Eoin Colfer hopes to Hook young readersLaureate na nÓg launches nationwide tour of storytelling in his native WexfordMon Oct 06 2014 - 16:32
Andrew Nugent: ‘Don’t write merely for publication. To thine own self be true’‘I am only conscious of the number of texts in various languages which were definitively ruined for us by being forced to study them too young’Sun Oct 05 2014 - 01:00
Paul Hill prison letters documentary to air on BBCGuildford Four man’s words give a real sense of an ordinary young man caught in a terrible miscarriage of justice, trying to reassure his mother, growing up at a distance from the world and his loved onesFri Oct 03 2014 - 10:59
See Richard Ford at Trinity next week, and other listingsCathy Kelly, Colin Barrett and Bram Stoker festivalFri Oct 03 2014 - 10:11
Conor Brady: ‘readers need never be lonely; writers need never be idle’‘Kate O’Brien was one of the great successes of the Censorship Board in that they succeeded in driving her out of the country into penury’Thu Oct 02 2014 - 01:28
Lionel Shriver tale of flirting with death wins BBC short story awardZadie Smith is runner-up for £15,000 prizeWed Oct 01 2014 - 15:45
Royal regrets and Voltaire’s homage to Scotland make Oxford Dictionary of QuotationsWebsite contains links to recordings of quotations spoken by authors including JFK and WB YeatsThu Sept 18 2014 - 10:10
Herman Koch on being caught by Holden Caulfield‘Joyce is under-rated because nobody really reads him. They think he is too difficult, which, apart from Finnegans Wake, he is not’Sun Sept 14 2014 - 01:00
Colin Bateman on Catch-22 and the perils of researchWhat book would you give to a friend’s child on their 18th birthday? ‘I probably wouldn’t’Fri Sept 12 2014 - 10:47
Michael Foley on killer quotations, flawed characters and the joy of Proust‘Being a writer taught me that to be good at anything you have to devote your entire life to it, and that even this is no guarantee of success. Fortunately there was also another lesson – that process is more important than product so that the pleasure of writing is its own reward’Fri Sept 12 2014 - 10:29
Peter Lantos on being more prolific than Barbara CartlandSixty years after leaving a sleepy provincial town in Hungary with his parents for Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, the renowned neuroscientist retraced his steps before writing his childhod memoirFri Sept 12 2014 - 09:35
Alex Preston: ‘My first book was decent, the second not so much, the new one is beautiful’‘I like the thrill of the fact/fiction blur. It’s not new, but it seems more vital and vivid now than ever before’Wed Sept 10 2014 - 01:00
Evelyn O’Rourke: ‘Nothing is as absorbing as a good book. Time stands still’‘It is weird that even when your research topic is yourself, it’s amazing how many facts about yourself that you have to double-check’Tue Sept 09 2014 - 01:00
Patricia O’Reilly on the wonder of the world and the power of the word‘Not a wasted word’ – it’s a philosophy I try to follow in my writingSun Sept 07 2014 - 01:00
Mark Haysom: ‘A book in your hand is like holding magic’‘For Love, Love Me Do, I lived through the fifties and sixties. I think that’s a pretty impressive amount of research’Mon Sept 01 2014 - 13:00
‘Lessons are learned through living. Reading reinforces them and helps you make sense of them’Saskia Sarginson on her writing life and lovesMon Sept 01 2014 - 01:00
Derek Landy on living life without a boss‘Make every chapter your absolute favourite . . . Then, when it’s done, make the NEXT chapter your absolute favourite’Thu Aug 28 2014 - 07:00
Dwayne Alexander Smith on the magic in the detailsThis week, to mark the end of our How to Write a Book series, we have a daily Q&A with a debut authorMon Aug 11 2014 - 12:00
Daniel Seery on cookery books, erotic fiction and murblingThis week, to mark the end of our How to Write a Book series, we have a daily Q&A with a debut authorSun Aug 10 2014 - 12:00
Seán O’Connor on the gentle world of the book industry and a distinctly decent sub-species of the human raceThis week, to mark the end of our How to Write a Book series, we have a daily Q&A with a debut authorFri Aug 08 2014 - 12:00
Léan Cullinan on learning to love rewritingThis week, to mark the end of our How to Write a Book series, we have a daily Q&A with a debut authorThu Aug 07 2014 - 12:00
Darragh McKeon on standing in the margins, beyond influence or affiliationThis week, to mark the end of our How to Write a Book series, we have a daily Q&A with a debut authorWed Aug 06 2014 - 12:00
Liz Nugent on getting published in the most difficult period ever for the industryThis week, to mark the end of our How to Write a Book series, we will have a daily Q&A with a debut authorTue Aug 05 2014 - 12:00
Brought to Book: Mary Morrissy on Alice Munro, Jane Eyre and James Wood‘I write at home in a small study that used to be the spare bedroom until I jettisoned the bed and forced guests to sleep on a sofabed in the living room’Mon Jun 30 2014 - 01:00
Arise, Sir John! France honours BanvilleBestselling literary author receives second major award in a monthTue Jun 24 2014 - 17:06
