Several acquaintances have confided in me that one of their New Year’s resolutions is to start reading again. When asked for any tips my advice is always the same: start with something short. In that vein, one of the books I have read since the beginning of the year is Simone de Beauvoir’s The Inseparables, a novel supposedly considered “too intimate” to be published during the author’s life.
On 7 April 1926 an Irish woman stepped out from a crowd in Rome and fired a shot at one of the 20th century's most infamous dictators. One bullet grazed the nose of Benito Mussolini, but the Italian leader survived the assassination attempt.
Guerrilla poetry involves publishing poetry in unexpected and unconventional ways in unexpected and unconventional places. Guerrilla poets like to choose unusual media or materials for their poems. They avoid publishing their poems using black text on a white page.
On International Women's Day, we recommend three books written from a female perspective, that look at the particular barriers women face in their careers. #BreaktheBias
This isn't the most traditional Valentine's Day reading list: a collection of intimate reads, ranging from traditional swooning romances to innovative novels.
The English writer best known for Swallows and Amazons
One would be forgiven for experiencing the feelings of bafflement and surprise when reading a biography of the author of Swallows and Amazons, Arthur Ransome.
Utter Disloyalist: Tadhg Barry and the Irish Revolution
Tadhg Barry was born in Cork in 1880 and educated locally before obtaining work as an asylum attendant. After a spell in England, he returned to Cork and worked with the newly established Old Age Pensions Board. By this time, Barry had Gaelicised his name and immersed himself in Cork’s Irish-Ireland movement and separatist organisations such as Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
