I’m a couple of days late with this month’s installment of Irish Literary News, but what better way to kick off Reading Ireland Month! Here are some of the bookish news stories to hit the press in Ireland in February.

• To mark the anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the Lyric Theatre, Belfast are staging a new play by Northern Irish playwright Owen McCafferty. Agreement examines the negotiations leading up to the Good Friday Agreement and weaves real drama out of this complex, momentous and landmark moment for Northern Ireland.

• This month a documentary on the tempestuous life of John Healy, Irish novelist and chess master, was added to Netflix. Barbaric Genius tells the remarkable story of his rise from alcoholic street thief to chess player and author of the now classic book, The Grass Arena.

• The Dublin Literary Award Longlist was announced this month and unsurprisingly Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan received the most nominations from the 70 books nominated by 84 libraries in 31 countries. It’s always a really interesting longlist and well worth checking out. Two other Irish writers made the list, Catherine Ryan Howard for 56 Days and Colm Tóibín for The Magician.
• Lucy Caldwell and Adrian Duncan are the two Irish authors to have made the shortlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, for These Days and The Geometer Lobachevsky respectively.
• In other shortlisting news, Factory Girls, the second novel by Michelle Gallen, has been shortlisted for the Comedy Women in Print Prize, set up by Helen Lederer.
• This month, a blue plaque has been erected in memory of the North Belfast novelist and screenwriter Brian Moore, whose work I read last year in my celebration of his centenary. The plaque, which was unveiled by Lord Mayor Tina Black, is situated at the corner of Henry Place and Clifton Street near the writer’s former home.

• Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams was one of my favourite reads of 2015 so I was delighted to hear that it is currently being made into a movie with Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham Carter and Gabriel Byrne. Even more exciting? They were filming right on my doorstep in Ballymena this week!

• Deirdre Purcell, the bestselling Irish author and journalist, died this month at the age of 77. She was best known for her novel Falling for a Dancer and was the first female anchor of RTÉ’s Nine O’Clock news.
• This year’s choice for One Dublin One Book was announced last week as The Coroner’s Daughter by Andrew Hughes. The Coroner’s Daughter is an historic crime novel set in 1816, and One Dublin One Book aims to encourage everyone in Dublin to read it during the month of April.

Ireland Month Irish Literature adrian duncan claire keegan deirdre purcell irish literary news irish literature lucy caldwell michelle gallen niall williams one book one city Owen McCafferty