personal essay

For the longest time, I had sworn off doing a PhD. The idea of a PhD, as a friend once said to me, will haunt us until we either get one or we die. I had believed that if I wound up doing one, something had gone wrong. Pursuing a PhD meant…

Three years ago, I lost my dad suddenly. It was just your average day. I had been cramming for exams, and was as unprepared as usual, mixing up case names, and stumbling on principles. I emerged from my crunchy sweet wrapper filled cave,…

My dad died last April and everything I thought I understood about grief has proven wrong. I have lost relatives and friends, but nothing prepared me for the realisation that I will ll never hear his voice again. Yet, losing a parent is the…

I stood awkwardly outside what appeared to be an empty derelict house. The yard was overgrown with weeds, and rubbish was strewn on the lawn. A small one wheeled tricycle leant haphazardly against the flaky door. It became readily apparent…

Reading Under the Hawthorn Tree as a child, the first title in Marita Conlon McKenna’s Children of the Famine trilogy, I found myself initially drawn to the character of Eily. Her selflessness in caring for her younger siblings impressed…

One night when I was 13 years old, I found myself to be in that gleeful scenario that 13 year olds yearn for but rarely find themselves in; my family had all separately gone out for the evening and thus I had the entire house to myself,…

The Winter’s bite was better than the numbing hum inside. So I would stand out at night barefoot just to feel the air’s tang while I smoked. Pulling heavy on my cigarette beneath the stars. It was like a miracle cure. The therapy stirred…

A form of literary autobiography, the personal essay allows us to ruminate on truths from our own life experiences. Every Wednesday this month, the Irish Essayist series will see writers test the continually-expanding essay format to…

A form of literary autobiography, the personal essay allows us to ruminate on truths from our own life experiences. Every Wednesday this month, the Irish Essayist series will see writers test the continually-expanding essay format to…

A form of literary autobiography, the personal essay allows us to ruminate on truths from our own life experiences. Every Wednesday this month, the Irish Essayist series will see writers test the continually-expanding essay format to…