Aoife O'Regan

Marketer and writer from Dublin

Aoife O' Regan is a marketer and writer from Dublin. She has contributed to various publications including Dublin Inquirer, Totally Dublin, Metro Herald, AU Magazine and Le Cool Dublin.

Carlo Gébler views The Decameron in terms of its literary influence as 'an aquifer, hidden underground, without whose moisture nothing will grow' (pic David Barker)

Reviewed: Tales We Tell Ourselves by Carlo Gébler

In his collection of new stories Carlo Gébler updates the Decameron, Boccaccio's classic 14th century work in Italian. The original work written over 5 years as the deadliest pandemic in human history, the Black Death, played out on the writer's doorstep.

Books • 19 Nov 20

Dermot Bolger: Bolger's unerring focus is on the cultures of shame and secrecy in the title story

Book Review: Secrets Never Told by Dermot Bolger

Dermot Bolger's new short story collection Secrets Never Told deals imaginatively with themes such as the fallibility of memory and the explosive ramifications of long-held, deeply-buried secrets

Dermot bolger • 30 Oct 20

Helen Cullen affords her readers a wonderful portrait of late 1970s Dublin.

Review: The Truth Must Dazzle Gradually by Helen Cullen

The power of the truth to destroy or to liberate, depending on how it's handled, is a central theme in Helen Cullen's impressive new novel.

Book Review • 08 Oct 20

Keelin Shanley: 'Here am I in my winter phase, but I'd love to see another spring'

Reviewed: A Light That Never Goes Out by Keelin Shanley

Between details about her diagnosis and medical care, including a trip to America to find out if she was eligible for a new, experimental therapy, the late Keelin Shanley looked back at a truly remarkable career in her newly-published memoir.

Keelin Shanley • 07 Oct 20

Emily Hourican's riveting new novel: the society gossip columnists assiduously followed the Glorious Guinness Girls

Reviewed: The Glorious Guinness Girls by Emily Hourican

Part historical fiction, part biography, Emily Hourican's fifth novel is inspired by the daughters of Arthur Ernest Guinness, founder of the iconic Dublin brewery.

Books • 29 Sep 20

Lisa McInerney: the novelist examines the highly-lucrative K-Pop phenomenon in her revealing essay

Reviewed: The Stinging Fly: Summer 2020

The latest volume of The Stinging Fly is prefaced by a very thoughtful and considered editorial by Danny Denton that reflects on the strange circumstances under which this edition was created.

Books • 23 Sep 20

John Boyne: we first meet our nameless hero in Palestine

Review: John Boyne's Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom

Aoife O'regan was impressed by the philosophical nature of John Boyne's new novel and its ambitious scope, spanning multiple timelines and locations around the world.

Books • 17 Jun 21

Louise O'Neill: After the Silence plays to her strength, writing in the whodunnit genre for the first time

Reviewed: After the Silence by Louise O'Neill

These are matters that O'Neill is clearly passionate about, and she's very good at writing them, so it follows that her new psychological thriller should return to familiar territory, although its her first in the whodunnit thriller mode.

Books • 07 Sep 20

Reviewed: A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

The very title of A Ghost in the Throat evokes the imagery of choking - breath stifled, speech constricted, words trapped in the throat, struggling to emerge.

Books • 02 Sep 20

Novelist Nicola Cassidy: the later life of her subject, Fred Astaire's sister Adele was beset by unfortunate tragedy

Book review: Adele by Nicola Cassidy

Fred Astaire's footwork on stage and screen earned him legendary status, but perhaps lesser known is the story of his equally-talented and beloved sister, the titular Adele, who has inspired the third novel by Nicola Cassidy.

Adele • 25 Aug 20