• The German author Katja Oskamp, and translator Jo Heinrich have won this year’s Dublin Literary Award, sponsored by Dublin City Council. Marzahn, Mon Amour has scooped the world’s largest prize for a single novel published in English and is worth E100,000. In this case 75,000 Euro goes to to the winning author and 25,000 Euro to the translator.

• To mark a year since her death, the Irish Times published a lovely piece by her friend Ethel Crowley exploring seven decades of her criticism and feature writing. Her declaration in 1958 that Ulysses would be unintelligible to most people is typical of Murphy’s straight-talking attitude.

• Fans of Constellations will be delighted to hear that Sinéad Gleeson’s debut novel will be published by 4th Estate in Spring 2024. Hagstone follows an artist, Nell, who creates a piece of work for a strange commune of women called the Inions. Her publisher describes the new work as a novel that “takes in the darker side of human nature, the mysteries of faith and the power of natural world. Hagstone is perfect for fans of Mike McCormack, Margaret Atwood and Sarah Moss.” 

• In his centenary year, Brendan Behan’s Collected Short Prose has been published by Lilliput Press. Most well known as a playwright, Behan wrote over one hundred articles for Irish newspapers between 1951 and 1956 as he rose to international fame, with most of them written in a weekly column in the Irish Press. A Bit Of A Writer gathers all the articles and essays that Behan published in newspapers from 1951 to his death in 1964. Selections of Behan’s articles have been published since his death

• Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses continues its awards haul, winning Debut Novel of the Year at the British Book Awards. Another award could be in the pipeline as it has also been shortlisted for the Society of Authors McKitterick Prize.

• It was great to see Adrian McKinty’s hard-drinking, Tom Waits-loving creation Sean Duffy named as one of the Top Ten cops in fiction in the Guardian this month. McKinty’s Sean Duffy series is a fantastic addition to the crime canon and Duffy is a wonderfully realised character.

• In case there was any doubt that Claire Keegan is the Queen of the Short Form, Faber made a big announcement about a new short story coming to be published by the author in September. ‘So Late in the Day’ has already been published in The New Yorker, but Faber will release it as a stand alone publication.

• From West Belfast to L.A., debut author Michael Magee is making waves across the sea, as his Belfast-set book Close to Home was featured in the LA Times

• This week, the Belfast Book Festival launched its 2023 programme, which continues to be innovative and accessible. Taking place from 13 – 18 June, highlights of this year’s Festival include Richard Ford and – one of my favourites – Deirdre Madden in conversation with Wendy Erskine.

Irish Literature adrian mckinty brendan behan dervla murphy irish literature louise kennedy michael magee sinead gleeson