Entertainment | News, Reviews, Listings & Features

Room writer "thrilled to bits" with BAFTA nod

Emma Donoghue, the writer of the critically acclaimed Irish/Canadian film Room, has said she is "thrilled to bits" to have received a BAFTA nomination for her screenplay of her own best-selling novel.

Entertainment • 09 Jan 16

Vivid poems of Dublin and Spain, of birth and death, of sickness and health, of piety and fecklessness.

Michael Smith Collected Poems

Michael Smith, who died in 2014, was a distinguished poet, translator, secondary school teacher, and publisher whose life-long immersion in Spanish literature won him the European Academy Medal for translation in 2001. Paddy Kehoe recalls the poet.

Book Reviews • 11 Jan 16

The Wonder of it all: Emma Donoghue returns with a new novel in September

TEN's top books to read in 2016

Much is expected of Lenny Abrahamson's film adaptation of Emma Donoghue's novel Room, which can only help prospects for the author's forthcoming novel, The Wonder, due in September. Plus, new novels from Neil Jordan, Eimear McBride and Lionel Shriver.

Entertainment • 07 Jan 16

Some poems deal obliquely with the Second World War and East Germany before the the Wall came down, but Coloured Handprints is mostly contemporary in its concerns.

Coloured Handprints - 20 German-Language Poets

The work of 20 contemporary German poets is presented in the original and translated into English in this 173-page collection, which offers a welcome insight into the preoccupations and obsessions of poets whose names will be new to most Irish readers.

Book Reviews • 05 Jan 16

Enright and Baume - Had been nominated for their books The Green Road and Spill Simmer Falter Wither respectively

No Irish joy at Costa Book Awards

There was disappointment for Dublin writer Anne Enright and Cork-based author Sara Baume at the Costa Book Awards on Monday night as their shortlisted novels missed out on the overall category prizes.

Entertainment • 05 Jan 16

Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
(picture courtesy Ecco Press)

Debut novel sold for seven-figure sum due in March

Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's debut novel, The Nest, which reputedly sold for a seven-figure sum, explores a dysfunctional American family and is expected to be one of the books of the year.The novel is due in March.

Entertainment • 01 Jan 16

Tom McCarthy Satin Island

Tom McCarthy's bemused 173-page novel is all about quirky pictures of modern life, tilting the images, as indeed an anthropologist might do, to gain greater clarity. The protagonist U scarcely knows what he is doing as the ground endlessly shifts.

Book Reviews • 05 Jan 16

John Banville: salutes his fellow Irish novelist, the late Aidan Higgins.

Banville pays tribute to Aidan Higgins

The Wexford-born writer and Man Booker Prize winning novelist John Banville has paid tribute to his fellow author Aidan Higgins, who passed away in Kinsale, aged 88, earlier this week.

Entertainment • 30 Dec 15

Brooklyn is hotly tipped for Oscar success

Room and Brooklyn tipped for Oscar glory

Irish movies Room and Brooklyn have continued their run of good form and have now been included in a list of front-runners for Oscar glory.

Entertainment • 30 Dec 15

Judi Dench and Jeremy Irons, the stars of the TV film adaptation of Langrishe, Go Down

Celebrated Irish writer Aidan Higgins dies aged 88

The celebrated Irish author Aidan Higgins has died, aged 88. The writer passed away in Kinsale on Sunday December 27.

Entertainment • 30 Dec 15

Don DeLillo - his new novel conjures a project to extend life

Don DeLillo tackles big questions in new novel

American author Don DeLillo will release his new novel this May and it envisages a project designed to control death and preserve mortal remains.

Entertainment • 28 Dec 15

Paul McCartney - first full biography written with his approval and with access to family members and friends.

New books on Macca and Leonard Nimoy due 2016

An artist-approved biography of Paul McCartney by Philip Norman, a new novel by Irish author Eimear McBride, and William Shatner’s tribute to his friend and Star Trek co-star, the late Leonard Nimoy are among the books coming our way in 2016.

Entertainment • 28 Dec 15

The perfect Christmas gift for the nostalgic parent or the post modern ironist in your life

Brand New Retro - Brian McMahon & Joe Collins

Brand New Retro is a big, bright and funny compendium of Ireland's pop culture past but it also tells us a lot about how we used to live and love. Alan Corr has a look through its glossy pages

Book Reviews • 24 Dec 15

New book reveals Ireland's pop culture past

Brand New Retro is a big, bright and funny compendium of Ireland's pop culture past but it also tells us a lot about how we used to live and love. Alan Corr has a look through its glossy pages

Entertainment • 24 Dec 15

Daithí - recommends his namesake and fellow Kerryman, Tomás Ó Sé

Xmas reading tips? RTÉ presenters pick their faves

What are Jean Byrne, Daithí Ó Sé, Áine Lawlor and Claire Byrne recommending for Christmas? We asked a number of RTÉ personalities to name the books they enjoyed this year and what books they would like to see in their Christmas stockings.

