Dublin poet Stephen James Smith: ‘I’m just holding a mirror up to the city, trying to tell the truth’
The poet on the inspiration in his life, his dyslexia, Pat Ingoldsby, and how one poem he wrote changed his life
Me, Myself and Ireland
A series of articles exploring people's relationship with Ireland
Gavin Friday: ‘U2 and I are almost like brothers – you very rarely blow smoke up your brother’s ass’
The musician on positive changes in Ireland, his enduring friendship with Bono and co, and how he never made money until Jim Sheridan came calling
Róis: ‘Moving away from Ireland shook me. Going away is essential’
The Fermanagh musician on her love-hate affair with trad music, the importance of living abroad for a spell, and why screaming in the car is helpful
Kevin Barry: ‘You can almost fool yourself into thinking there’s no class system in rural Ireland’
The author on writing, living in the Sligo countryside and how digitalisation is warping our sense of reality
Cáit O’Riordan: ‘I quit the Pogues at 21. I got sober ... didn’t see Shane much’
The musician on her love of the Irish people, her brief but formative years in The Pogues, and how her attitude to alcohol differed from Shane MacGowan’s
Chef Nico Reynolds: ‘I’ve been spat on, jeered and beaten up, but I don’t think Ireland is a racist country’
The TV chef has always considered himself Irish - but he honours his Jamaican heritage in the food he cooks
Dorothy Cross: ‘I don’t think art is about talent really. It’s about a route you take’
Irish artist says: ‘I think there’s a freedom here that comes from being postcolonial’
Naoise Dolan: Moving home to Ireland was an easy decision. Here’s what I’ve learned
Living abroad helped me embrace my heritage and realise just how cultured we are
Claudia Boyle: ‘There aren’t many places I’d raise a family. Dublin strikes the right chord’
The opera singer says singing the national anthem at the Aviva Stadium was a career highlight
Irish musician Wallis Bird: I bought a farmhouse with my partner and two other couples
I miss being around my parents in their home and I miss the seasons in Ireland, but I don’t see myself moving back
Alison Curtis: ‘On arriving in Ireland I was stumped at how men and women didn’t interact’
Today FM broadcaster says she would not get the same joy working in radio in her native Canada
‘I’m an accidental emigrant. Once you have a child somewhere it’s hard to go back’
Author Anne Tiernan followed a man, her now husband, to New Zealand 20 years ago
Emma Donoghue: ‘In Ireland we start with the slagging. That is something I really treasure’
The writer discusses her first musical, being ‘a particularly bad extra’ and how Ireland, New York, Paris and Canada have influenced her
Maser: ‘I fell in love with Ireland again. It offered me a sense of place and security’
Street artist Maser on landscape, life lessons and turning back to go forwards
‘The first time I didn’t feel shame for being Palestinian was in Ireland’
Consultant paediatrician Afif El-Khuffash on his Palestinian-Irish identity and his perspective on the Irish healthcare system
Comedian Enya Martin: ‘I was named after the singer. Thank God my parents didn’t like Meatloaf’
The Clondalkin comedian on accents, ambitions and the inspiration provided by Brendan O’Carroll
‘I’m very fortunate. But I can see the younger generation are getting screwed over’
Broadcaster and podcaster Yates loves living in Ireland, but believes that the boomer generation have a lot to answer for
My sister is the only woman from her secondary school class not living in Australia, and she emigrated to Switzerland
Dublin-born podcaster Doireann Ní Ghlacáin has learned to embrace her identity as a Gaelgeoir and fiddle-player, whether it’s hip or not
Sarah Webb: By age 12, I was reading Stephen King and all kinds of dodgy horror books
The author on her childhood, the importance of reading from a young age, and the role libraries play in researching her new book
Caoimhe Ní Laighin: ‘The best thing about Ireland is that people will put themselves out of their way to help you’
Irish wasn’t Caoimhe Ní Laighin’s first language growing up, but with the help of good teachers, the presenter made it part of her career
Emma Doran: When I think of Tallaght, I think of Italia ‘90
Comedian on Dublin, the Irish sense of humour and exploring her sexuality through comedy
Julian Benson: ‘I got a call out of the blue in October to say there was a kidney for me’
The choreographer and former Dancing with the Stars judge on living with cystic fibrosis and his CF charity
Philip King: ‘I have five daughters, three of them triplets, so as John McGahern would have it, I’m amongst women’
The Scullion musician and Other Voices music series cofounder on his upbringing, the importance of music in his life, and why the arts matter
Liz Bonnin: ‘Moving to Ireland when I was nine was an absolute culture shock’
The TV presenter and biologist on the joys of her upbringing, the beauty of the Burren, and surviving the Irish weather
Sinéad Burke: ‘We need greater ambition around the positioning and value of disabled people’
Founder and chief executive of Tilting the Lens, Burke believes her childhood helped instil in her the importance of tenacity and dedication
Amanda Coogan: ‘Belfast is a great city to be an artist. I pay the same rent here as I did in Dublin in 1992’
Performance artist Amanda Coogan on growing up as a child of deaf parents, embracing her love of performance, and the Irish fear of the avant-garde
‘Animals are so straightforward. They will love unconditionally. We almost don’t deserve them’
I moved into charity work, first at Barretstown and then with the DSPCA, after the crash pushed me out of architecture
Designer Helen James: I was teased at school about being English, a Protestant. There was always something of the ‘other’ about me
Designer Helen James on returning to Dublin from New York, the ‘gentler, lovelier pace’ here, and the traditions of Christmas
Author Maggie O’Farrell: I had a teacher at school who took the register, called my name and said to me, ‘Are your family in the IRA?’
The novelist Maggie O’Farrell on leaving Ireland, growing up in Britain, life as a child with a stammer and her new book
Blindboy: ‘I left my first day of school feeling great shame. The pain of that still rises up in me’
The Limerick-based podcaster and author on his school trauma, adult autism diagnosis and unconventional mother
Nell Mescal: “Am I a manifester? In my journal I’m writing, ‘I am headlining Croke Park’”
Singer-songwriter Nell Mescal from Maynooth on overcoming scoliosis surgery, dropping out of school before her Leaving Cert and her dream of headlining Croke Park
Poet Paul Muldoon: ‘My dad, a market gardener, was a guy who could barely write his own name’
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, academic and musician Paul Muldoon on growing up in a nationalist family in Co Armagh, life in Belfast during the Troubles and moving to the US
Paul Noonan of Bell X1: ‘I love living in Ireland but how we lean in to booze culture pisses me off’
Noonan is a songwriter, musician and lead singer of Bell X1 and HousePlants
The Gloaming’s Iarla Ó Lionaird: ‘My mother would keep each of her children home from school one day a week so she could get to know us’
Iarla Ó Lionaird, a sean-nós singer, on the romanticism of rural life, growing up in a big family and traditional music
Crosswords & Puzzles
Crosswords & puzzles to keep you challenged and entertained
Common Ground
How does a post-Brexit world shape the identity and relationship of these islands
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