On a few occasions… translators have tended to be squeamish; thus, in Journey to the End of the Night, the statement pertaining to women in wartime, "la guerre porte aux ovaires," becomes, "war goes straight to their tummies." I naturally put the ovaries back in.

Ireland is the first country in the world whose people have voted to elect three women as Presidents. #MaryRobinson #MaryMcAleese #CatherineConnolly 🇮🇪🇮🇪🇮🇪

In my early days of traveling from Dublin to London at Christmas I packed a loaf-shaped nut roast wrapped in tinfoil into my hand luggage. It did not occur to me that it somewhat resembled an explosive device until security pulled me aside to examine my bag.. #NutRoast

I'm the parent of a trans teen a year younger than Brianna should be. She's been beaten, spat on, outed & bullied out of school. By children who have grown up surrounded by toxic transphobia. She didnt leave the house for over 2 yrs - her online trans friends were the ONLY ppl who understood 1/

I have my limits... #vegan #aldi #brusselssprouts

Any other booksellers had some guy claiming to represent Deliveroo, wanting to “onboard” their bookshop to the app for book sales? I was polite and 100% uninterested, also WTAF

Ghostly pallor - but a great pod. @QMUL's finest, @robertsaunders.bsky.social talking Britain going berserk. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ8q...

I only had one thing published this year but it was my first publication in 3 years, so I'm happy. It's my sad little cannibal smut book. asterismbooks.com/product/flei...

Been reading Clive James' Cultural Amnesia again. It's a worryingly prescient piece of work within the context of being a historically-geared memoir. It is also astonishingly well written; one of those books in which the prose frequently makes me do a double take

The British commentariat is so cooked that they can't even conceive of people wanting to vote for someone who thinks shitting on minorities is bad so let's just ignore it

I always forget to promote these things, but I'll have an essay on RTE Radio 1's The Business about 30 mins ago, should you fancy a listen

My previous account was hacked and deleted — I lost around 2,000 followers. This is my new profile. You’re welcome to follow again for stories from the in-between. #writer #poetry #substack

A quick video from the Mayo bog meadow. Mainly so I can practice splicing two bits of video together for TikTok... #Mayo #Meadow #Rewilding #DogWalk #Saturday

The blacklist is back, HUAC will probably be next to return

Fascinating that these far right are terrorists if UK says they are; same thugs rioting outside a refugee centre in West Dublin are ‘activists’ & ‘concerned locals’. They’re not linked, they’ll say. Unless of course you open Twitter & see them upload photos of themselves, together, at various riots!

It’s 6 November, and you know what that means, don’t you? YES, THAT’S RIGHT. It’s the 156th anniversary of the death of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s pet wombat

“This case, ladies and gentleman of the jury, is about a sandwich.” Closing arguments from the defense in the DC sandwich guy case are now underway.

They're called tine chnámh in Irish, which again translates as "bone fire", if that's of any relevance

frankly why tf are we doing fireworks at all. It’s called Bonfire Night. get your ex’s photographs and your childhood Harry Potter books and light that shit up

It’s BRIGHTON tonight for the final gig of this first leg of the tour. Tickets available (loads of them actually so do come along if you’re nearby and fancy it). www.komedia.co.uk/shows/brian-... And thanks to everyone who came along to see us in Milton Keynes last night. That was a lot of fun.

Look at the negative framing of this. We elected a President we can all be proud of in a historic landslide vote. What’s wrong with: “Why did FF & FG get it so wrong …… again?” Fook off RTE.

We're about to start upgrading the website. I say we. A very clever man called Pete is. All I know is that we're going to have to turn the website off for a few hours this afternoon, at 3pm So if you want a book, you'd best get ordering it now.

I loved thinking this through for @writing.ie #spéirgorm #books #IrishWriting #booksky #booktalk

"Daddy, my eyes hurt".. but yes, I found them in the end... (Alt Text for a clue..)

