In Keith Ridgway's luminous new novel, the economic circumstances of his characters infect their confidence, their relationships, their self worth. They own nothing—not even their own stories.
Nicole Flattery Criticism 15th November 2021
"We love Ross O'Carroll-Kelly! Should we?" — Kevin Power considers the evolving fates and functions of the Ross O'Caroll Kelly novels, which to date have sold over a million copies.
Kevin Power Criticism 30th October 2021
Bebe Ashley's debut poetry collection "is an ambitious meditation on music, fandom, projection, and yes, Harry Styles".
Kimberly Reyes Criticism 30th September 2021
Lisa McInerney finds many wonders in Tice Cin's transgressive debut novel which "dodges the usual rules of storytelling".
Lisa McInerney Criticism 16th September 2021
As an "informal experiment", Kevin Power examines Megan Nolan's debut novel – and its reviews – and reflects on the purpose and meaning of literary criticism.
Kevin Power Criticism 23rd June 2021
In Neil Jordan's new novel, the author invents the psyche of an enslaved Black person, "a task as ambitious as it is awkward for a white man to do".
Kimberly Reyes Criticism 12th May 2021
To sit through Adam Curtis's latest offering is to experience a work of art that is alternately lush, oneiric, austere, startling, thrilling, amusing, persuasive, shocking, glib, beautiful.
Kevin Power Criticism 15th April 2021
Conor O'Callaghan's "propulsive" novel is about the process of coming to see—coming to understand—the recent past.
Tara McEvoy Criticism 31st March 2021
If a Kevin Barry character declares themselves a romantic, they’re generally headed for trouble.
Naoise Dolan Criticism 10th March 2021
Steve McQueen’s films are steeped in the political, and in the complicated humanity and inhumanity of ordinary people pushed to the extraordinary.
Kimberly Reyes Criticism 24th February 2021
To watch Hilary Mantel go to work on the world is one of contemporary literature’s unalloyed pleasures.
Kevin Power Criticism 10th February 2021
Derek Mahon's collection is the culmination of a life dedicated to language, the final word from an extraordinary talent.
Tara McEvoy Criticism 21st January 2021
Doireann Ní Ghríofa's 'exhilarating' prose debut investigates the inherited script of motherhood and the occluded history of Eibhlín Dubh Ní Chonnaill.
Emma Flynn Criticism 25th November 2020
In her latest exploration of racial imaginaries in the US, Claudia Rankine stresses the importance of difficult conversations in the face of racist state violence.
Mary Jean Chan Criticism 10th November 2020
Caitlín Doherty follows some mystical threads through recent occult-inspired poetry and publishing.
Caitlín Doherty Criticism 30th October 2020
Emma Cline's exquisitely detailed work of social observation falls back on familiar tropes, allowing some characters more complexity than others.
Zakia Uddin Criticism 23rd October 2020
Robert Kiely's debut collection is a brilliant and urgently contemporary appeal to the reader.
Lily Ní Dhomhnaill Criticism 9th September 2020
Mieko Kawakami's latest is a novel of uncertainty, absence, and bodily obsession.
Clara Kumagai Criticism 27th August 2020
Nathalie Legér's blend of novel, art history and memoir is a study in 'to-be-looked-at-ness'.
Rachel Andrews Criticism 12th August 2020
Tara McEvoy considers joy and formal constraint in Alice Lyons' 'extraordinary' debut novel.
Tara McEvoy Criticism 23rd July 2020
Emily S. Cooper finds a quiet beauty in Kathryn Scanlan's spare, unflinching stories.
Lily Ní Dhomhnaill Criticism 30th June 2020
Adania Shibli's third novel, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette, considers the implications of historiography under occupation.
Sarah Jilani Criticism 11th June 2020
Golnoosh Nour's short story collection is an 'inescapably political' exploration of queerness and national identity.
Caleb Klaces' experimental blend of poetry and prose describes the state of new fatherhood with a radical note of tenderness.
Xenobe Purvis Criticism 27th April 2020
Lars Iyer's latest philosophical novel is a “paean to those languorous summer afternoons, on the cusp of adulthood, when time stretches to eternity.”
Andrew Gallix Criticism 9th April 2020
Oisín Fagan's first novel is at once shocking, sad and wise; a book which looks boldly at the mysteries of life, and leaves them beautifully intact
David O'Connor Criticism 19th March 2020
Anne Enright's seventh novel is 'an intricate portrait of the artist as a woman, and an incisive commentary on her "role" in the early Irish republic.'
Dr Dawn Miranda Sherratt-Bado Criticism 20th February 2020
Speaking from the epicentre of destruction of a civilisation, Walter Benjamin's essays express a deep concern for the state of literature and society.
Philip Ó Ceallaigh Criticism 27th January 2020
Caelainn Hogan’s new book documents the 'shame-industrial complex' of mother-and-baby homes and Magdalene laundries, a system that reached into every nook and cranny of Irish society.
Carol Ballantine Criticism 16th December 2019
Ben Lerner's third novel goes back to the 1990s to search for the roots of contemporary crises in language and masculinity.
John Patrick McHugh Criticism 2nd December 2019
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