Naoise Dolan’s second novel The Happy Couple was published in 2023.
Just after 5 a.m. on Wednesday, 8 October, Israeli forces had illegally boarded us in international waters, at roughly the same longitude as Port Said, Egypt. It was our twelfth day at sea in a forty-foot sailing boat, with medical aid and baby formula packed in the stern cabin and cockpit locker.
Virtually everything the UK does regarding Palestine makes it the Republic’s ugly friend: almost anyone would look good standing next to it. But Dublin is hideous in its own right. We let US military planes that may be carrying arms to Israel pass through Shannon Airport without inspection. Our Central Bank grants regulatory approval to Israeli war bonds for sale across the EU.
An Anglo-American audience is a mixed blessing for an Irish artist. Pro: you get their money. Con: their opinions, too. The Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap have exploded in popularity since last year’s film about them. They now have less time for Irish-language poetry events in Dublin. They have also attracted international controversy, which they say is a bad-faith reaction to the pro-Palestinian solidarity they have been expressing in Ireland for years without a problem.
Greta, the narrator of Jen Beagin’s third novel, Big Swiss, is a 45-year-old American woman who lives in Hudson, New York. She has slightly deranged ideas about Europe. She’s convinced, for instance, that multilingualism is something Europeans achieve in order to make Americans feel bad. She also maintains that Europeans can be divided neatly into two categories: the...
Do the Irish have a unique way of handling death? I don’t know, but I can tell you how my family does it. We circle through dark humour, pass around food and drink, pivot to banalities, current affairs and local gossip. (‘Hasn’t your one done well for herself?’ ‘Isn’t himself in an awful way?’) Elaine Feeney’s first novel combines all of these...
In Exciting Times, Naoise Dolan’s first book, the choice presented to bisexual women – surrender to the world’s expectations and get with a man, or follow your desires and risk forfeiting power and...
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