In The Irish Times tomorrow, Colm Tóibín tells me about his two new books, the novella A Long Winter and Ship in Full Sail, his essays as laureate of Irish fiction. Arundhati Roy talks to John Self about her memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me. Sara Baume writes about engaging as a writer and artist with her mother’s passion for archaeology. Dr Suzanne Crowe, president of the Irish Medical Council and author of Intensive Care: True Stories of Healing, Heartache and Hope from Inside Irish Children’s Medicine, writes about the death of her newborn daughter, Beatrice. Anthony Delaney, author of Queer Georgians, on unearthing the long and rich history of gay lives in Ireland. And there is a Q&A with Julia Kelly about her memoir of her mother, Still.
Reviews are Padraic Fogarty on The Lie of the Land by John Gibbons and The Living & the Dead by Conor W O’Brien; Nathan Smith on Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy; Paul D’Alton on Inherited Fate by Noémi Orvos-Tóth; Ddclan Burke on the best new crime fiction; Kevin Power on Indignity: A Life Reimagined by Lea Ypi; Sara Keating on children’s fiction; Andrew Lynch on So You Want to Own Greenland? Lessons from the Vikings to Trump by Elizabeth Buchanan; Mei Chin on Greyhound by Joanna Pocock; Dean Jobb on An Accidental Villain: A Soldier’s Tale of War, Deceit and Exile by Linden MacIntyre; Neil Hegarty on The Two Roberts by Damian Barr; Helena Mulkerns on Amity by Nathan Harris; and Naoise Dolan on A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews.
Tomorrow’s Irish Times Eason offer is May All Your Skies Be Blue by Fíona Scarlett, just €5.99, a €6 saving.
Sally Rooney has been nominated for a Sky Arts Award in Literature for her latest novel, Intermezzo.
Also shortlisted are Alan Hollinghurst for Our Evenings, a luminous portrait of modern Britain told through the life of a half-Burmese scholarship boy turned actor, and Gwyneth Lewis, the inaugural National Poet of Wales, for her memoir, Nightshade Mother.
The Irish author’s citation says: “Rooney’s latest novel is a quietly devastating exploration of grief, desire, and emotional dislocation. The book follows two brothers – Peter, a guarded and successful Dublin lawyer, and Ivan, a socially withdrawn chess prodigy – in the wake of their father’s death. What unfolds is not a singular story of mourning, but a dual study of intimacy under pressure: the strained connections between lovers, siblings, and the parts of ourselves we hide.
“With emotional precision, understated structure and psychological depth, the novel resists easy resolutions, instead lingering in the pauses and ruptures between life’s defining moments – its intermezzos. With restraint, subtlety and grace, Rooney crafts a work that is both formally elegant and profoundly humane.”
The winner will be announced at a live ceremony at the Roundhouse, London, on September 16th.
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The Festival of Italian and Irish Literature in Ireland (FIILI) will be launched at the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) on St Stephen’s Green, Dublin on September 11th, with renowned author Alessandro Baricco in conversation with Enrica Ferrara.
The festival, now in its third year, is an initiative of the Italian Institute of Culture (IIC) in Dublin, Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann and Trinity College Dublin, supported by Literature Ireland, the Society for Italian Studies and the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation and in partnership with MoLI.
FIILI, a nod to ‘poet’ in Irish and the ‘thread of the story’ in Italian – ‘filo narrativo’ – brings together a host of fascinating contemporary writers.
Co-curated by its three founders – Marco Gioacchini (IIC director), and authors Catherine Dunne and Enrica Ferrara – the festival will highlight the work of Italian poets and writers Alessandro Baricco, Claudia Durastanti, Silvio Perrella, Gian Maria Annovi, Marco Balzano, Nadia Terranova, Giovanni Fasanella and Stefania Auci.
Irish writers and poets in conversation are Joseph O’Connor, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Justine McCarthy, Kimberly Campanello, Aifric MacAodha, Naoise Dolan and Darran Anderson.
On September 26th, Joseph O’Connor will be in conversation with Catherine Dunne at the Italian Institute of Culture in Dublin. Acclaimed translators Elvira Grassi, Howard Curtis and Katherine Gregor will discuss the challenges of translating regional differences with James Hadley.
On September 27th, panels will be moderated by the curators and by Sinéad Mac Aodha, Viviana Fiorentino and Stiliana Milkova. They will take place at Regent House, TCD, and simultaneous translation will be provided.
All guests will speak to the theme of imagining and translating the world ‘In Other Wor (l) ds’. Admission is free subject to availability.
More details here and here.
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The longlist for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, which celebrates the best in non-fiction writing, has been announced. The winning author will receive £50,000, with the other shortlisted authors receiving £5,000, bringing the total prize value to £75,000.
“Variety is the common theme of this longlist,” says 2025 chair of judges, Robbie Millen, with “all human life being found in the pages of these 12 remarkable books.”
