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

The Parades Commission in #NorthernIreland has been a success. Why not set up a Bonfires Commission? My Irish Independent column

Honeybee in our garden today. Makes your heart sing.

Whirling Dervishes from Turkey at Bradford Literary Festival- utterly mesmerising

I’m in Bradford for the lit fest. Yes they really do say yes mush for hallo here! Love it! #CityofCulture2025 #Bradford2025

I never tire of #London in hail, rain or bluest of blue skies like today

Funny old world when the powers-that-be decline to use their might to halt the Gaza killing fields, but drag a 27-year-old rapper before a judge on daft terrorism charges. My Irish Independent column on #Kneecap #Gaza Kneecap are doing what governments are afraid to do - calling out genocide

Ouch! Spectre raised of McDonalds or other fast food outlets in Ireland’s historic monument #GPO #oconnellstreet on @MrJustinMac.bsky.social radio show. Shops+cafés proposed. The mind boggles at what Irish gov is opening the door to. Yes Dublin’s main thoroughfare needs revitalised but not like this

Best @hinterlandkells ever this year and there’s more tomorrow Sunday. Me going phew after my event. With me is programmer (and more besides) [email protected] #books #writers #bookfestival

Loved meeting ⁦‪@tcddublin‬⁩.bluesky.social #alumni #bookclub this evening. They ask searching questions! #Brontes ⁦‪@LilliputPress‬⁩.bluesky.social

Because it’s Sunday #poetry

A new approach on #housing is happening under Janes Browne. It’s going to be ugly for #tenants in the short term. Will it yield results long term? My Irish Independent column

#Trump has fantasy version of US labour market: revert to 1950s for men- white guys earning a lot for factory work; revert to 1940s for women- back into the home, Brown Uni economist Mark Blyth tells ⁦‪davidmurphy.bluesky.social #dbf2025 PS no surprise: it won’t fly

Economist Mark Blyth talks inflation with @DavidMurphy.bluesky.social #DalkeyBookFestival #DBF2025

@martindoyle.bsky.social @martinadevlinbooks.bsky.social @irishtimes.com @hlinehan.bsky.social @bernarddunleavy.bsky.social

Why these questions asked by the children of #Gaza, many orphaned by #war, say it all. My column.

If you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention. 🎥: Time, 💬 Greta Thunberg

The Bloomsday episode of The Fifth Court podcast - Frank McNally of The Irishman’s Diary on the legal issues in Ulysses. (Please share with the Joyceans in your life.) open.spotify.com/episode/064R...

Rain didn’t keep people away from today’s 1st Rath Literary Festival in Drumballyroney church Co Down where Patrick #Bronte preached+the hall where he taught as young man. Hurrah for #Rathfriland #womensinstitute for pulling together a great Bronte Day. Delighted to be part of it

Powerful article by @martinadevlinbooks.bsky.social in today's Independent www.independent.ie/opinion/comm... @irishpen.bsky.social