Entertainment • 21 Dec 15

Anna Bikont's book is difficult to read at times, so vivid is her absorbing and remarkably brave account.

Anna Bikont The Crime and The Silence

Anna Bikont’s classic work of investigation first appeared in Polish in 2004, and was deemed by Ryszard Kapuscinski, as one of the most important and dramatic books of the decade. It is now published in English.

Book Reviews • 20 Dec 15

Colum McCann's new collection contains an absolute classic of contemporary Irish literature in the short story, Sh’khol.

Colum McCann Thirteen Ways of Looking

The centre-piece of Colum McCann’s latest book is the eponymous crime novella in 13 chapters, but the real highlight is the additional 38-page story, Sh’khol, easily one of the most powerful and moving pieces of Irish fiction ever.

Book Reviews • 28 Dec 15

JK Rowling - first fan letter is an interesting curiosity

JK's first fan letter addressed to her as a man

JK Rowling's first fan letter was addressed to her as a man, after her first book in the Harry Potter series appeared.The author had been advised by publishers to hide the fact that she was a woman.

Entertainment • 21 Dec 15

Edna O'Brien - a known war criminal fleeing Balkan atrocities comes under the spotlight in The Little Red Chairs, the latest novel from the celebrated author.

Edna O'Brien turns 85 as book hailed a masterpiece

The celebrated Irish author and long-time London resident Edna O'Brien turned 85 on Tuesday December 15. O'Brien's new novel, The Little Red Chairs, has been deemed her masterpiece by the American writer, Philip Roth.

Entertainment • 21 Dec 15

Engaging tales of love found and lost, of infidelity and meanness and kindness - in short all human nature is here.

Maeve Binchy: A Few of the Girls

This new collection gathers 41 stories from Maeve Binchy whose fiction continues to move and inspire readers of all ages, three years after her passing in 2012.

Book Reviews • 07 Dec 15

Gaffney - "They might've thought I was up to no good or something!"

Dublin Seven author wanted summons for nothing

With his gritty debut novel Dublin Seven just published, author Frankie Gaffney has been telling TEN how there was one thing he couldn't persuade Gardaí to let him include in the book.

Entertainment • 04 Dec 15

Hoping to bury your face in a book this Christmas? Check out our list below

Top TEN Books of 2015

Looking for a Christmas pressie for the bookworm in your life or just hoping to nab something to read yourself over the festive period? RTÉ's Arts and Media Correspondent, Sinead Crowley, gives us her top selection of reads from the past year.

Entertainment • 04 Dec 15

Kershaw's illuminating study reveals what it was like for ordinary Europeans to live through two twentieth century conflagrations.

Ian Kershaw To Hell and Back Europe 1914-1949

“Europe’s twentieth century was a century of war, “ Ian Kershaw baldly declares by way of opening sentence of his compelling new study which brings us the story of ordinary lives lived in large part in the shadow of battle.

Book Reviews • 01 Dec 15

The Same Old Story: An engaging tale of lost illusions from mid-nineteenth century Russia, just published in a new translation by Stephen Pearl.

Ivan Goncharov The Same Old Story

Anxious to make a name for himself, the romantic but naive young poet, Alexander Aduyev travels to St Petersburg. But things don't at all go to plan. Does he return home? Such is Goncharov’s gift that you will want to know in this new translation.

Book Reviews • 01 Dec 15

Leo Tolstoy's title novella and some of his long short stories are collected in this sparkling new translation.

Leo Tolstoy The Kreutzer Sonata and other stories

Rated as the greatest fiction writer of all time by many, Leo Tolstoy‘s best-known works were War and Peace and Anna Karenina. However, the Russian author (1828-1910) also wrote a number of captivating novellas and short stories.

Book Reviews • 30 Nov 15

Book

Room writer "thrilled to bits" with BAFTA nod

Michael Smith Collected Poems

TEN's top books to read in 2016

Coloured Handprints - 20 German-Language Poets

No Irish joy at Costa Book Awards

Debut novel sold for seven-figure sum due in March

Tom McCarthy Satin Island

Banville pays tribute to Aidan Higgins

Room and Brooklyn tipped for Oscar glory

Celebrated Irish writer Aidan Higgins dies aged 88

Don DeLillo tackles big questions in new novel

New books on Macca and Leonard Nimoy due 2016

Brand New Retro - Brian McMahon & Joe Collins

New book reveals Ireland's pop culture past

Xmas reading tips? RTÉ presenters pick their faves

Anna Bikont The Crime and The Silence

Colum McCann Thirteen Ways of Looking

JK's first fan letter addressed to her as a man

Edna O'Brien turns 85 as book hailed a masterpiece

Maeve Binchy: A Few of the Girls

Dublin Seven author wanted summons for nothing

Top TEN Books of 2015

Ian Kershaw To Hell and Back Europe 1914-1949

Ivan Goncharov The Same Old Story

Leo Tolstoy The Kreutzer Sonata and other stories

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