sé greannmhar dá tabharfá cic sa thóin di? Irish is a 'gift' says President Connolly as she visits gaelscoil on first full day in office jrnl.ie/6871895

There is no winning. Read a book in public, you get accused of being performative. Don't read a book in public, Joyce Carol Oates says you are a human shell with no inner life. 😞

This is an excellent book. I highly recommend! www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

But the book is called GLORIOUS EXPLOITS.

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉✨✨✨✨

This premise for a novel by @richycraven.bsky.social is easily the most fun thing to come out of this presidential election.

Really enjoyed seeing Be Careful at the Project last night. Written and performed by Mallika Taneja.

The Basic Income for the Arts scheme will be put on a permanent footing in the Budget tomorrow

Sean Bean Sean bhean

🥳🥳🥳

New statement from Irish foreign minister Simon Harris: "There is a genocide taking place in Gaza and the findings of the UN Commission of Inquiry earlier this week make clear that this is the case. The need for action has never been more urgent. In fact, it is long past due."

Irish media reporting on road collisions too often dehumanises victims and hides driver responsibility. Cyclists and pedestrians are people first — the language we use matters. Read our full statement below.

Dismayed by the "I loathe Gl**ner but his arrest should scare us all" takes. The bar for arrest over a social media post *should be extremely high*, but a guy who's harassed trans people 19 hours a day for 8 years, telling his 600k fans to attack any trans women they see, clears that bar v easily?

Kitty O'Brien: "The video of me being beaten went viral because I’m white, but the violence I experienced is just a drop in the ocean compared to what my Palestinian, Arab and other racialised comrades have endured at the hands of the German state police over the past two years.”

Interesting to read Adam Roberts’ review of ‘The Rest of Our Lives’ by Ben Markovits.

Audible’s ‘AUTHORS SIMILAR TO Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’ are Damilare Kuku, William Shakespeare, and Yael van der Wouden. I mean, I *could* write an essay about the commonality of themes in their work, but it’s not leaping out at me.

We acknowledge that no one has the bandwidth for this, but if it helps: - It’s ‘voilà,’ not ‘wallah!’ - It’s ‘a lot,’ not ‘alot.’ - It’s ‘further ado,’ not ‘farther adieu.’ - It’s ‘flesh out,’ not ‘flush out.’ - It’s ‘sneak peek,’ not ‘sneak peak.’ No worries if not!!!

An upside to the Salt Path kerfuffle is that it's been a catalyst for getting some well-reasoned and relevant essays about chronic illness, disability, writing and publishing, into the public eye. Polly Atkin writes about the expectation of a narrative featuring inspirational recovery.