In The Irish Times tomorrow, Giuliano da Empoli, author of The Hour of the Predator: Encounters with the Autocrats and Tech Billionaires Taking Over the World, talks to Mark Paul. Olivia Laing tells John Self about their new novel, The Silver Book. And there is a Q&A with Kevin Smith about his latest novel, Injury Time.
Reviews are Michael Cronin on Attention: Writing on Life, Art and the World by Anne Enright; Joseph O’Connor on Bread of Angels by Patti Smith; Declan O’Driscoll on the best new fiction in translation; Nathan Smith on Book of Lives by Margaret Atwood; Andrew Lynch on Dynasty: Scandals, Triumph, Turmoil and Succession at the Heart of Dunnes Stores by Matt Cooper; Kevin Power on Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith; John Walshe on The Palestinians by Jonathan Dimbleby and Don McCullin; Ruby Eastwood on One of Us by Elizabeth Day; Claire Hennessy on Philip Pullman’s The Rose Field; and Sara Keating on children’s fiction.
This weekend’s Irish Times Eason offer is Strangers in Time by David Baldacci, just €5.99, a €6 saving.
John Boyne’s Les Éléments has won the 2025 Prix Femina for Foreign Fiction at a ceremony at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris this week, the second major French literary award it has won in as many months.
The Prix Femina is one of France’s most prestigious literary awards, created in 1904 by women writers seeking to offer an alternative to the male-dominated Goncourt Prize. Chosen by an all-female jury, it celebrates exceptional works of fiction and non-fiction, both French and international, recognized for their literary depth and originality.
By receiving this year’s Prix Femina Étranger, John Boyne joins a distinguished line of international authors previously honored by the award, including Philip Roth, Joyce Carol Oates, JM Coetzee, Ian McEwan and John Irving — writers whose work has profoundly shaped the global literary landscape.
For over a century, the Prix Femina has stood as a symbol of independence and literary excellence, celebrating authors whose voices challenge conventions and enrich the dialogue between French and international literature. Published by Éditions JC Lattès, Les Éléments brings together the four novels — Water, Earth, Fire, and Air — in a single volume, offering readers a complete and powerful literary cycle.
Last month, it won the Prix du Roman FNAC, awarded by France’s leading bookstore chain.
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A new celebration of European writing comes to Dublin this month as Storylines Europe launches its inaugural edition on Saturday, November 22nd at Europe House. Presented by EUNIC Ireland in cooperation with the European Parliament Liaison Office and participating embassies, the one-day festival unites writers and translators from nine countries for a day of conversation and creative exchange.
The line-up includes Estonian graphic novelist Joonas Sildre, Polish author Mikołaj Łoziński (My Name is Stramer), Luxembourgish writer Anne-Marie Reuter (M for Amnesia), translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones, French novelist Nolwenn Le Blevennec (Friends and Lovers), Catalan author and filmmaker Anna Pazos (Killing the Nerve), Hungarian-born Csilla Toldy (Bed Table Door), Italian writer Maddalena Vaglio Tanet (Untold Stories, Strega Prize shortlist), Welsh poet Menna Elfyn (Parch) and Irish poet Catherine Ann Cullen (Storm Damage).
From the personal to the political, the intimate to the universal Storylines Europe celebrates the diverse voices shaping Europe’s literary landscape today.
The event is free to attend, visit storylineseurope.ie or book in via eventbrite.
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This year’s Fingal Libraries Write-Time Festival takes place in Swords on Saturday, November 15th and Sunday, November 16th. Curated by Kevin Curran, the free literary event will see a number of Ireland’s top writers discussing their most recent work, how they write and providing insights into their creative worlds. Joseph O’Connor, Roisin O’Donnell, Kevin Barry, Wendy Erskine, Colin Barrett, Cecilia Ahern, Fiona Scarlett, Emmet Kirwan, Zainab Boladale, Sean Farrell, Lisa McInerney and Emmett Kirwan will all be in conversation over the weekend.
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Paul Matthieu has been awarded the Prix de Traduction du CCI et Literature Ireland 2025 for Retour à Belfast (Albin Michel, 2024) his translation into French of Close to Home by Michael Magee, Literature Ireland and the Centre Culturel Irlandais have announced
The Prix de Traduction was created for the promotion of Irish literature in the French language. The prize aims to support the translation of works of fiction by Irish authors who are as yet unknown in France. Awarded every second year, the prize of €3,000 goes to the translator of a first translation published in the two previous years.
Matthieu has translated works by Dario Diofebi (Paradise, Nevada), Geoff Dyer (Les Derniers Jours de Roger Federer), Paul Harding (Cet autre Éden), Scott Preston (Le Sang des collines) and Abraham Verghese (Le Pacte de l’eau).
