Latest news with #CarelessPeople:AStoryofWhereIUsedtoWork
Irish Times
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Jane Casey and Stuart Neville shortlisted
In The Irish Times this Saturday, John Patrick McHugh tells Edel Coffey about his debut novel, Fun and Games. And there is a Q&A with Lisa Harding about her latest novel, The Wildelings. Reviews are Oliver Farry on The Great Betrayal: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in the Middle East Fawaz A Gerges; Karlin Lillington on Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn-Williams; Daniel McLaughlin on Life in Spite of Everything by Victoria Donovan; Edel Coffey on The Marriage Vendetta by Caroline Madden; Frank Wynne on the best new fiction in translation; John Boyne on Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin; Daniel Geary on Good Trouble: The Selma, Alabama and Derry, Northern Ireland Connection 1963-1972 by Forest Issac Jones; Ray Burke on Becoming Irish American by Timothy J Meagher; Helen Cullen on The Wildelings by Lisa Harding; Paraic O'Donnell on Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt; and Kevin Power on Fun and Games by John Patrick McHugh. This weekend's Irish Times Eason offer is The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry, just €5.99, a €6 saving. Eason offer Jane Casey and Stuart Neville have been longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2025. Casey has been recognised for A Stranger in the Family and Neville for Blood Like Mine. Also shortlisted is Birmingham Irish author Marie Tierney for Deadly Animals. READ MORE Three former winners are vying for top honours at this year's Awards, including 2023 champion M.W. Craven, who is longlisted for his adrenaline-fuelled US-set thriller The Mercy Chair, alongside Chris Whitaker for All the Colours of the Dark, a million-copy bestseller exploring the aftermath of a childhood kidnapping, and Chris Brookmyre for the highly original thriller, The Cracked Mirror, which sees a hard-bitten homicide detective and an old lady who has solved multiple murders in her sleepy village, crack an impossible case. Highly commended in 2023, Elly Griffiths receives an impressive tenth longlisting for The Last Word, a murder mystery set at a writers' retreat. Readers are now encouraged to vote for their favourite novels to reach the shortlist, with the winner crowned on the opening night of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate on July 17th. * Tickets for the Belfast Book Festival are now on sale with a packed programme of poetry, fiction, crime writing, journalism, screenwriting, plus developmental opportunities and expert-led discussions and workshops. The 15th edition of the Festival will run from June 5th-12th at The Crescent Arts Centre in south Belfast. Highlights include Game of Thrones star Kristain Nairn and his new book that documents life on the set of one of the world's most popular TV shows, Sam McAlister former BBC Newsnight producer and author of Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC's Most Shocking Interviews, as well as many other author events from Joseph O'Connor, Wendy Erskine, Tessa Hadley, Eimear McBride, Luke Harding, Darran Anderson, Eoin McNamee, Roddy Doyle, Andrea Carter, Neil Hegarty, Noreen Masud, Claire Lynch, Roisin O'Donnell, Jan Carson, Gráinne O'Hare and Thomas Morris among others. As ever, there will be a celebration of emerging talent with the announcement of the Mairtín Crawford Awards. Festival commemorative events will honour Michael Longley and Edna O'Brien. Art lovers should check out The Art of Translation, the festival's exhibition that offers a fantastic snapshot of international book design via leading Irish writers, presented in collaboration with Literature Ireland. Tickets can be be found at * The Shaking Bog festival hosts a one-day programme of events in the Glencree Valley, Co Wicklow, on May 17th, featuring a Dawn Chorus Walk with Sean Ronayne, Moth Magic with Ciarán Finch, Exploring the River Valley with Martha Burton, Wildflowers & Pollinators with Prof Jane Stout, 'What is Wild?' a talk by Mark Cocker and in conversation with Ella McSweeney, and a Concert & Reading with Jane Robinson, Lynda O'Connor & Ailbhe McDonagh. Booking is essential - The Shaking Bog Festival is embarking on a new project. Entitled Riverscapes, this creative exploration of place, heritage and nature will run from May to October. Riverscapes is a place-based initiative which will celebrate, enliven and inform the communities of both people and nature that live in and around the Glencree and Dargle Rivers. And, in turn, share this experience with the wider world. The Riverscapes project will culminate with a new film by acclaimed local film-maker Alan Gilsenan - that will not only draw on the people and habitats of this richly diverse community but will also belong to that community. It is a film that will hopefully reflect life at its most local whilst also mirroring the universal. * Penguin, Sandycove is to publish Andy Farrell's autobiography, The Only Way I Know, on October 16th. Publisher Michael McLoughlin said : " Andy Farrell is rightly seen on these islands as one of the most remarkable sports people and coaches of all time. He has played and been hugely successful in both