SHORT FICTION Belfast Noir Edited by Adrian McKinty & Stuart Neville Belfast, a city of conflicting allegiances and a dark and turbulent past, seems a perfect setting for Akashic’s latest “noir” anthology. Belfast Noir is presented as “an important snapshot” of the city’s burgeoning crime-writing community featuring stories from some of Ireland’s best-known crime writers … [Read more...] about Review of Books
Fiction & Poetry
Colin Barrett Wins 2014
Rooney Prize for Fiction
Irish short story writer and Mayo native Colin Barrett was recently awarded the 2014 Rooney Prize for Irish literature for his new book, Young Skins. The event took place at the Provost House in Trinity College this past September. Barrett’s short stories have been greeted with enthusiasm from critics all over Ireland. Chris Power from The Guardian called it “an extraordinary … [Read more...] about Colin Barrett Wins 2014
Rooney Prize for Fiction
We Will Not See His Like Again
Remembering Seamus Heaney. Lightenings viii The annals say: when the monks of Clonmacnoise Were all at prayers inside the oratory / A ship appeared above them in the air. The anchor dragged along behind so deep / It hooked itself into the altar rails And then, as the big hull rocked to a standstill, A crewman shinned and grappled down the rope / And struggled to release it. … [Read more...] about We Will Not See His Like Again
Poem: An Irishman in Coventry
An Irishman in Coventry A full year since, I took this eager city, the tolerance that laced its blatant roar, its famous steeples and its web of girders, as image of the state hope argued for, and scarcely flung a bitter thought behind me on all that flaws the glory and the grace which ribbons through the sick, guilt-clotted legend of my creed-haunted, godforsaken race. My … [Read more...] about Poem: An Irishman in Coventry
Poem:
An Irishman in Coventry
An Irishman in Coventry
A full year since, I took this eager city,
the tolerance that laced its blatant roar,
its famous steeples and its web of girders,
as image of the state hope argued for,
and scarcely flung a bitter thought behind me
on all that flaws the glory and the grace
which ribbons through the sick, guilt-clotted legend
of my creed-haunted, godforsaken race.
My … [Read more...] about Poem:
An Irishman in Coventry