The Begorrathon 2019

Reading Ireland Month starts this week!

Crossing the Threshold

At the time of publication, over three thousand children are without somewhere permanent to live in Dublin.

Write by the Sea

It’s usually extremely sunny, but on the day I was there, the clouds were massively incontinent.

I’m One to Watch

I’ll be reading on Sunday afternoon along with other literary upstarts Doreen Duffy and Adam Trodd.

Begorrathon 2017: My Ireland …

Poet Stephen James Smith was commissioned by the St Patrick’s Festival Festival to write a poem in response to the theme of this year’s festival.

The Casement Project

If you happen to be near Tralee this Saturday, there’s a festival of dance and music taking place at Banna Strand that looks to be unmissable. Féile Fáilte, organized by Irish choreographer Fearghus Ó Chonchúir, is a celebration and examination of the legacy of Roger Casement, the former British diplomat and humanitarian activist who threw his support behind […]

The Dream Against The Deed

Poet Patrick Deeley has written a beautiful memoir about growing up in East Galway. The Hurley Maker’s Son has been hailed for its evocative prose, and for its moving celebration of life in rural Ireland in the 1960s. As a child, Deeley was something of a misfit in his family: a loner, a dreamer, and […] […]

First Chapter, First Paragraph, First Lightship

Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where you can share the first paragraph, or a few, of a book you are reading or thinking about reading soon. #begorrathon16

Tractatus

Today is World Poetry Day, a global celebration of verse. You might be able to swap your poetic musings for coffee today! As part of Reading Ireland Month, I have chosen “Tractatus” by the wonderful Irish poet Derek Mahon. The short poem is a heady mix that encompasses Wittgenstein, Greek myth, and a famed historian […]