rugby codes and as a successful coach he has brought the Ireland team to the top of the world rankings and to consecutive Six Nations championship titles. The Lions tour to Australia this summer, under his leadership, will hopefully be another highlight. I am delighted to publish this book, which is as stellar as his career." Farrell said: 'It has been a really interesting and enjoyable process reflecting on my life and career, and working with Gavin Mairs to bring it all together. I have tried to be honest and true to myself, and I hope that is reflected in the book.' * For the third consecutive year, Denis Shaughnessy, writing under the pseudonym Marco Ocram, has won First Prize for Humour at the Chanticleer International Book Awards (CIBA) in the United States. This literary hat-trick crowns Ocram's 'Awful Truth' series of metafictional satires. Each of the three novels has now won the top prize in the humour category, a rare feat in the world of indie and international publishing. 'I was thrilled to win once, amazed to win twice, and by the third time I thought perhaps the judges needed checking,' joked Shaughnessy. 'But really, it's an honour to see readers and critics connect with something so deliberately absurd.' The awards, held annually in Washington state, draw thousands of entries from across the globe, celebrating excellence in independent and small press publishing. * Waterford Council is running the annual Molly Keane Creative Writing Award. This is a short story competition in memory of the Irish author. The stories must be 2,000 words or less, and entries must be in by noon on May 19th. Entries are only accepted via this link . * The Dublin Small Press Fair has opened a call for applications from publishers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, experimental literature, literary journals, artists' books, zines, chapbooks, broadsides, and more. The first annual fair, organised by Tim Groenland and Éireann Lorsung, will take place over two days in November in Pearse Street Library (with support from Dublin Unesco City of Literature). The fair will celebrate small-scale publishing in Ireland as well as welcoming small presses from abroad, showcasing the innovative and experimental work of small literary presses while providing a space of connection in which publishers can share knowledge and develop relationships. It will feature readings, launches, panels, and exhibitions alongside many tables of books and book-adjacent work from about thirty small and independent presses, journals, book binders, zine makers, and more. Applications are free, and the deadline is July 1st. See for more information. * John Connolly, Marita Conlon-McKenna and Elaine Feeney, will be interviewed over three separate evenings in Kennys Bookshop, Galway in May, to celebrate the launch of their new books. Tickets are available now on On May 1st, crime fiction writer John Connolly will be interviewed about his new novel, The Children of Eve, the latest instalment in his bestselling Charlie Parker series. On May 15th, Marita Conlon-McKenna will be launching her Children of The Famine Trilogy of novels (Under the Hawthorn Tree, Wildflower Girl and Fields of Home), published in one volume for the very first time! She will be joined in conversation by bookseller and author Gráinne O'Brien. Award-winning Galway poet and novelist Elaine Feeney will be launching her new novel, Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way on May 27th in conversation with Sarah Kenny. Feeney's previous novel How to Build a Boat was longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize. Tickets are free but limited. To book, visit * Marty Whelan will launch Killester: from medieval manor to garden suburb by Joseph Brady & Ruth McManus on Tuesday, April 29th at 7.30pm in Killester Donnycarney Football Club, Hadden Park, Killester, Dublin 5. * The Seamus Heaney HomePlace has launched its summer programme. Highlights include comedian Frank Skinner in conversation with Belfast-based poet Scott McKendry on June 27th talking about his love of poetry, as evidenced in his acclaimed Poetry Podcast which is now in its tenth series. On August 10th, Kabosh Theatre Company presents Julie - a new one-woman play written and performed by Charlotte McCurry. Set in West Belfast in 1981, it follows a teenage girl as she navigates the loss of her sister and her family's struggle for justice. Author events include Eimear McBride (May 29th); Nathan Thrall (June 2nd); Glenn Patterson (10th); Paul Lynch (14th); On June 25th, Patterson welcome this year's Seamus Heaney Centre Fellows, author Jan Carson, poet Fiona Benson, and screenwriters Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn (Blue Lines) for what promises to be a lively conversation, offering insight into the lives and work of these four exceptional writers. The 160th birthday of WB Yeats on June 13th is marked with a performance of Sailing to Byzantium, original songs set to 12 of Yeats's poems, performed by Christine Toibin. Following a sell-out performance last year, Ruairi Conaghan returns with his one-man show Lies Where It Falls on June 19th. Finally, on August 30th, HomePlace presents a storytelling brunch: Cloak of Wisdom, featuring Liz Weir, Vicky McParland and Anne Harper.
