Irish writers Naoise Dolan & Sarah Clancy are to join the Global Summit flotilla to break the siege on Gaza. We wish them all a safe and peaceful journey, with a positive outcome for the people of Gaza.

irishpen.com/2025/08/29/i...

Oooh lovely, saving this for later. Thanks, Declan.

From sewage and scum to swimming in ‘blue gold’: how Switzerland transformed its rivers In the 1960s, the Swiss had some of the dirtiest water in Europe. Now, their cities boast pristine rivers and lakes – and other countries are looking to follow their lead

In the 1960s Switzerland had some of Europe's filthiest waterbodies.
Now its cities boast near-pristine rivers & lakes: "We are united by a love of water".
Lessons to learn here, about building emotional connection to water as well as infrastructure investment.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Remove the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism from the Programme for Government 2025 I've just signed this petition calling on the government to remove the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism from the Programme for Government. Will you sign too?

This cause is close to my heart - please sign: my.uplift.ie/petitions/re...

🤣

I agree so much with this. The system has bet the house on the overwhelming market for HE being 18-22 year olds, and lacks a model for making a university education available to people at other stages of life. We'd need to change the system but we could radically change who gets to be a student.

I loved Catherine Airy’s Confessions x

Some great reads there, Claire!

“It’s a place where a hello can heal you”: how a Mayo village embraced an influx of international protection applicants.
My longread in todays @independent.ie

Incredible portrait of Edna O’Brien. Blue Road opens in cinemas today.

This was an interesting interview, as ever, with Carlo Gebler about his mother, Edna O'Brien and our film together.

By Pavel Barter.

www.thetimes.com/world/irelan...

It’s so good, Rick! I can’t wait for everyone to read, so we can talk about it!

My review of Catherine Airey’s brilliant debut, CONFESSIONS is up on the Irish Independent website (in print next week).

Some of the books I read and liked in 2024. A year of slim fictions and poetry, mostly.

🎙️✨ On the latest episode of Between the Cover podcast, poet, novelist, and essayist Dionne Brand joins @davidnaimon.bsky.social to discuss her latest book of nonfiction Salvage: Readings from the Wreck.

@fsgbooks.bsky.social

👂Listen! bit.ly/DionneBrandBTC

I talked to Rashid Khalidi for the new issue of the New York Review of Books

What Young Journalists Can Learn From Ta-Nehisi Coates’s The Message In 2004, following George W. Bush’s re-election, Toni Morrison wrote that times of socio-political turmoil are the exact moments when artists must get to work, rejecting despair in favor of action …

Aaron Boehmer on what young journalists can learn from Ta-Nehisi Coates’s The Message.

Brilliant documentary essay in which @blindboyboatclub
traces the history of Irish writing from the 5th century to the present day.
You can watch it for free on the RTE Player.

"All flourishing is mutual." Robin Wall Kimmerer's THE SERVICEBERRY: ABUNDANCE AND RECIPROCITY IN THE NATURAL WORLD is out today. It's filled with so much wisdom, generosity, and love that we need right now.

Who wants me to review the new Sophie Calle book out in December? Get in touch.

We have no snow in our end.

Ah great! Can’t wait to get stuck in later this evening.

I think so too

Up next:

The Green Ages sounds like a book for me:
“The Franciscans, with their commitment to radical poverty, are one of the case studies chosen by Annette Kehnel in The Green Ages as an example of ‘medieval innovations in sustainability’.”

It’s so good

Saint Francis Bacon

Telepathic communications with Francis

Thank you for this Irish Literary Community Starter Pack @aislingwalsh.bsky.social

Thank you!