Ukrainian flags flew in Ireland - including here on Dalkey Castle - for President Zelensky’s visit.

Lord Byron, vampires, a haunted abbey … what’s not to like?

Huge thanks to David for dropping in this afternoon. We now have signed copies in stock - perfect Christmas gift for history buffs!

The wonderful things you see when rambling through the city - ‘a consciousness of their own dignity and worth should be encouraged in women’, Countess Markievicz #speirgorm

Today’s reading, a classic WWI memoir. Brittain goes from enthusiasm to disillusionment to conviction that war is futile.

Next month legislation to ban fox hunting in Ireland comes before the Dáil. TDs have an opportunity to ban this barbaric blood sport. Will the big parties allow their TDs to do the right thing? My Irish Independent column.

Shivaun O’Casey, daughter of legendary playwright Sean O’Casey, @abbeytheatre.bsky.social launches her memoir Next Year Will Be A Good One. She conjured up Lady Gregory, Samuel Beckett … and Barbra Streisand.

Big thanks to Kevin Street library #Dublin for allowing myself and Dr Maebh O’Regan to film in this magnificent, book-lined room. Made me want to pull off the mic, find a nook and #read

Congratulations to Ferdia Lennon who won the 2025 Rooney Prize for his debut novel Glorious Exploits. It’s set in 5th BC Sicily, when captured Athenians stage 2 Euripides plays for food. The judges loved the book (I know because I was one). Ferdia is pictured here @tcd.bluesky.social with his mum.

An ordinary woman who made an extraordinary contribution - a must-read obituary in Sunday Independent on Mary McGee whose courage forced the Irish State to legalise contraception in the 1970s www.e-pages.dk/sundayindepe...

We shouldn’t forget the damage done by the #banks to the lives of ordinary people during the crash - any sale of #PTSB shouldn’t be a celebration but a moment for reflection. My Irish Independent column

Just popped into @ravenbooks.bsky.social for a chat with owner Louisa who always gives great #book recommendations

Magnificent Picasso exhibition @nationalgalleryirl.bsky.social

Three priorities for the next president of Ireland after Oct 24 #election: build bridges domestically, with #NorthernIreland and the #EU. My Irish Independent column about the race for #Aras

New paperback edition of my novel Charlotte about Charlotte Bronte has just landed in bookshops. I popped into Gutter Bookshop for a gloat. As you do.

What tourists who grope Dublin’s landmark Molly Malone statue told me and why I think they should stop. My Irish Independent column www.e-pages.dk/irishindepen...

Great post from @martinadevlinbooks.bsky.social here: www.independent.ie/opinion/comm... @irishpen.bsky.social @englishpen.bsky.social @peninternational.bsky.social

‘When death is about to happen/
does the body grow heavier or lighter?/ He felt himself growing heavier./
He felt himself growing lighter./ When a man says he hears angels singing,/
he hears angels singing.’ From Blake Dying by Mary Oliver #poet and essayist - #read her

My heartbeat’s going pitter-patter with excitement #SeamusHeaney

Red Hugh O’Donnell’s story continues to resonate 400 years on. He features in a great play, Making History, by Brian Friel. #Spain #Irishhistory

Ireland is addicted to cheap, fast fashion - but are we willing to pay the real cost? My Irish Independent column

A must: exhibition in London on the great Jean Rhys, author of Jane Eyre prequel The Wide Sargasso Sea. Her voice was "lyrical, laconic+knowing, describing what it meant to be a woman in exile at whim of powerful men". #postcolonialism #Brontes www.michaelwerner.com/exhibitions/...

Emily Dickinson recognised the pleasure given by a handwritten letter.

Labour leader Ivana Bacik kindly tells the Irish Times she read my Bronte novel Charlotte on hols.

Why the letter from Michael D Higgins to people aged 100 is a reminder we need people of high calibre to offer themselves as ⁦President of Ireland. And a wide field - not a deliberately narrowed one. My Irish Independent column

A must-read on racism and its cruelties from the brilliant Cauvery Madhavan www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The brilliant Martina Devlin @martinadevlinbooks.bsky.social was on RTÉ Radio 1 talking about Edith Somerville - check out her sensational books Edith and Charlotte on the Lilliput site and have a listen to her episode here: www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

Listen back to my @rteradio1.bsky.social essay on #writer Edith Somerville #IrishRM #SomervilleandRoss here www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

Storyteller Joseph O'Connor raises literary ghosts - from Jennifer Johnston to Boland to Stoker to Synge - in this enthralling interview with MadeleineKeane.bluesky.social for IrishWritersCentre.bluesky.social DublinCitylibs.bluesky.social unioflimerick.bluesky.social www.writing.ie/interviews/d...

Normal People? open.substack.com/pub/jeanette... @irishpen.bsky.social @englishpen.bsky.social @peninternational.bsky.social @martinadevlinbooks.bsky.social

Jennifer Johnston readers’ day DLR LexIcon Dún Laoghaire 10-4pm Sat Sep 6 admission free but book on eventbrite

Train crossing in #Dublin

A clearly hungry 6am visitor today. Tried him on cat food. He made short work of it. #urbanfoxes

Ireland has benefited hugely from #EU membership but the bloc’s inability to take meaningful sanctions against Israel over #Gaza shows the drawbacks of its unanimity principle. My Irish Independent column

Nothing says summer like sunflowers

Full house for Edna O’Brien at the National Library of Ireland today

Edna O’Brien died this day last year but her stories live on. #Irishwriters

Just walked past this - a wedding car. Made me think of hope and happiness and I wished this couple well, whoever they are.

Watching the Apple documentary shorturl.at/KyXU0 "1971 The year that music changed everything" made me think ... we haven't reached anything like those levels of protest or cultural activism about Gaza. Why not? @martinadevlinbooks.bsky.social @irishpen.bsky.social @fightingwords2025.bsky.social

#EU must impose full sanctions at once against #Israel over deliberate #famine in #Gaza. My Irish Independent column

‘Edna O'Brien took Mother Ireland and shook her by the scruff’ - Eimear McBride tells why Edna O’Brien is her literary hero in this new series from RTÉ radio produced by Cliodhna Ní Anluain #writers #readers www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

Waiting for my Dart just got a bit more interesting. Especially like the story about the 1837 gold rush sparked by Etty Scott’s dream (spoiler: none found). #Dublin #Dalkey

Servicing the buoys at the Forty Foot in Dublin

How my impromptu decision to go and hear Jeremy Corbyn speak reveals much about free speech in the U and tensions over its support for #Israel. My Irish Independent column on #disarmament #Gaza #Ukraine www.e-pages.dk/irishindepen...

Sure where else would you want to be on a sun-drenched weekend? With Carlo Gébler and ⁦‪Anne O’Neill‬⁩ #ANAM #Tralee arts festival #Kerry

Traffic management #Tralee style #Kerry #ANAM

Lisa Harding talks about the pivot from acting to writing at ANAM Arts Festival Tralee with Anne O’Neill. My takeaway: you need a thick skin in both fields! #arts #books #writing #Kerry