Irish Times
25-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Careless People: The controversial book is shocking and reveals Facebook is far worse than we could have suspected
Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work Author : Sarah Wynn-Williams ISBN-13 : 978-1035065929 Publisher : Macmillan Guideline Price : £16.99 With Careless People: A Story of Where I used to Work, Facebook 's former director of global public policy Sarah Wynn-Williams provides a shocking but fascinating exposure of Facebook's utterly dystopian dysfunctionality. Careless People reveals that everything is far, far worse than we ever could have suspected, despite all the past investigative reporting, international hearings and other recent books on Facebook/ Meta 's failings. This is a horror scream-fest for anyone who cares about democracy, accountability and decency. A former diplomat, Wynn-Williams offers a darkly funny page-turner that shows how insanely powerful, detached and, yes, evil these wealthy tech overlords and their companies have become. With her insider view and knowledge of the company's catastrophic global affairs manoeuvrings, she provides a convincing immediacy compared to more distanced journalistic or tech-perspective books about Meta. She spent seven years within then-Facebook's management team, working closely with Zuckerberg , his ' lean-in ' first lieutenant Sheryl Sandberg (now departed), and Republican operative and current Meta president of global affairs Joel Kaplan. READ MORE They come across as despicably vile – an understatement, given the bizarre, predatory actions of Sandberg and Kaplan, ignored by the company even when witnessed incidents are raised with Facebook lawyers. Sandberg's women-supportive lean-in spiel is gutted by Wynn-Williams's recounting of Sandberg's imperious selfishness and indifferent neglect of women working for her. If this wasn't a well-lawyered book from someone with Wynn-Williams's past role, many of these jaw-dropping stories would even stretch credibility (Meta disputes the allegations). Former taoiseach Enda Kenny pops up in a Davos anecdote. Kenny is eager to explain a new planned tax wheeze that will benefit Facebook, and hears out Sandberg's plea for a soft regulator. Some of this has been reported in the past. But here, I think New Zealander Wynn-Williams doesn't get Irish plámás. Kenny's adept charm offensive probably wasn't all about them. [ 'It's time to move on': Unease is growing among my friends in the tech sector Opens in new window ] The final chapters are the most serious. Wynn-Williams exposes Facebook's lethal ineptitude in Myanmar, where platform exploitation in part led to brutal attacks and thousands of deaths. In explosive revelations on Facebook's Chinese operations, she lays bare the company's shocking anti-democratic wooing and intended accommodation of demands to enable government-led surveillance of Chinese platform users. Most of this is newly revelatory, and raises serious legal, governance and accountability questions. There's much more to appal. If you want to understand Meta, and the tech and political zeitgeist, don't miss it.
