Swirl and Thread Book Corner

Bravo Mick Flannery & all the crew of The House Must Win, front and backstage 👏 👏👏

A triumph of a show based on the album Evening Train by Mick Flannery

The set, the music, the story - absolutely incredible stuff. The auditorium was enthralled as we were taken on a powerful journey into the lives of a small Irish town in the 1970s struggling to support its community.

Tensions soar & emotional are high as the reality of life is tearing families apart.

Extraordinary performances from the cast:
Orlagh De Bhaldraithe
Damien Kearney
John McCarthy
Niall McNamee
Tabitha Smyth
Tommy Tiernan
Ferdia Walsh-Peelo

with the soundtrack brought to life by the excellent musicianship of the accompanying band.

What a night ✨️

Bealtaine, which takes place each May for the entire month, is Ireland's national festival celebrating the arts and ageing and the world's first national celebration of creativity in older age.

Next week on Thursday evening at 8pm Cónal Creedon & myself will be donning our stripes and heading west to Inchigeela. Do join us in Creedon's Hotel for a very special evening of story, prose and poetry (& a story about dogs!!)

It is a privilege to participate in such a wonderful festival. Thank you to Cork County Council for the invitation 🙏

Bealtaine is an Age & Opportunity initiative, funded by the Arts Council and the HSE.

"For me, a residency is all about stealing back time to rebalance and reset. It’s a shift in focus, both investment and reward"

On Write Smarter this week I am delighted to welcome E.R. Murray, writer, creative writing facilitator & mentor. In this fabulous & informative piece Elizabeth shares her knowledge & experience about Writing Residencies, with lots of useful advice & tips.

Based in West Cork, Elizabeth writes across age groups and genres, and is the author of five novels for children and young adults, including the award-winning Nine Lives Trilogy (Mercier Press). Her most recent book is Arabella Pepper – The Wild Detective (Natural World Publishing), which was longlisted for the 2025 Wainwright prize for Children’s Fiction.

"If imposter syndrome or self-doubt surface, remind yourself that you're here for your writing, not to impress anyone."

Read the full blog Curating Space with Writing Residencies at:
https://www.swirlandthread.com/write-smarter-with-er-murray/

[If you click on my Linktree in my bio you will access all the fantastic & insightful articles featured to date in this series]

✨️✨️ News ✨️✨️

‘Murder in the Bower’ hosted by Mairéad Hearne featuring Amy Jordan, Catherine Kirwan & Michelle McDonagh

Date: 24 may • 18:00 at Leaf and Bower Bookshop in Ballincollig, Cork

Leaf and Bower proudly presents Ireland's tiniest book festival, a joyful occasion to celebrate the love of books with the local reading community of Ballincollig and it’s surrounding villages.

This event is made possible by the Books at One Community Fund and each purchased ticket can be redeemed for a Leaf and Bower gift voucher of the same value (excluding online booking fee).

Tickets:
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/murder-in-the-bower-hosted-by-mairead-hearne-tickets-1988830665057

In 2023 I was in a taxi in Dublin on my way to the train station, following a wonderful evening at the Irish Book Awards. It was the year that Katriona O’Sullivan’s staggeringly powerful biography Poor had picked up two awards. At that point I hadn’t read the book but the taxi driver had. He pulled out the copy that he carried with him to read between jobs and was telling me how incredible and impactful her words were.

It took me until 2025 to finally dive in, after my daughter passed her copy onto me, telling me in no uncertain words that I had to read it. I never wrote a review for Poor because I just could not put into words the emotions I felt upon completion. Here was a woman who had suffered horrors beyond my comprehension yet, through pure grit and determination, and some unstoppable force, was now a professor of psychology and a voice for the voiceless.

A few weeks ago, Cork World Book Fest held an event on a Sunday afternoon. Over three hundred people packed into a venue to listen to Katriona O’Sullivan in conversation with Deirdre O’Shaughnessy, chatting about her latest book.

At the same time the Cork Hurling team were playing a very important match down the road but no one was checking their phones for the score. We all sat enthralled by this funny, warm, entertaining woman, who shied away from nothing as she spoke of her life since writing Poor and her continued fractious relationship with her body.

O’Sullivan doesn’t have the answers but what she does have is a platform and she uses it with positive intention. There is no filter. There is no sanitising of her words. She is who she is…and that is more than enough.

A raw and compassionate book, Hungry: A Biography of My Body is profoundly affecting and relatable. It is savage and uncompromising. Parts of it are every woman’s story but ultimately this is Katriona O’Sullivan’s story, one written with dignity, integrity and authenticity.

Full review over on my blog 🔗 in bio

Thank you Hachette Ireland for a copy of Hungry in exchange for my honest review

"Every bad draft, every awkward sentence, every abandoned idea, all of it is progress. Keep going."

On Write Smarter this week I am delighted to welcome Alex Dunne, tea drinker and dreamer of fantastical tales✨️

Alex has been a published author for nearly four years but has been writing for much longer than that and, according to Alex herself, ‘in my time I’ve made a truly impressive number of mistakes‘.

Alex’s first children’s novel, The Book of Secrets won the Eilís Dillon Award for a First Book at the 2023 KPMG Children’s Book Ireland Awards and was also nominated for the 2023 Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing. Her most recent book for young people, Small Magics, was published in March 2026 by The O’Brien Press.

"Abandoning something doesn’t mean you’ve wasted time. You’ve still written something and you’ve practiced your craft"

Read the full blog at:
https://www.swirlandthread.com/write-smarter-with-alex-dunne/

Set in Derry post 1998 (The Good Friday Agreement), Prestige Drama by Séamas O'Reilly (May 7th) is a novel full of vitality, bursting at the seams with the stories that make up humanity. It is a character-led tale with the underlying heartbeat of a community defiant in their survival.

Told through different perspectives Prestige Drama is a snapshot of a moment in time in a city going through dramatic change.

What unfolds is a wonderfully witty, yet tragic, story told with a striking use of language and descriptions that bring a people and a place alive. Kevin Barry immediately springs to mind, with O’Reilly’s style having that similar quirkiness and appeal that lifts the soul but also has an underlying rumble of something undefined.

Prestige Drama leaves a lingering presence in its wake. It is a warm and compassionate story, a perceptive tale, a striking debut.

You can read my full review at:
https://www.swirlandthread.com/prestige-drama-seamas-oreilly/

[Thank you Hachette Ireland for a review copy in exchange for my honest review]

I was caught unawares - completely engrossed in the event with Katriona O'Sullivan chatting with Deirdre O'Shaughnessy at St Lukes last Sunday.

Thanks to for sending it to me ❤️

'Tell people you're a writer. Practice saying it.'

This week's guest on my Write Smarter blog series is Rebecca Murphy, winner of the 2025 RTE Today Show Novel Competition in association with Mercier Press.

Blood & Water is her debut novel and is described as ‘a haunting, beautifully observed novel about identity, inheritance, and the quiet devastations that echo through generations. With warmth, wit, and emotional precision, Rebecca Murphy introduces a striking new voice in fiction, one that lingers long after the final page.’

Rebecca is a writer from Cork, living in Wicklow with her wife and two dogs. Her influences range from Anne Enright to Stephen King, by way of Maeve Binchy. She has a degree in Drama and English from UCC and was also the recipient of a Faber Academy Scholarship.

Blood & Water will be published in May 2026 by Mercier Press.

Read Rebecca's full feature over at:
https://www.swirlandthread.com/write-smarter-with-rebecca-murphy/

And do pop over to my blog and check out the other posts in this series with lots of insightful tips & tricks for writers.

www.swirlandthread.com