The titles on this year’s longlist are:
The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s by Jason Burke
Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: China’s Stolen Children and a Story of Separated Twins by Barbara Demick
The Finest Hotel in Kabul: A People’s History of Afghanistan by Lyse Doucet
How to End a Story: Collected Diaries by Helen Garner
The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief by Richard Holmes
The Last Days of Budapest: Spies, Nazis, Rescuers and Resistance, 1940-1945 by Adam LeBor
John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
Captives and Companions: A History of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Islamic World by Justin Marozzi
Between the Waves: The Hidden History of a Very British Revolution 1945-2016 by Tom McTague
Lone Wolf: Walking the Faultlines of Europe by Adam Weymouth
Electric Spark: The Enigma of Muriel Spark by Frances Wilson
This year’s longlist offers fresh insight into the lives, creative processes and legacy of the titans of art and culture, including an exploration of the iconic Lennon-McCartney relationship as well as biographies of Muriel Spark and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Other subjects include a range of 20th-century historical narratives that continue to define our geopolitical landscape and identities, from the long, tortuous relationship between Britain and postwar federal Europe; life in Budapest before during and after the second World War; the impact of China’s one-child policy; and the development of modern Afghanistan.
Three authors previously recognised by the prize feature on the 2025 longlist: 2010 winner Barbara Demick, twice shortlisted Richard Holmes and twice longlisted Frances Wilson.
Other recognised authors on this year’s longlist include Pulitzer Prize finalist Yiyun Li, recipient of the Australian Society of Authors Medal Helen Garner, Orwell Prize shortlisted Adam LeBor, Ondaatje Prize winner Justin Marozzi and Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year recipient Adam Weymouth. They are joined by two former foreign correspondents – Jason Burke and Lyse Doucet – as well as acclaimed writer Ian Leslie and The New Statesman’s editor-in-chief Tom McTague.
The longlist was chosen by Robbie Millen, literary editor of The Times and The Sunday Times (chair); historian and author, Pratinav Anil; journalist and broadcaster, Inaya Folarin Iman; cultural historian, biographer and novelist, and previous winner of the prize, Lucy Hughes-Hallett; deputy culture editor of The Economist, Rachel Lloyd; and author and biographer, Peter Parker.
The shortlist will be announced on October 2nd, with the prize winner announced on November 4th.
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Wexford Public Library Service is hosting a special literary programme celebrating the 80th birthday year of one of Ireland’s most distinguished writers, John Banville.
Over the course of a remarkable career, Banville has redefined the boundaries of fiction, earning worldwide acclaim for the mastery of his work. From The Book of Evidence to The Sea, his Booker Prize triumph, to his alter ego as Benjamin Black, Banville’s work has captivated readers across genres and generations.
“John Banville is not only one of Ireland’s greatest living writers, but he is also a truly global figure,” says Dr Eoghan Smith in his introduction to the four-part Reading John Banville series that started in Wexford Library on Tuesday evening with a discussion of The Book of Evidence. A film adaptation of The Sea will be shown at 5.30pm on September 23rd and then discussed. This reading series ends with a discussion on The Singularities and The Drowned on October 18th.
The programme concludes on October 23rd when John Banville is interviewed by Prof Derek Hand at 7pm. Prof Hand also kicked off the two-part lecture programme with the lecture John Banville: resisting silence, an exploration of his writing life’ last week. The second lecture in the series will be delivered by Prof Christopher Morash, (TCD) titled Scratch, Scratch ...: Watching the writer at work in the John Banville Archive. Working through the manuscripts, which are held by the Library of Trinity College Dublin, Prof Morash will offer a rare insight into how Banville pursues his art.
Hand, in an essay commissioned for the brochure to accompany this appreciation, said:
“His characters are writers, artists and historians, which allows him to make the creative imagination a central element to his novels. Words are important to him and to his characters in what they can reveal, but also in what they can conceal. His aesthetic pursuit of the well-made sentence becomes the keynote gesture of his art, becoming a means of masking underling disorder.”
All events are free to attend. To secure your place, visit wexfordcoco.libcal.com or ring Wexford Town library on 053 9196759.
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Paul Lynch, winner of the 2023 Booker Prize, has been named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French minister of culture. The decoration was conferred by French ambassador Céline Place during a ceremony held at the French residence in Dublin, in recognition of his outstanding literary career and his significant contribution to cultural dialogue between Ireland and France.
The honour is one of the highest distinctions bestowed by the French ministry of culture and celebrates individuals who have made a notable impact on the arts and literature in France and beyond.
Accepting the award, Lynch said that he was deeply honoured.
