11+ hour, 51+ min ago   (244+ words) People see me reading in cafes and remark on it. “Oh, the life,” they say, with a laugh that is not entirely a joke. And I get it. It’s 11am; I have a coffee, a novel and no place I need…...

11+ hour, 48+ min ago   (748+ words) The novelist Elif Shafak has published 21 books that have been translated into 58 languages and won multiple awards. Each time she sits down to write, though, she does something unfathomable. “I always listen to heavy metal when I’m writing,” she said…...

11+ hour, 51+ min ago   (473+ words) My daughter has purchased a ticket to Higher Options 2026, which runs for three days in the RDS from Wednesday. I believe that you are presenting at the event. I want to ensure that she gets the maximum benefit from her…...

20+ hour, 16+ min ago   (738+ words) True to form, even on a weekend when his golf course was hosting a record-breaking native winner, Donald Trump still managed to dominate the headlines. His unerring instinct for self-promotion survived even the fraught moment when he had to present…...

22+ hour, 49+ min ago   (537+ words) George Bernard Shaw is said to have remarked after spending time at the enormous castle built by the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst in California, that it was what God would have built if God had had the money....

1+ day, 11+ hour ago   (784+ words) The Covid-19 lockdown provided the nudge Edel Duffy needed to launch her online business, Her Place Cosmetics. The Galway native and marketing graduate had moved to Australia in 2010, settling in Sydney, having first lived in Perth, but she missed her…...

1+ day, 13+ hour ago   (535+ words) “You aren’t given power. You take it.” The Red Book of Farewells (Penguin International Writers, £14.99), in a sparkling translation by Mia Spangenburg, is the final volume in Pirkko Saisio’s hugely acclaimed Helsinki trilogy. It continues, as with previous works Lowest…...

1+ day, 12+ hour ago   (489+ words) Is the torture over? Maybe not. I still have the door open to the back garden. The shaky sense of climactically induced unease is still beating about my fragile psyche. By far the least significant downside to climate change is…...

1+ day, 11+ hour ago   (486+ words) John Wilson hops on the hyper-decanting wine trend – does it work? The Irish Times John Wilson hops on the hyper-decanting wine trend – does it work? How to Drink Better: The answer depends on what you are hoping to achieve…...

1+ day, 10+ hour ago   (703+ words) The Irish Times A realistic emergency preparedness booklet would say ‘prepare for a slow decline’ Climate change for most of us will be a slow, banal deterioration in our quality of life – and we’re the lucky ones…...