Lydia Davis wins International Man Booker

The American minimalist short story writer follows Ismail Kadare, Chinua Achebe, Alice Munro and Philip Roth.
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John Gray's Progress

Back in 2002, John Gray's attempt to expose the supposed emptiness of our ideas of reason and progress brought Terry Eagleton out in a rash.
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Hormones Will Out

Trinity College students in the early twentieth century were denied association with women, so their energies found other outlets.
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Sky Writer

James Salter has been a full-time writer for fifty-five years. His work is critically acclaimed, yet his sales have so far been modest.
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Morning Glory Beyond Rathmines

A Dublin poem, of going and returning, from Gerard Smyth.
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The Orwell Prize

The prestigious British prize has announced its annual winners in the categories of journalism and political writing, together with a special prize for foreign correspondent the late Marie Colvin, who died in Syria.
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Speak the Best Word

Margaret Fuller, writing in 1840, had some very pertinent things to say about people who have opinions and like to sound off.
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The Seven John Murrays

One of the most prestigious of British publishers existed as an independent entity from 1768 to 2002 and published Lord Byron, Jane Austen, Charles Darwin and many others.
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No talent? His eyes flashed angrily

There is still time to book for Dan Brown in Dublin and hear how he does it.
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Saloon Bar Blues

Philip Larkin is still among Britain's most read poets, which must testify to a certain appetite for gloom. Alan Bennett however finds it is sometimes all a little too much.
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Friday Night and the Lights are Low

Dancing in the Regency period may have looked from a distance like a straitlaced and buttoned-up affair, but it was vital to the reproduction of 'good society' and charged with excitement and sexual energy.
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Weeping for the Workers

The supreme place given to the national question meant some Dublin politicians had to affect a deep concern for the poor they did not necessarily really feel.
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Quiet Please

A new study examines silence in the Christian tradition and its use for good and evil.
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The Lady in the Dodder

A stroll along the banks of the Dodder recalls a murder committed in 1900, and its reverberations in two of Joyce's works.
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Carson shortlisted for RSL Prize

Liam Carson has been shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature/Ondaatje prize for his memoir of his parents, Call Mother a Lonely Field.
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Well Done Please

Like the famous literary character he created, Bram Stoker was a healthy feeder.
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The Beautiful German Language

Some people think it sounds harsh, and some very eminent Germans historically thought it wouldn't do, but spoken by the right person it will make you swoon.
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Supping with the Devil

Four generations ago Dublin had a vibrant and numerous working class Protestant community. For some of their middle class co-religionists they were too vibrant.
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A Tale of Two Cats

A paw print found on a fifteenth century manuscript has set social media abuzz.
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Those who can teach

Remembering the wonderful English actor Richard Griffiths, who died last week aged sixty-five.
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