“France has played an extraordinary role in my life as a writer. Seventeen years ago, in a small flat on the Left Bank, I first discovered my true voice on the page. On a later return to Paris, I was riding the RER from Charles de Gaulle airport into the city when I received a call to say that a publisher had made an offer for my first book. I arrived in Paris as a professional novelist for the first time in my life. Every one of my books has found a home in France, thanks in no small part to the guidance of my French editor, Francis Geffard of Albin Michel.
“France remains fiercely protective of culture, with an army of serious and passionate readers who live for the rewards of literature. I have seen the thriving, independent bookshops wherever I have visited. There remains a proud resistance to Amazon, with laws that restrict online discounting and ban free delivery of books. That idea is simple but powerful – in France, a book is not merely a commodity but a cultural artefact, protected by legislation so that local bookshops can survive and serve their communities. And as a reader, I have been having a conversation with French literature all my adult life. It is a staggering tradition in length and breadth – one that I return to again and again and that I teach as an example to my writing students at Maynooth University. French literature forever changed the novel. Every writer today, consciously or not, remains its ambassador. ”
Lynch’s five novels – Red Sky in Morning, The Black Snow, Grace, Beyond the Sea, and Prophet Song – have all been published in French by Éditions Albin Michel, under the guidance of editor Francis Geffard, and have found a devoted readership in France.
He was awarded the Prix Libr’à Nous for best foreign novel and the Prix des lecteurs de Privat in 2016 for The Black Snow, the Prix Gens de mer in 2022 for Beyond the Sea, and most recently, the Prix des Libraires 2025 du roman étranger for Prophet Song – a prize awarded directly by booksellers.
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Knowth (Royal Irish Academy, 2024) was announced as the winner of the prestigious EAA Book Prize 2025 – in the ‘Archaeology and the public’ category – at the 31st European Association of Archaeologists’ annual meeting.
Editor Helena King, on accepting the award, said “the idea with this book was to bring the wonder of Knowth to the broader public, beyond the world of archaeology and archaeologists. To provide an overview of what Knowth is all about, and what’s visible on site today, in an accessible, approachable and portable guide that also points to the deeper wealth of knowledge available for those who might be interested in this fascinating place.”
Helena King, editor and contributor, worked with contributors Kerri Cleary, Elizabeth Shee Twohig, Claire Breen, Patrizia La Piscopia, Edel Bhreathnach and Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, photographer Ken Williams, illustrator Steve Doogan, and designer Fidelma Slattery, to create this beautifully assembled guide. ria.ie/knowth
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The Cundill History Prize, the world’s leading award for history writing, has announced its 2025 shortlist. The US$75,000 prize is awarded annually to the book that demonstrates excellence across the prize’s guiding criteria: craft, communication and consequence.
From activism for women’s rights to the lives of Soviet dissidents, from the struggle for liberation in Korea and Haiti to a 16th-century peasants’ revolt that shook Europe, the shortlist for the prize highlights books that uncover neglected histories and speak to our current context of conflict, protest and the concern with freedom across the globe. The 2025 shortlist is:
Wages for Housework: The Story of a Movement, an Idea, a Promise by Emily Callaci
A Fractured Liberation: Korea Under US Occupation by Kornel Chang
The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe by Marlene L. Daut
America, América: A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin
To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement by Benjamin Nathans
Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War by Lyndal Roper
The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life by Sophia Rosenfeld
The Girl in the Middle: A Recovered History of the American West by Martha A Sandweiss
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A commemorative plaque will be unveiled by Lord Mayor of Dublin Cllr Ray McAdam marking the home of the writer Norah Hoult (1898–1984) on Saturday, September 20th at 11am at 25 Ashfield Park, Terenure, Dublin 6W, D6W RW86. Guest speakers will be fellow writers Sinéad Gleeson and Louise Kennedy. plaquesofdublin.ie
Nicola Beauman, editor at London’s Persephone Books, which republished her novel There Were No Windows in 2015, said Hoult was “a very good example of a woman writer who falls completely out of fashion and is forgotten. She was an absolutely brilliant writer and well-known at the time in a way she isn’t now.”
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B O Y is a unique presentation. Commissioned by Sligo’s Hawk’s Well Theatre, it is a collaboration between acclaimed poet Damian Gorman and master uileann piper Leonard Barry. In 16 poems and musical responses to them it tells the story of Damian’s brother Gerard, who was abused as a child and spent many years of his adult life struggling for justice from the Catholic Church.
B O Y has been described as ‘an unforgettable story, unforgettably told’.
Gorman says that he and Barry were concerned to make that telling bearable. ‘Though it has devastating experience at its core, we wanted people to be able to walk out of the theatre intact – enhanced even’, he says.
B O Y has its world premiere in the Hawk’s Well, Sligo on September 10th, before moving to Belfast’s Linenhall Library the following day. The show travels to London, to the Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith, on September 19th, and finishes its mini tour in the Newgate Arts and Cultural Centre, Derry, on the 25th. Tickets from the venues.
B O Y will have a full national tour in 2026.
