Author: The JT LeRoy Story

Author: The JT LeRoy Story couldn’t arrive at a better time. While examinations of identity and authenticity have generally been the reserve of academics, recent events in the Zeitgeist have put the issue of what is real squarely in the public eye.

Niall McArdle on Anakana Schofield and Lucy Caldwell

At the International Literature Festival Dublin last week, Lucy Caldwell and Anakana Schofield read from and discussed their work. Click on the link to read my report. Source: Niall McArdle on Anakana Schofield and Lucy Caldwell You can listen to my brief interview with Anakana Schofield following the event:

The Restorative Power of Love

Rachel Cusk’s Outline is a novel in ten conversations

A Teaser Tuesday About Two Rivers Merging

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: • Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! […]

Blinded By The Light. “Ancient Light” by John Banville

As with much of Banville, there is fine attention to the feel and smell of things; “the sullen, bitter reek” of whiskey; and he has the gift of fully conjuring people, places and events with a few deft strokes.

20 Books of Summer Challenge: The Ask

You know that annoying phone call you get just as you’re sitting down to dinner, asking if you would be interested in making a small donation to the Arts. That was me. I hated the job. Nobody likes asking for money, even if it is for something worthwhile like a new podium for the orchestra conductor to stand on.

Imaginary Friends

Every year on June 16th thousands of people descend on the city for the oddest, most high-faluting cosplay event in the world.

Irish Novel of the Year: Shortlist Announced

The shortlist was chosen by author David Park and Irish Times literary critic Eileen Battersby (who for my money is one of the best critics in the world).

St. Patrick’s Week: 12 Irish Writers You Should Read

By Niall McArdle To celebrate St. Patrick’s Week, I offer here a selection of contemporary Irish writers worth checking out. Click on the photos to see their works. William Trevor. Not for nothing is Trevor hailed as perhaps the finest living writer in English. John Banville. When not writing dense, abstruse, philosophical prose, his alter-ego […]

The Fluff Is Raging

Flufferings on Arts, Culture and the Perpetual Allure of Uma Thurman by an Irish ex-pat currently at large in Canada

Fiction