Booker Prize winner David Szalay talks to Niamh Donnelly about the life-changing success and the themes and style of his novel, Flesh. Danish writer Solvej Balle tells Rónán Hession about her epic near-40-year project, On the Calculation of Volume. Leon Diop, co-founder of Black and Irish, tells Patrick Freyne about his memoir Mixed Up: An Irish Boy’s Journey to Belonging. Brendan Barrington, editor of the Dublin Review, talks to Nadine O’Regan about his career and relationship with Ireland as an Irish American. Eithne Shortall writes about reading to her children in Irish as key to becoming a bilingual family. And there is a Q&A with Hugo Hamilton about his latest novel, Conversations with the Sea.
Reviews are Diarmaid Ferriter on The Taoiseach by Iain Dale; Robert McNamara on The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s by Jason Burke; Declan Ryan on the best new poetry; Éamon Sweeney on The Drums by Mike Joyce; Anthony Roche on Druid Theatre: 50 Years by Patrick Lonergan; Adrienne Murphy on WTF Happened: #WakingTheFeminists and the Movement That Changed Irish Theatre by Sarah Durcan with Lian Bell; Nicholas Allen on Colin Davidson: Twelve Paintings by Mark Carruthers; Conor O’Clery on Political Girl: Life and Fate in Russia by Maria Alyokhina; and Tom Clonan on On My Watch by Jens Stoltenberg.
This weekend’s Irish Times Eason offer is All Her Fault by Andrea Mara, the thriller recently adapted for TV starring Sarah Snook, just €5.99, a €6 saving.
The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine as Waterstones Irish Book of the Year 2025.
It is a searing story about class and trauma and the lengths to which parents will go to protect their children. Told through multiple voices and filled with disarmingly funny dialogue and astonishingly complex characters, The Benefactors delves into dark depths without ever compromising on wit.
Erskine is the award-winning author of two short story collections, Sweet Home and Dance Move. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, she is a frequent broadcaster and interviewer and works as a secondary schoolteacher in Belfast.
Paula of Waterstones Foyleside said: “Wendy Erskine is an exceptional literary stylist and The Benefactors is a rare pleasure to read. Hilarious and heartbreaking, and mixing darkness with incredible lightness and humour, it is a unique and cinematic portrayal of real people in a real Belfast: a sparkling symphony of voices, of characters you feel you already know.”
Lily Keohane, Waterstones’ Irish commercial manager said: “This has truly been the year of the outstanding Irish debut, with many new names to be added to the lengthy history of Irish writing. The Benefactors is incredibly rich and absorbing, poignant but never sentimental, and at times truly hilarious, with an obvious delight in the opportunity for a bountiful cast of characters. Since its publication this summer it has quickly become a bookseller favourite and we can’t wait to share it with even more readers.”
Waterstones Irish Book of the Year specifically champions books by authors based in Ireland, or titles with a strong Irish setting. Now in its fourth year, previous winner are: Listen to the Land Speak by Manchán Magan (2022), Close to Home by Michael Magee (2023) and Long Island by Colm Tóibín (2024).
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Dublin City Council, in partnership with Dublin Unesco City of Literature, is inviting teenagers across the city to take part in the 2025 Teen Citywide Reading Campaign. This initiative encourages young people to read for pleasure, connect with their local library and share the experience of one great book.
This year’s chosen title is Crying Wolf by James Butler, a gripping urban thriller published by Little Island Books. The story follows Joey, a teenager determined to leave his criminal past behind – until old ties and dangerous choices pull him back into a world he hoped to escape.
The campaign kicked off yesterday at Ballyfermot Library, where transition year students met the author Butler and Councillor Vincent Jackson, representing the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Ray McAdam. The campaign runs from November to January, with author visits to libraries across Dublin including Ballyfermot, Ballymun, Cabra, Central Library, Coolock, Dolphin’s Barn, Donaghmede, Drumcondra, Finglas, Kevin Street, Marino, Terenure, and Walkinstown.
Copies of Crying Wolf are available in all Dublin city Libraries and bookshops nationwide. Borrow from your local library or join the conversation online using #CitywideRead.
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The Amazon Literary Partnership (ALP) is back for its seventh year to provide grants to literary organisations that inspire and champion writers across the UK and Ireland.
In 2025, the ALP supported a record 38 literary groups. It invites applications from all non-profit literary organisations in the UK and Republic of Ireland for grants to support and help grow their work in 2026.
Graffiti Theatre Company was one of the first organisations in Ireland to benefit from the ALP, since its expansion to Ireland in 2024.
This year, it expanded its Creative Writing programme to offer free, fun, and engaging workshops in English and Irish to schools across Cork City and county through its partnership with Fighting Words, another organisation that has received support from the Amazon Literary Partnership. These sessions help young people explore their imagination and express themselves through writing.
