* * * We are recruiting! * * * The Crescent is looking for a Coordinator to join the team. This role will provide solid administrative experience of all aspects of an arts centre. Closing Date 10pm Sunday 28 July. For more info about the post —> crescentarts.org/about/our-peop…

A wee flash fiction competition from Stories at Duncairn Arts to celebrate their decade - £75 book voucher from No Alibis Bookstore - your story will be read out on at event with me Jan Carson & Bernie McGill - theme Shadows and Light. Open to island of Ireland. Deadline August

After our postal rant (postal despair) - some much more fun news: The GBP 2024/25 Short Story Prize will be opening to submissions next Tuesday, and we've got three truly brilliant judges - Clare Pollard, Claire Armitstead, and previous GBP Shortlistee, Mathilde Merouani.

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Went to a masterclass with Naomi Wood last night and it was excellent. Well structured with teaching and exercises both informative and practical. Highly recommended!

Can I take you out for dinner? (Sometime in Autumn). It's on me. Put your bid in below. All the money is going to help people in the Caribbean whose lives were upended by hurricane Beryl. 32auctions.com/organizations/…

So far this month, The Only Way is Up by The Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee and David Walker is July’s bestseller at the Guardian Bookshop This timely book chronicles the inheritance left by the Tories – and the top priorities for the new Labour government guardianbookshop.com/The-Only-Way-I…

It's been a year of sequels and spin-offs - here's a choice one from Donal Ryan, his follow-up to The Spinning Heart, reviewed by Erica Wagner theguardian.com/books/article/…

📣 Project Funding for Individuals announcement 📣 #NationalLottery Supported. Applicants can apply for Awards between £3,000 to £10,000.

The Booker longlist might just be the most enjoyable of recent years theguardian.com/books/article/…

Gillian Anderson, Lola Petticrew & Tom Cullen to appear in major new drama adaptation Trespasses for Channel 4 based on the best-selling book by Louise Kennedy Read all here - channel4.com/press/news/cha…

Thrilled that Co. Down author Caroline Blackwood's deliciously dark debut novella The Stepdaughter (1976) has been reissued by McNally Editions and my Irish Times Books piece on her life and work is cited in its pages! My article is available to read here: irishtimes.com/culture/books/…

I wrote the Saturday Essay for The Irish Times on #Derry: its lost twentieth century, its present fragility - and my hopes for its future. /1 irishtimes.com/life-style/202…

‘We all read like hell!’ How Ireland became the world’s literary powerhouse theguardian.com/books/article/…

David Marcus, writer and editor, was born OTD in 1924 and we’re very happy to announce the forthcoming publication of this book in his honour. It's been a pleasure working on it over the past 18 months with editors Paul Delaney and Deirdre Madden. stingingfly.org/product/david-…

I'm excited/vaguely scared to tell you about my new book MEDITATIONS FOR MORTALS, out in Sep (UK) & Oct (US). It's about giving up the futile quest to Sort Your Life Out and diving into a more meaningful, productive & absorbing life in *this* reality, with all its absurdities

Martin Doyle's highly lauded memoir will be available in paperback from next week. Part memoir, part oral testimony, part local and national history, Dirty Linen gathers the threads into a unforgettable tapestry. Martin Doyle

Delighted to be collaborating with Crescent Arts Centre on their vibrant programme of courses & workshops in Belfast – from art to creative writing, languages, music, dance & more Explore their current programme at crescentarts.org & keep an eye out for new courses for 2024-25

A few years ago I was approached after a live show in Nottingham by a young illustrator called Jack William Martindale. He gave me a self published booklet of his work. I was delighted when Fig Tree agreed he should do the illustrations for Nights Out. They are beautiful.

Very pleased to finally be able to say - it's Publication Day! Black History for Every Day of the Year - written with my siblings Yinka and Kemi Olusoga. 366 stories of people achievements, inventions and events. Out now.