Reading

I first heard about ‘paralysis’ and ‘epiphany' as a  student in secondary school. Those words echoed around my mind, enveloped in a veil of mystery. It was my English teacher who talked to us about Ulysses - a massive book set on a unique…

From piling up the rejection slips Sinéad Moriarty joined a writers group and wrote the book that was closest to her heart. Drawing on her personal experience The Baby Trail immediately hit the bestseller list and kickstarted a career that…

The sun is shining (occasionally), the beer gardens are open, and language students and tourists alike are still bewildered by the idea of not getting their change back when paying their bus fare. Welcome to the Irish summer! Because we are…

Video game aficionados know that games can be used for everything from educating the youth to aiding in combating depression and other mental illnesses. However, one of the negative side effects of gaming is the impact it can have on your…

Darach Ó Séaghdha's first book, "Motherfoclóir: Dispatches From A Not So Dead Language" was the winner of the Popular Non-Fiction award at the 2017 Irish Book Awards. Today's bonus episode is an extract from the sequel, "Craic Baby:…

In this episode of WriteStuff, Dr. Martina Carroll talks about the connection between writing and positive psychology. As a teacher, psychologist and writer, Martina has a lot to say about how writing can play a role in developing positive…

Whenever you read anything, you are made conscious of your class. This is especially true if you have a working-class background. I was struck by this recently while reading Alberto Manguel’s essay collection Into the Looking Glass Wood in…

Nat Newman set herself the challenge of only reading women writers for a year. Here she talks about her experience and how it changed and enriched her reading habits for good. A few years ago, on this very site, I announced that I…

Reading a book for the first time can have the flavor of a walk in an unknown wood – the way seems long because everything in front of you is new. Re-reading a book is like a retracing of your footsteps. Certain signposts tell you where you…

“For the true bookworm,” journalist Lucy Mangan declares, “life doesn’t really begin until you get hold of your first book.” Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading is, as Mangan, acknowledges, “necessarily incomplete”. Now in her early…