Normal People

I’m in a cottage by Coney Island, looking out at a relentless and grey Irish sea. I’ve come here to the natural fringe of the island to try and process what has been the strangest of years. The beach is a mere ten metres away across a…

Last week saw the 2021 iteration of the all singing, all dancing European Film Promotion Shooting Stars Award (disclaimer: the singing and the dancing may or may not be metaphorical). The awards ceremony, which for over 20 years has…

With cinemas closed for a large part of 2020 and as the public were confined to their homes, TV played a significant role in helping people get through the Covid-19 pandemic. Thankfully, there’s been many great new shows and seasons to…

Willingly or not, we as a nation have collectively witnessed Sally Rooney’s rapid trajectory to fame with the television adaption of her sophomore novel Normal People. The series quickly became a household name, with seemingly everyone and…

Season 2 of Fail Harder and this episode with India Mullen is brought to you in isolation. Emma Jane Purcell chats to people at the top of their game about failure - from their first memory of failure to how they cope with it now.…

With cinemas being closed for the next few months and people confined to their homes, TV has played a major role in helping people get through the coronavirus crisis. Thankfully, there's been many great new shows and seasons to binge. Here,…

This week saw the final episode of Normal People, the hit TV show based on Sally Rooney’s novel set in Trinity College. Rooney’s book is just the latest in Ireland’s long tradition of novels set primarily on university campuses, and in…

The sun is out! Does that make the pandemic ok? Not really, but it applies a filter to life, which is nice. Turns out the whole thing is Liverpool Football Club's fault anyway. The sun brings the people out, and with that the hugs and the…

Connell Waldron (Paul Mescal) was designed in a lab to make girls swoon. He’s one of the popular kids; handsome and sporty but also quiet, introspective and just a little bit shy. Marianne Sheridan (Daisy Edgar-Jones), on the other hand,…

With the new academic year now in full swing and university students both fresh and jaded settling (back) into seminars and tutorials, lectures and labs, it’s an ideal time to talk about the Irish campus novel – this year more so than…