Telegraph
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Enjoy three months of Audible for just 99p per month – limited-time offer
Immerse yourself in endless stories with Amazon Audible's Spring Promotion. New members can enjoy three months of Audible membership for just 99p a month – significantly less than the usual £7.99 fee – and unlock a universe of audiobooks, podcasts and exclusive content. What's included in the Audible 3-month trial? The 99p Audible offer is an excellent opportunity to discover thousands of audiobooks and catch up on the best podcasts, whether you're commuting, stuck in traffic, exercising, or simply relaxing at home. Modern classics from George RR Martin's epic A Game Of Thrones series to JK Rowling's Harry Potter tales, narrated by Stephen Fry, come to life in one of the best audiobook service offers available today. Or for gripping non-fiction, hear an insider's account of Facebook in Sarah Wynn-Williams's Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work. Audible also includes a theatre catalogue as part of its Audible Originals collection, featuring exclusive all-star casts and performances to entertain and inspire, only available through Audible. Discover the best of the Bard with Shakespeare: The Complete Works, narrated by Ian McKellen, Diana Rigg, Derek Jacobi and Prunella Scales. Or delve into one of the greatest American dramas, Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, including the voices of Bill Camp and Elizabeth Marvel. Podcasts are also included in the Audible discount for new members. Brush up on your current affairs with The Rest is Politics; chuckle away with French & Saunders; or drift off to the soothing tones of Jamie Dornan with his Sleep Sound podcast. Audible membership also gives you access to exclusive members-only sales. Unlock a world of listening this spring with Audible's special offer: 3 months for only 99p. Don't miss your chance to discover thousands of audiobooks and podcasts before April 30th. Terms and conditions apply. Prime savings As well as benefiting from a cheap Audible subscription, Amazon Prime members can receive additional benefits. A basic Audible membership allows you one free audiobook download a month, which will permanently remain in your library. However, Amazon Prime Membership holders with a new Audible subscription can download two free audiobooks during the trial period. Final countdown This Audible membership deal ends on April 30, 2025, and is subject to availability. To take advantage of this audiobook subscription deal, visit Amazon Audible's Offer Page. After the initial three-month period, the subscription will automatically renew at the standard rate of £7.99 per month unless cancelled. Don't miss out on this limited-time offer. Sign up to Audible today and dive into a world of storytelling for less.
The Guardian
12-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Lean In, said Sheryl Sandberg – but after this week, can we ever see her or Facebook in the same light again?
Many years ago, when Facebook was an entity most people had warm – or at least neutral – feelings towards, I visited the company's HQ in Menlo Park, California. I admired the free restaurants and leisure facilities. I sneered at the 'graffiti wall', where Facebook employees were invited to grab a felt-tip and answer the question: 'What would you do if you weren't afraid?' (Say something negative about Facebook, perhaps.) And I attended a presentation by then chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, who was surprisingly nervous; I recall noticing how her voice shook as she addressed the smirking European hacks. Then I went to the gift shop and bought Facebook-branded hoodies for my kids. Obviously I wouldn't put them in Facebook gear now. Over the past decade or so the evolution of Facebook (now Meta) in general and Sandberg in particular has been one of slow then fast descent from corporate brave new world to something much grimmer and more familiar. In the New York Times this week, details of a new memoir by a Facebook whistleblower, the very existence of which was kept under wraps by the publisher until a few days before, were shared and – how else to put this: bloody hell. That Zuckerberg is a men's rights shill for Trump, running a company with a profit model reliant on hate speech and false information, is something we already know. What I hadn't seen coming was the exposure of Sandberg for reportedly running up $13,000 in lingerie purchases and allegedly trying to persuade the author, Sarah Wynn-Williams, to join her in the only bed on the corporate jet on the way back from a work trip to Europe. The author's response, detailed in her book Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work, might generously be described as lean out. Wynn-Williams worked for Facebook for seven years, rising to the role of director of global public policy before being fired in 2018. Her revelations about Sandberg are the book's most lurid and at the same time least consequential; for the most shocking details, see claims about Zuckerberg sucking up to China, lying to Congress and failing