literature

It's Christmas, and you know what that means - it's time to go back in time to meet the ancestors of everyone's favourite douchebag, 1BRUCE1 himself! And it turns out that some of his relatives are more interesting than anyone at Sweet…

Skin is stronger where it has ruptured. I tore during labour but didn’t feel the stitches—my body produced anaesthetic, a response to pain.  Now, there is a small, silvery scar. Like braille, you said, your fingers tracing, eyes on…

Congratulations to the cast and crew of Abomination who have won the Best Opera Production in the 23rd Irish Times Theatre Awards. The production was filmed live at the Lyric Theatre and is now available to view on the Queen's Film Theatre…

Forget gambling and Liz's boarding school dreams - THIS has to be the most boring book in Sweet Valley history. And not just because it's all about John Pfeiffer (boo!). He's in love with Jennifer Mitchell, but she's in love with Rick…

Like almost everything brilliant in the world, Deptcon, Ireland’s biggest Young Adult fiction convention, is a simple idea, executed very well. Over the course of two days young people gather to see new and well-known YA authors in a series…

Words To That Effect is back! Words To That Effect Season 4 kicks off next Tuesday, 15th October. In the meantime, you can have a listen to what's in store in the trailer below. See you on the 15th! Listen to all the…

Outside of an LGBTQ-specific context I cannot remember ever hearing a poem about gay sex at a poetry event at home in Northern Ireland, and so when I arrive at the Irish Writers Centre for their regular open mic night, Takin’ The Mic, I…

The CBI conference is a real treat for anyone who writes for young people. The theme for this year’s conference was Belonging, a theme close to my heart and one which comes up frequently in my YA books. I was keen to hear from the writers…

Some of the most powerful books for and about teenagers take the form of a diary: Adrian Mole, I Capture The Castle, Go Ask Alice and even The Color Purple (although that spreads beyond the teenage years). So begins Máire Zepf's…

"Mystery, Cara! Mystery!" It's Jessica's new mantra, but the biggest mystery in this episode, about the novel Pretenses, is how Abbie Richardson managed to be completely invisible to her classmates during the two years she was going out…