Arguably the most famous Irish book of all time – Ulysses by James Joyce – was published 100 years ago today, so there is no better day to announce the return of this year’s Reading Ireland Month!

Reading Ireland Month (or The Begorrathon as it is affectionately known) will return for the sixth year between Tuesday 1 and Thursday 31 March 2022 and I’d love for you to join me.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time you’ll know that I never stop banging on about Ireland and its hefty cultural punch. Four Nobel Prize winners; six Booker Prize winners, including Anna Burns’ wonderful win for Milkman; some world dominating musicians, the best pint in the world and a raft of Oscar winners.

Last year I hosted over 100 posts on all things relating to Irish culture. Books, food, travel, movies, theatre and favourite bookshops – your enthusiasm was boundless and so was your reading, even with Covid curtailing our every move.

Grab my new badge and get planning your Ireland themed reading or viewing. Like the Facebook page here and then between 1 and 31 March, post as much as you like about any aspect of Irish literature and culture – anything at all!

This year I have decided to change things up a bit and will be hosting a series of weekly prompts – topics that you can post about if a full review isn’t possible.

Week One: My Top Five Irish…

Start the month with a simple one – what are your Top Five favourite Irish novels, writers, films, musicians, plays, poems, albums…anything you fancy!

Week Two: My Year in Irish Lit

Have you read or reviewed any Irish literature over the past year? Share your highlights, tell us about your favourite book by an Irish author last year, or a book you were looking forward to but didn’t get round to reading.

Week Three: Irish or not Irish?

The Irish can be a sneaky lot – are there any writers you thought were Irish but turned out not to be, or alternatively, are there any writers you didn’t even realise were Irish? Share your favourites, or the most surprising, during this week.

Week Four: New to my TBR

After a month of Irish-related posts, is there anything that has caught your eye? In a month full of amazing Irish books, which ones have made it onto your TBR? Be sure to link back to the original blogger who posted about that book! 

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I will, of course, be reviewing short story collections, contemporary and classic Irish novels and hosting interviews and giveaways. If you need some inspiration, check out my list of 100 Irish Novels and 100 Novels by Irish Women Writers and don’t forget to either tag me in a post, or link up your post in the comments section of my pinned Master Post from 1st March and I’ll round up the contributions every Sunday throughout the month.

This year I’ll be tweeting using the hashtags #readingirelandmonth22 or #begorrathon22

Here’s to a great month of reading, I hope some of you can join me!

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