to stop hate speech fuelling genocide in Myanmar against the minority Rohingya ethnic group. Still, as a portrait of Sandberg it marks a strange end point to the public image of a woman once hailed, if not as a feminist hero or even as a feminist at all beyond the narrow confines of self-interest, then as a person advancing the credible cause of raising the number of women in the C-suite. Sandberg always seemed uptight and uncomfortable in her public role, a decade older than the men she worked for and not a tech person but a corporate nerd. I once overheard her describe herself during a photoshoot as a 'suburban mom', which was as nauseating as her other ploys for relatability during the my-kids-get-nits-too PR drive for her book Lean In. And yet, while Sandberg's dive into corporate feminism was maddeningly ahistorical and apolitical, I still think it was broadly sincere. It is routine, now, to refer to her as a piece of liberal camouflage behind which Zuckerberg advanced his antidemocratic designs, but I suspect that wasn't the plan back in 2013 when Lean In was first published. Was the book mired in bullshit? Yes. Was it part of some grand evil plan? I doubt it. Still, here we are. Sandberg, who is estimated to be worth over $2bn, left her job as COO of Meta in 2022, quit the company's board two years later and has reportedly fallen out with Zuckerberg, who, it can be said with some confidence, failed to onboard the lessons of Lean In. According to a piece in the New York Times in January, the CEO of Meta badmouthed Sandberg to Stephen Miller, Trump's ghoulish adviser, for creating Facebook's culture of inclusivity, adding to his other complaint that corporate culture has become too 'feminine'. And now this further twist! Just when one might be tempted to side with Sandberg as the least gross of a very grim group, along comes Careless People – named for the line about Tom and Daisy, the wealthy wreckers in The Great Gatsby – and back we go to square one. The author claims to have witnessed a 26-year-old assistant sleeping in Sandberg's lap and the pair stroking each other's hair. And then came the demand from Sandberg for Wynn-Williams to join her in the bed on the jet. (Wynn-Williams demurred.) Sandberg hasn't commented on any of this publicly yet, but Meta put out a statement calling Careless People 'a mix of out-of-date and previously reported claims about the company and false accusations about our executives', and trashing Wynn-Williams as someone who was 'fired for poor performance and toxic behaviour', who is working for 'anti-Facebook activists'. What to make of it all, beyond the fact that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely? In the book, Wynn-Williams, who was a true Facebook believer when she joined the company in 2011, came to see Sandberg's Lean In persona as a 'shtick' covering up what she really wanted from other people: obedience – something that rings true not only for Sandberg, but in the wider political and corporate culture in which we now live. Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Whistleblower complaint expands on claims that Facebook once built a censorship tool to win over China
A report from The Washington Post details allegations made by whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams about Facebook in a 78-page complaint filed last April with the SEC, including that the company built a censorship system in hopes to be allowed to operate in China and that it considered allowing the Chinese government to access users' data in the country. Claims that Facebook developed a content suppression tool to appease China, where it has been blocked since 2009, were first reported as far back as 2016 by The New York Times. Wynn-Williams has a memoir about her time at Facebook, Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work, coming out this week. Wynn-Williams — a former Facebook global policy director who was fired in 2017 — said in the complaint that the company formed a team in 2014 focused on creating a version of Facebook that would comply with China's laws, under the code-name 'Project Aldrin,' The Washington Post reports. In addition to building a censorship system, it was reportedly proposed during negotiations with Chinese officials that the company allow a Chinese private-equity firm to review content posted by users in China, and that Facebook hire hundreds of moderators dedicated to the effort of squashing restricted content. In a statement to The Washington Post, spokesperson Andy Stone said the company's past interest in the Chinese market is 'no secret,' and that CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced a move away from these efforts in 2019. But Wynn-Williams' complaint paints a fuller picture of how far Facebook (pre-Meta) was allegedly willing to go to gain a Chinese userbase. Read The Washington Post's full report here. Zuckerberg has since become vocal about 'free expression' and made changes to how Meta's platforms approach moderation. Earlier this year, Zuckerberg announced that Facebook and Instagram would end fact-checking and instead adopt X-style Community Notes.