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The YARN Storytelling Festival, presented by Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray, begins this Saturday, November 8th, and runs until Tuesday, November 18th, with 27 events across Co Wicklow over 10 days. Details here.
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A new book presenting stories and reflections on childhood journeys to school will be launched on Thursday, December 11th at 6pm in Pearse Street Library, Dublin 2. It will form the basis of a national educational project and travelling art exhibition from January 2026.
Kings and Queens of the Road / Ríthe agus Banríonacha an Bóthair gathers dozens of personal memories and reflections that illustrate how Ireland’s roads, pathways and public spaces are shaping childhood, community and imagination across generations.
From Robert Burns and the Museum of Childhood Ireland, with illustrations by Molly Buí Hennessy, and support from the Ireland Funds, the book brings together stories from people across the island of Ireland and beyond.
Majella McAllister, founder of the Museum of Childhood Ireland said: “This book brings together so many voices and memories. It is a living archive of how we moved through the world as children. Those small journeys were full of imagination, courage and care.”
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CD Rose’s We Live Here Now has won the 2025 Goldsmiths Prize for mould-breaking fiction. Now in its 13th year, the £10,000 prize was awarded at a ceremony at Foyles in central London. Born in Manchester and now living in Hebden Bridge, Rose is the author of four previous books.
Amy Sackville, chair of judges and senior lecturer in creative writing at Goldsmiths, University of London, said, “A book about what art is and what it does (or doesn’t do), CD Rose’s We Live Here Now in its turn asks profound questions of the contemporary world and the systems that power it, in the aether, deep under the surface, far out at sea. Motifs emerge and recur: containers, erasures, shady markets, sound and silence, ‘echo and drone’. This constellatory novel tests the bounds of the form while delivering all of its satisfactions: at once hilarious and deeply haunting, intellectually challenging and supremely entertaining.”
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Galway-based author Maura McHugh has won the 2025 World Fantasy Award in the category of Best Short Fiction for her story Raptor, from the anthology Heartwood, edited by Dan Coxon, and published by PS Publishing in the UK. Heartwood also won the 2025 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology. “I’m thrilled and honoured that the jury selected Raptor from such a distinguished shortlist of nominees,” McHugh said.
The jury read more than 500 titles from an international field to select their favourites for the year. The World Fantasy Awards are one of the most prestigious awards in the field of fantasy literature and recognise outstanding achievements in fantasy fiction and art published during the previous calendar year.
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Author and former actor Aoibhín Garrihy has partnered with Specsavers to launch a nationwide short story competition, encouraging budding authors to unleash their creativity. The initiative celebrates Specsavers’ sponsorship of the Junior and Senior Children’s Book of the Year categories at the An Post Irish Book Awards 2025.
Garrihy said: “As an author and a mum, I know first-hand the magic that happens when children are given the space to create. This competition isn’t just about writing a story; it’s about discovering the incredible worlds inside their own minds. Every child has a unique voice and a story waiting to be told, and this is a wonderful opportunity to share it. I can’t wait to see the imagination and talent that shines through - it’s a chance for them to inspire us all, and perhaps even win some fantastic prizes for their school!”
Winners in both categories will secure €500 for their school library, plus a collection of all titles shortlisted in the Specsavers Irish Children’s Book of the Year categories at the An Post Irish Book Awards 2025.
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Helen Garner has won the £50,000 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction with How to End a Story: Collected Diaries (W&N) – the first diary to win the prize.
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The Civil War in Kerry and Beyond, edited by Bridget McAuliffe, Mary McAuliffe and Owen O’Shea, will be launched on Friday, November 21st at 6pm in Kerry County Museum, Ashe Memorial Hall, Denny Street, Tralee, with guest speakers Cathaoirleach of Kerry County Council, Cllr Michael Foley and Minister for Children, Equality and Disability, Norma Foley TD.
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Irish writer Susan Cahill has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal for Writing, the UK’s oldest and most prestigious book award for children’s writing. Her debut novel The World Between the Rain is on the list for the Carnegie Medal for Writing, which is awarded to a book written in English for children and young people that sparks an outstanding reading experience. Cahill is among several other Irish writers and illustrators nominated for the prize, including Eibhlis Carcione for Black Gables; Eilish Fisher and Dermot Flynn for Fia and the Last Snow Deer; Kumagai, Clara. Songs for Ghosts; McCaughrean, Geraldine. Under a Fire-Red Sky; Gráinne O’Brien for Solo; Dermot Flynn and Sine Quinn for The Faerie Isle; Flora Delargy for Gold Rush; Paddy Donnelly for Ava and the Acorn and Badger Books; and Chris Haughton for The History of Information.