Who fancies trying "whisper into my ring" at an Irish business meeting? #Meetings #BusinessTalk #AI #MyRing

This is how it looked on the ballot. Clear and easy to understand.

Dogshit AI slop for an ad from coke yes, but we're all boycotting Coca-Cola anyway because of it's support of Israel and the genocide of Palestinians. Right?

The flip side of this is the male author who was asked about his writing routine, and who talked about how much he loved the feeling that he could close his door and then “the day is completely yours” to focus on writing. He had, at the time, two young children… and, of course, a wife

Pretty excited i've just booked another trip for next year - me and a few friends are going to Bardsey Island just off the tip of the Llyn Penninsula for a few days and a full digital switch off 🏝 Bardsey Island has recently been awarded international dark sky status too! 🌟🌌

Excited to be heading to The Book Nook, Stirling, for an evening of readings and conversation with the wondrous Kevin MacNeil. Tix are now available on a Pay What You Can basis for what promises to be a lovely pre-Xmas event. thebooknookstirling.co.uk/tickets/In-C... 😍 @fairlightbooks.bsky.social

A Map Of Britain After The 2029 Technology Crash, by me and my dad.

did you yourself feel such a mystical vibration, when first told that you and your ship were now out of sight of land?

Time to take an axe to an AI data centre? #Luddites

I sat down with perhaps the most level-headed man in rock music, Jon Bon Jovi, to talk about Trump, tennis and his return to touring after an atrophying vocal chord put his career at risk. this week's Lunch with the FT: www.ft.com/content/25f2...

And for some of us, hating genAI has nothing to do with distrust, but is a matter of principle: we don't approve of its egregious theft of other people's work, its astronomocial resource demands, or of its replacing human talent with mediocrity.

I am absolutely thrilled to have five pieces published & beautifully presented on the splendid @lothlorienpoetryj.bsky.social site, edited by that great member of the #poetrycommunity @stridermarcusjones.bsky.social #poetsonbluesky #poetry #writingcommunity #booksky

Something very 👀 about Irish authors who never give a single character an Irish name despite how common they are at home

16 years ago today we opened the doors to Dublin's newest bookshop.That @gutterbookshop.bsky.social continues to thrive today brings me so much joy. We created something that brought people together & celebrated books & reading. I feel like I added something good to the world & I'm so proud of that.

Israeli committee approves bill for execution of Palestinian prisoners - https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/israeli-committee-approves-bill-execution-palestinian-prisoners

We are BEYOND delighted to have two nominations for the 2026 Carnegie Medal for Writing! A FIX OF LIGHT and SOLO! Huge congratulations to YA debut authors Kel Menton and Gráinne O’Brien! @kelmenton.bsky.social @grainneobrien.bsky.social @carnegiemedals.bsky.social #Carnegies2026

This is exactly it. They think the far right are a whole bunch of votes to be mopped up, when they're a tiny minority. The left are unrepresented and huge.

I'm watching RTE breakfast telly, and a lovely old man is sitting on the sofa telling RTE's equivalent of Lorraine Kelly that Samhain is a time where the living think of the dead and we find light in the darkness, and it's the most RTE moment ever.

Buy books from bookshops! In Ireland some fab options are @kennysbookshop.bsky.social @booksupstairs.bsky.social @omahonysbooks.bsky.social

Last night I went to the Puca Festival in Trim, Ireland. It's all fun and games until someone unleashes a giant demonic hare.

Happy Birthday to us! This month Unabridged Bookstore is celebrating 45 years of business and books! Thank you so very much to all of our wonderful customers and friends, to our Lakeview neighbors, and to the literary community of Chicago for keeping Unabridged Bookstore going since 1980!

Strangely their being arseholes does not arise in this discussion.

The final countdown. Check out all of Ireland's chart-topping singles of 1986 at Irish Number Ones (content warning: 'The Lady In Red') irishnumberones.com/by-date/#1986