Brought to Book: Jonathan Meades on the trial and execution of Tony Blair‘Learn the word for everything and remember them. Learn the rules and forget them’Tue Jun 24 2014 - 12:00
Brought To Book: Yvonne Cassidy – ‘Find your own voice, don’t write for other people’‘Don’t worry about getting published, or getting an agent or any of that, just write until you are finished. You can’t control these external factors, but you can control the focus and time you put into your own work’Mon Jun 23 2014 - 12:00
Brought to Book: Jane Casey on Donna Tartt, Maeve Brennan and avoiding the twist‘If I love a book, I want to own a print version of it. My (huge) collection is like a physical manifestation of what furnishes my brain’Sun Jun 22 2014 - 01:00
Brought to Book: Paul Lynch - ‘Each one of us is a labyrinth of complexity’‘It sounds strange to say, but when I read Don DeLillo’s Underworld in my early twenties, I just knew I would be a writer’Fri Jun 20 2014 - 01:00
Brought to book: Bonnie Greer on Hemingway, Borges and Anne Frank‘Critics, especially legacy critics, are important for sales, prizes, maybe longevity. But they don’t tell you about writing or if you can do it. It’s business’Thu Jun 19 2014 - 12:00
Carys Bray on Mormon stories, ‘The Stone Diaries’ and writing the fun bits first‘I think reading has helped me to develop empathy. I love trying on other lives’Wed Jun 18 2014 - 01:00
Brought to Book – Alison Jameson: ‘Your own inner voice might be the biggest challenge facing you. Learn to “shush” it’‘I wish I’d read The Catcher in the Rye earlier as I think I would have written more then. I had things to say as a youngster but I didn’t think they would be worth reading’Mon Jun 16 2014 - 11:31
Brought to Book – Miriam Toews: ‘Ignore all advice about writing. Leave your blood on every page. Every page!’‘I wanted to do a Masters degree in Irish literature but I ended up getting pregnant instead’Mon Jun 16 2014 - 01:37
Oxford English Dictionary selects 100 words that define first World WarThe term First World War itself was first recorded on September 10th, 1918Fri Jun 13 2014 - 10:57
Brought to Book: Rob Doyle on Keith Talent, Nietzsche’s morals and stone-cold classics‘I’m grateful to the authors of shorter books, because my concentration is shot from the internet and all the coffee’Fri Jun 13 2014 - 01:00
NI photography book wins Irish-American prizeTitle showcases significant works by more than 50 photographersThu Jun 12 2014 - 14:30
Brought to Book: John Boyne on Noddy, Homer Wells, ‘Birdsong’ and a Kindle tip‘I am at my happiest when I have completed a first draft of a novel and am about to begin a second’Fri Jun 06 2014 - 01:00
Baileys winner Eimear McBride puts it up to publishers‘Large publishing houses should siphon off some of their vast wealth to champion experimental fiction’Thu Jun 05 2014 - 13:14
John Banville is first Irish author to win €50,000 Asturias awardHis alter ego Benjamin Black is also praisedWed Jun 04 2014 - 17:21
Sara Baume wins €15,000 Davy Byrnes short story awardWriter beats two published novelists to follow in distinguished footsteps of Anne Enright and Claire KeeganTue Jun 03 2014 - 18:30
Brought to Book: Viv Albertine on Cocteau, Ono, Austen and Catherine the Great’s horse‘Don’t waffle. Be honest. Write so you’re ashamed. Edit it about 20 times, get another three professional people to edit it. Edit it another 10 times’Mon Jun 02 2014 - 01:00
Brought to Book: Vona Groarke on the unbearable lightness of reviews‘What has being a writer taught me? Precision. Restraint. Slyness. Envy. Thrift. The value of a good noun’Fri May 30 2014 - 01:00
Eimear McBride wins €15,000 Kerry Group Irish novel of the year award‘A Girl Is A Half-formed Thing’ author has already won Goldsmiths Prize and been shortlisted for Baileys, Folio and Desmond Elliott prizesWed May 28 2014 - 20:00
UCD honours Maeve Binchy with €4,000 travel award for creative writingInaugural winner to explore the 31 regions of the BBC shipping forecastTue May 27 2014 - 15:33
Eimear McBride shortlisted for another major prize‘A Girl is a Half-formed Thing’ author won Goldsmiths Prize and made shortlist for Folio Prize and Baileys Women’s PrizeMon May 26 2014 - 13:07
Brought to Book: Rebecca Reid on incest, American noir and writing under the duvet‘Never write what you think people want to read. Write what is inside you and follow it through every time, because that’s where the essence of true writing comes to life’Mon May 26 2014 - 01:00
Brought to Book: Brian Conaghan on Yossarian, The Fault in our Stars and Catcher in the Rye‘As long as people have eyes there will always be a publishing industry. Don’t believe all the scaremongering that modern technology is taking over’Fri May 23 2014 - 01:00
Hassan Blasim becomes first Arab writer to win Independent Foreign Fiction Prize‘The Iraqi Christ’, which presents Iraq as a surrealist inferno, has yet to be published in its original ArabicThu May 22 2014 - 19:30
Brought to Book: Sheila Agnew on Middlemarch’s wisdom and the title that brought her homeThe rewards of being a writer outweigh the wages she earned as a Manhattan lawyerThu May 22 2014 - 01:00
