In brief: Harlem Shuffle; Two Brothers; The Queen of Dirt Island – reviews
Colson Whitehead on a heist gone wrong; a revisionary study of the footballing Charltons; and Donal Wilson’s latest fictional vignette of small-town Ireland
July 2022
From a Low and Quiet Sea review – lyrical staging of Donal Ryan’s novel
In a series of monologues, four characters in a small Irish town try to make their peace with painful pasts
August 2021
Take risks and tell the truth: how to write a great short story
Drawing on writers from Anton Chekhov to Kit de Waal, Donal Ryan explores the art of writing short fiction. Plus Chris Power on the best books for budding short story writers
November 2020
The Art of the Glimpse edited by Sinead Gleeson review – 100 Irish short stories
A gloriously varied collection that gives voice to the forgotten and overlooked as well as the famous and familiar
September 2020
Strange Flowers by Donal Ryan review – a compassionate tale of homecoming
Five years after she went missing, a woman returns to rural Tipperary in a novel that explores all forms of love
August 2020
In brief: Strange Flowers; The Shadow King; The System – review
An explosive Tipperary-set thriller, a Booker-longlisted tale of women at war in Ethiopia, and a fascinating ‘biography’ of the internet
December 2018
Made in ...
Donal Ryan on County Tipperary: 'My childhood was filled with vampires and ghosts'
The Costa-nominated novelist remembers his sheltered childhood in Newtown, among a family that valued books – even the dangerous ones
March 2018
Book of the day
From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan review – waves of compassion and anger
The lives of a Syrian refugee, a heartbroken carer and a crooked moneyman cross with poignant results
From a Low and Quiet Sea by Donal Ryan – review
The nature of empathy connects the stories of three men in this hard-hitting, uplifting novel
Donal Ryan: ‘Writing is like being gloriously drunk, and it’s always followed by a hangover of guilt’
The books interview: The award-winning author made headlines when he went back to his day job in the civil service. He talks about seeing ghosts and almost giving up writing
September 2016
Critical eye
Book reviews roundup: Beryl Bainbridge; All We Shall Know; The Wonder
All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan review – a modern-day Irish tragedy
August 2016
All We Shall Know by Donal Ryan – review
The Irish writer’s third novel explores new territory – a foray into the Traveller community – but his protagonist lacks depth
October 2015
A new Irish literary boom: the post-crash stars of fiction
A Slanting of the Sun by Donal Ryan review – brilliant, bleak, plain-speaking
August 2014
The Guardian Books podcast
Irish fiction at Edinburgh with Donal Ryan and Michèle Forbes – podcast
Guardian first book award winner Donal Ryan takes us back to county Tipperary, while Michèle Forbes heads to Belfast for a novel of submerged secrets
April 2014
Impac prize shortlist pits newcomers against international stars of fiction
Alison Flood: Karl Ove Knausgaard and Juan Gabriel Vásquez vie with debutants Donal Ryan and Patrick Flanery for €100,000 award
January 2014
The Thing About December by Donal Ryan – review
The Thing About December by Donal Ryan – review
December 2013
Books blog
Literary fiction has a problem with happy endings
Richard Lea: Do serious novels really have to be so bleak?
