This is coming up at Belfast Book Festival in June: Belinda McKeon and I will be in conversation with @boylemo.bsky.social Maureen Boyle, discussing our @pva-books.bsky.social PVA essays on monuments and their tricky ways.
Do join us.
Egg-and-onion sandwiches, Hugo, and a flask, and a few Taytos, and you'll be happy.
In Tadpole City.
Little can rival an old Scots pine for sheer force of personality and presence.
One of the earlier tree species to colonise Ireland after the last Ice Age, pine was thought to have completely died out due to deforestation, until a small residual population was confirmed in the Burren, Co. Clare.
Tulip City.
Spotted in @ucddublin.bsky.social yesterday the annual sign that we’re reaching the end of teaching for another year
I’m going to be on the Brendan O’Connor show on RTE Radio 1 at 11:05am talking about #FewAndFarBetween listen live or catch up via this link www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...
Screenshot of BBC story about a cuckoo that took one look at the UK and fled to France
Small dark-winged bird with tuft on its head, a gleam in its eye and a speckled pink breast stands on a leafy twig with a long-stemmed pink flower
Just in case you’re feeling a little glum about things, here’s an 18th century watercolour of a perky Tufted Titmouse to cheer you up www.villageantiques.ch/tufted-titmo...
That was some week… thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate this wee book with me. I think #FewAndFarBetween is well and truly launched.
At the Irish Writers Centre today: so good.
All my thanks to @wednesdayerskin.bsky.social & @jancarsonwrites.bsky.social & Leontia Flynn for a terrific conversation; and to @eatthestorms.com & @irishwriterscentre.bsky.social for the invitation.
Despite the blockades, a gazillion of the loveliest people turned out for tonight’s #FewAndFarBetween launch at Books Upstairs Thanks to Neil, Louisa and so many wonderful souls for making it a truly special wee evening.
So enjoyed saying a few words to launch Jan Carson's fabulous new novel Few and Far Between at Books Upstairs in Dublin tonight. A full house - and many friends - and such positivity.
Congratulations, Jan.
@jancarsonwrites.bsky.social
@booksupstairs.bsky.social
A tale of years now I see it
Tulip 'Orange Marmalade'.
Screenshot of a bird sighting: Common Swift Apus apus Location Portland, Dorset Seen today 09:42 one flew in off the sea at the Bill mid-morning
It begins
It's a good Friday.
I'll be on BBC Radio Ulster's The Ticket this evening, talking to the legendary Kathy Clugston about #FewAndFarBetween (and probably some other stuff). You can listen in live from 6:05pm or catch up later via this link. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
A Caravaggio painting from 1602 of Jesus being embraced by Judas as men in armour arrest him. On the right, a dark haired onlooker takes it all in. On the left, a panicking apostle runs away. All is suffused with unearthly light and beauty despite depicting the moment of disaster. Once overlooked, now one of the world’s treasures.
Any excuse to share this magnificent Caravaggio which you can see for free in Dublin. The events of Holy Thursday: betrayal, alarm, despair, resignation and the artist holding a lantern to show the scene to the world.
Tulip mania.
My review of Sinead Morrissey’s excellent memoir, Among Communists.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Michael Collins, the chap who took this photograph, remains the only person on earth to have taken a photo that had everyone in shot aside himself.
If Artemis is going up then it gives me an excuse to once again post this photo, the only one to contain every human being in the universe but one.
The fabulous ILF Dublin festival is on its way, with the programme now live - and I'm looking forward to moderating 'Seeing Double', with Hanna Johansson and Henrietta McKervey, on 17 May in a summery (we hope...) Merrion Square.
ilfdublin.com
@ilfdublin.bsky.social
‘Corrie had pretty much everything. The parade of glowering, glittering females. The insouciant snap. Deirdre’s mother, Blanche (who walked out with a funeral director played by the comedian Roy Hudd), was a marvellous gloombag.’
Susannah Clapp on soaps.
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
cover of the book Every One Still Here by Liadan Ní Chuinn
This is a feisty collection of short stories that doesn't pull its punches. The last story breaks the third wall, with a litany of atrocities committed by the British army in Northern Ireland. Anyone who still can't understand why us Irish feel so strongly about Palestine should read it.
#speirgorm
Wherever I've been asked in interviews about AI taking over literature I ask what the person's favourite AI novels are. There never are any.
The Shy Girl extracts released are clearly garbage, so the question is not so much why the AI wasn't spotted, but why the poor quality wasn't spotted.
We are delighted to welcome Sinéad Morrissey back to HomePlace to discuss her remarkable literary career and her new memoir, Among Communists, in conversation with Jan Carson.
📅 Friday 17th April
⏰ 7.30pm
🎟️ £15
Book your tickets now > tinyurl.com/3u5e9wu9
Fellow Athenians
