Our 2026 Poetry Workshop runs from January until May and will provided a group of likeminded poets the opportunity to seriously pursue and develop their craft. The deadline for applications is Tuesday 2nd December, 5pm Irish time. Apply here: stingingfly.org/poetry-works...

If respect is the goal, why are we debating where trans people can exist? As Labour's Bridget Phillipson weighs new ‘single-sex space’ guidance, the debate reduces trans lives to a policy dilemma. In my column, I argue this is an evasion of moral responsibility. www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

— Are you reading the - — The Jan Carson Few and Far Between proof? Yeah I am. Very excited to get stuck into this @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social ! @doubledayuk.bsky.social

RIP Margaretta D'Arcy, pictured outside the Dáil, June 2025, aged 91. [pic: Rose Comiskey]

This is brilliant from Anna Cafolla for the Guardian @theguardian.com "A generation of artists are reckoning with what it meant to come of age through recession, austerity and the tail end of the Troubles." www.theguardian.com/music/2025/n...

We're thrilled to announce the next two poetry books from Banshee Press: Found in a Context of Destruction by Tim MacGabhann (February 2026) and Render by Billy Ramsell (June 2026) 📚 bansheepress.org/read/announc...

Digital violence is 'spreading at alarming speed' as millions of women face online abuse A new report from UN Women has found that digital violence is intensifying, yet nearly half of the world's women and girls lack legal protection from digital abuse www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

BREAKING: Police mass arrest protestors at the Ministry of Justice for peacefully holding signs which say: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action" The Terrorism Act is being weaponised to silence the public. We will continue to resist until the ban is lifted. wedonotcomply.org

Justice for families as UK man to be sentenced for online suicide forum deaths A man who sold a lethal chemical on a pro-suicide forum has admitted aiding suicide, prompting renewed calls for Ofcom to shut the site down amid links to more than 130 UK deaths www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

Exactly one woman has won the Booker in the past six years www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Surprise guest Ali Smith at the Margaret Atwood London @barbicancentre.bsky.social event! Happy Monday!

Turns out the Brits were at the same carry on in Kenya as they were in the north of Ireland. It’s great on collective & individual sacrifices & traumas incurred for freedom — & what that freedom from violence looks like once the war is over. (Spoiler alert: it’s mental health crisis xxx)

Two Irish writers up for Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize. Congratulations to Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin and Catherine Airey. And to Clair Wills, shortlisted for the Ackerley memoir prize www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

Weekend reading: a conversation with Lucy Caldwell and Aimée Walsh www.tolkajournal.org/read-online/...

From Britney’s breakdown to Pamela Anderson’s sex tape, pop culture made millenial women hate themselves substack.com/@thereadpart...

This might be of interest to Irish writers. my.uplift.ie/petitions/pr...

I'm looking to speak with people effected by the US visa terminations due to being pro-Palestine. Rubio has said more than 300 visas have already been cancelled. Are you an org. who works with those in ICE detention? Email: [email protected] #journorequests

Monday is #TransDayofVisibility & I'd love to speak to trans people about what the day means to them. This piece will be a celebration and a call for #transrights. If interested email: [email protected] Hope to speak on Monday ✨ #journorequests

‘I am floored’: Anne Enright on winning $175,000 Windham-Campbell Prize. Booker Prize-winning author becomes eighth Irish writer to win one of the literary world’s most generous prizes www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

Today I reviewed Dylan Mulvaney’s debut memoir Paper Doll: Notes from a Late Bloomer for the Mirror. Joyous, beautiful & heart-wrenching, Paper Doll is a lifeline for those searching for trans joy ✨ #booksky #bookreview #LGBTQ #TransRights #DylanMulvaney www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/dy...

Calling emerging writers living in the North! We’re delighted to announce a new, online mentoring programme with writer-mentors Jan Carson & Stephen Sexton. The 5 awardees will showcase their work-in-progress at Belfast Book Festival. DEADLINE: 19 Feb 2025 irishwriterscentre.ie/opportunitie...

"Then, aged thirty, I took an evening course at the Irish Writers Centre, where I was encouraged to take my writing seriously for the first time." Thanks Roisín O'Donnell! Great to learn our courses helped you on your writing journey. Read about Roisín's debut #Nesting 🔽 image.ie/living/page-...

It’s official! THESE DAYS will be out in the US on 8 April with Sarah Jessica Parker’s imprint at Zando, SJPLit. I love the ethos of the imprint and I LOVE the US cover - a detail from a painting by Scottish artist Alberto Morocco.

Ex-soldier Cathal Crotty jailed for two years as court overturns suspended sentence for attack on Natasha O'Brien.

I'm delighted to share the advert for a collaborative PhD which I'll be co-supervising with Dr Paddy Fitzgerald of the Mellon Centre for Migration Studies (Omagh). This project, 'Finding "home" in a cultural landscape of migration & belonging' has a deadline of 10 March www.qub.ac.uk/courses/post...

I’ve read a handful of (in my opinion) perfect books this year & this is one of them. Sneaking right in at the end of the year. Short & brutal. Brilliant. Can’t believe it’s a debut!

Debut Novelists @thereadparts.bsky.social, Patrick Holloway & Cathy Sweeney ennisbookclubfestival.com/Event_slug/d...

Solidarity with my colleagues at the Observer and the Guardian who are striking today and tomorrow. There is a virtual picket line, too. If you value the paper, its history, its staff, and freelancers like me, please support them by avoiding reading and sharing any articles for the next 48 hours.

Today we released episode 3 of our WCLF podcast. Jan Carson @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social was in conversation with Oonagh Montague & their event was recorded in #Bantry on 17 July 2024. Tune in (& subscribe) wherever you get your podcasts ❤️ #WestCorkLiteraryFestival open.spotify.com/show/2gHrqGc...

Together with @irishpen.bsky.social and the Estate of Seamus Heaney, we’re delighted to announce Susannah Dickey’s ISDAL @picadorbooks.bsky.social as the winner of the inaugural #PENHeaneyPrize. Find out more ⤵️ www.englishpen.org/posts/news/s...

Ferdia Lennon wins Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction and is one of several Irish on Nero Awards shortlists with Colin Barrett, Donal Ryan and London-Irish writer Orlaine McDonald. Paul Murray and Michael Magee won last year. Murray has also won the Wodehouse www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

Really excited about the new Stinging Fly poetry workshop — applications close next Monday!

I deleted Twitter last month & forgot I set up this account last year! Hello! Is this app. nicer to be on?

Here we go! My debut novel Exile will be published by John Murray Press in May 2024. Over the moon. It’s about homesickness, female friendship & the life-changing effects of sexual violence. Thanks to my agent Eleanor Birne & my editor Becky Walsh for their belief in Exile.