By Orlaith Darling We are all familiar with the old and rather didactic adage: ‘Never judge a book by its cover.’ But in an era of publishing where Sally Rooney’s much accoladed Normal People (2018) can be listed, alongside toiletries, in GQ magazine as a ‘fail safe’ gift for the women in your life, it seems deliberately obtuse to deny that the aesthetics of books … Continue reading Reading contemporary Irish literature cover to cover
By Sinéad Creedon of Sonder Magazine *** Growing up in Ireland, I read a shockingly little amount of Irish literature. In school, I was taught that there were rules to writing; show, don’t tell. Beginning, middle, end. Introduction, climax, conclusion. Sentences and grammar, paragraphs and syntax. When I think back on it, the only pieces of Irish literature we actually looked at were An Triail … Continue reading A Place for Everyone: Reframing the Irish Literary Canon
What are ‘the New Irish Studies’? In the ‘Capturing the Contemporary’ webinar on the 3rd of December 2020, attendees were treated to a range of creative and scholarly takes on this question. Hosted by the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) in conjunction with the Dublin Book Festival and Cambridge University Press, the event was chaired by Paige Reynolds, editor of The New Irish Studies, a … Continue reading ‘Capturing the Contemporary’: The New Irish Studies
1. I realised that I could not have lived there in the first quarantine. Our cupboards had no doors, and we kept all of our food in plastic boxes: when leaving I realised that the box assigned to me contained a large amount of things that were not my things, but that had been imputed to me nonetheless. There was a tin of intriguing biscuits … Continue reading The Luxury of Longing
Welcome to the Contemporary Irish Literature Research Network! The contemporary Irish literary scene is in rude health. Established forms like the short story have seen a resurgence, while the essay is being reinvented and growing in popularity. As established writers pursue new directions, another generation of diverse and exciting voices has emerged through a series of anthologies and standalone works. Irish writers have flooded the … Continue reading CIL
Contemporary Irish Literature 