irish literature

Last Sunday, the inimitable poet and musician Ciaran Carson died after an illness. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, into an Irish-speaking family, poet Ciaran Carson attended Queen’s University, Belfast. He held the position of traditional arts officer of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland from 1975 to 1998 and was appointed director of the Seamus…

Northern Exposure: Belfast Stories edited by Lisa Frank & Paul McVeigh

No 522 Truth or Fiction by Jennifer Johnston (Book 6 of #20booksofsummer)

Truth or Fiction by Jennifer Johnston continues my Northern Exposure series which highlight literature from Northern Ireland and is also, helpfully, one of my 20 Books of Summer! Jennifer Johnston’s fiction regularly deals with themes of memory, loss and an inability to come to terms with the past and Truth or Fiction is no different.…

No 525 Secrets and Other Stories by Bernard MacLaverty (Book 3 of #20booksofsummer)

Northern Exposure is my monthly series where I look at literature from Northern Ireland. I have three books by Northern Irish writers in my 20 Books of Summer stack and the first one up is Secrets and Other Stories by Bernard MacLaverty. Secrets and Other Stories is Bernard MacLaverty’s first short story collection, originally published…

Catching up with two mini reviews!

This has been the strangest month and I still haven’t managed to get myself organised to review and blog properly at all! Could I really still have a blogging hangover from all that work in March? I have been reading as much as ever, but my planning hasn’t been great and I have missed the…