Ann Marie O’Sullivan, Creative Writing Coordinator at Graffiti Theatre Company said: “The grant from the Amazon Literary Partnership has been transformative for our creative writing programme here at Graffiti. It has enabled us to offer free creative writing workshops in English and Irish, that spark creativity and confidence in classrooms and from our theatre here in Blackpool. The funding has also meant we could fulfil a long-held dream to launch Write Club – our weekly space where teenagers come together to write, share, and find their voice. Seeing young people gain confidence, make connections, and even publish their first anthology, has been a joyful reminder of how powerful creative support can be. It was only possible this past year because of the Amazon Literary Partnership.”
Applications for 2026 grants are being accepted from now until January 30th, 2026 for groups operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Please find the online application here.
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The 2025 Comedy Women in Print Prize (CWIP) winners have been announced, celebrating the absolute best in witty, intelligent writing that is not afraid to tackle the darker side of life.
Nussaibah Younis is the unanimous winner of the CWIP Published Novel award with her shockingly funny debut Fundamentally, chosen by a panel of judges that included Kerry Godliman, Ingrid Oliver and Ranvir Singh. Also shortlisted for the Women’s Prize, Fundamentally is a hilarious and unflinching, modern British novel which questions faith with razor-sharp humour, exploring sexuality and desire.
The runner-up in is Holly Gramazio’s Husbands, an astutely observed take on the commitment-phobic Tinder generation.
“What unites all these novels,” said prize founder Helen Lederer, “is that these are brave modern voices questioning key issues (marriage, religion, sexual desire, ageing, weirdness) with wit and warmth. We meet flawed people trying to do good things to hilarious effect. No topic, it seems, is too dangerous to debate in female comwomantion. The confidence and daring is off the scale.
“The woman comic novel has truly grown up! A generation of women who found their creative voices in the 1980s and 1990s (Nussaibah was born in 1986!) are now in charge of steering the ship.
“Eight years after I founded the prize, I never thought we’d have a hilarious winning novel about a queer Muslim academic deradicalising Isis brides. It truly feels like a contender for today’s Modern British Novel. Proof, if any were needed, that intelligent audacious woman writing wins out.”
In a heartfelt tribute to the late Jilly Cooper, who pioneered brilliant bawdy writing and journalism and championed younger women writers, CWIP has inaugurated the CWIP Jilly Cooper Award, which this year went to Sara Pascoe’s debut novel Weirdo. A daring candid look at a young woman lurching through life, Weirdo combines comedic set pieces with real pathos – even when played for laughs.
Natalie Willbe is the winner of the CWIP Unpublished Novel award, scooping her first publishing deal with Hera Books. Her novel Music for the Samosa Generation explores intergenerational relationships and how to balance love and duty, with wry, relatable humour and warmth.
Runners up were In The Way of Nellie May by Rachel Sambrooks and Jeananne Craig’s Some News, a novel set in Belfast and Dublin, which is a poignant exploration of family, full of honest humour. She wins a place on the online MA in Comedy Writing at Falmouth University, which is the first of its kind, or a writing mentorship.
The winner of the Self-Published Novel award, a brand-new CWIP category for 2025, to celebrate the agency of women authors, is A Perfect Year by Ruth Foster.
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Following the widely publicised arson incident at Books Upstairs in October, there was an outpouring of goodwill towards the business from its loyal customer base. The bookshop is now fully operational and ready to show its gratitude to its customers with a special pre-Christmas shopping event from 6-8pm next Thursday, November 20th.
Craft Cocktails are sponsoring the event so cocktails and cookies have been promised, as well as a 10 per cent discount on all purchases. Customers will be automatically entered into a prize draw, and the independent, family-owned bookshop has invited some of the authors who have shown support in recent times to drop in on the evening, so you never know who you might meet!
You can register to attend at either 6pm or 7pm on their website booksupstairs.ie and as space is limited these spots will be in high demand. The first allocation of tickets booked out straight away, but more tickets will be released on Monday morning.
Louisa Earls said: “We were completely overwhelmed by the positive support and good will from people after the fire. It was such a shock that it happened, but we were really moved by the response from customers and authors at the time. Repairs are taking a while to complete, but we really don’t want it to slow us down and we’re super excited to kick-start the Christmas season with a bit of a party. And it’s a way of saying thank you to everyone who’s been supporting the shop, which means so much to us.”
Books Upstairs has remained an independent, family-run bookshop since it was founded in 1978. It has since become a destination bookshop in the heart of Dublin, well-regarded for its eclectic stock, knowledgeable staff, and loyal community of customers that includes many of the leading Irish authors of today. Louisa Earls joined the business started by her father Maurice in 2014. Earlier this year she was awarded the O’Brien Press Bookseller of the Year Award and was named a 2025 Bookshop Hero by The Bookseller magazine.
