Latest news with #bookreviews
Telegraph
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The best new children's books
It's often said that we're living in a Golden Age of children's literature. There are 10,000 or so new titles published each year in the UK, accounting for an astonishing one in three books sold. And as the numbers have boomed, the genres have multiplied – a change particularly evident in the last 10 years, since I began reviewing children's books for The Telegraph. Whereas once a novel might simply have been labelled a 'fantasy', today the sub-divisions range from 'eco-fantasy' to 'romantasy' and all things in between. Emerging authors have never faced so much competition. While the first Golden Age of Children's Fiction, which took off in the 1850s, was dominated by a handful of authors (JM Barrie, Robert Louis Stevenson and Lewis Carroll among them), today there are hundreds of household names in the field. With dozens of stunning new novels and picture books appearing each week, it's only frustrating that we can't give even more of them the coverage they deserve. So, with apologies for any omissions, here's our list of the essential new books to buy for today's young reader. The Scream of the Whistle ★★★★☆ by Emily Randall-Jones Any child who has raced through Roald Dahl 's The Witches, waiting to see if the Grand High Witch will succeed in her plan to turn all the children in England into mice, will tell you that young readers have a healthy appetite for the macabre. And Emily Randall-Jones will not disappoint them. Her first novel, The Witchstone Ghosts (2023), told the story of a young girl who can see the ghost of every dead soul, save for that of her father. Now comes The Scream of the Whistle – which may sound like a chapter from Malory Towers, but is being billed by Randall-Jones's publishers as a terrifying tale of 'paranormal horror'. Crikey, you might think. Will it be suitable for the recommended reading age of nine-plus? The heroine of the story is Ruby, who is miserable following her parents' separation. Until recently, the family lived in a house with sheet glass kitchen doors and a 'games cupboard that stretched to the ceiling'. But now Ruby and her mother and her older brother Sam have to move in with their grandmother, 'Gram', who lives in a cramped cottage in the run-down village of Melbridge. The local station is long closed, and the houses resemble 'ghosts of the long-dead railway village, made from stone as grey as storm clouds… The heart had long gone. Melbridge was a ruined shrine to something dead. The houses were its mourners.' Ruby longs to escape – and when she discovers that the disused railway line runs from Melbridge to her old home in Little Hampton, she decides to follow it on foot. An ancient steam train appears out of the mist, and a benevolent-looking Conductor offers her a free ride. ('Come along, miss. The Green Lady is waiting.') Ruby cannot resist. But The Green Lady is not all it appears – and no sooner has Ruby stepped on board than she finds herself transported on a ghostly journey back in time, where she's forced to confront her family's long-buried secrets. Was Gram's grandfather really to blame for the fatal train crash in 1925 that resulted in Melbridge's station's closure? And can Ruby turn back the curse that has shrouded the village ever since? One of the pitfalls of children's ghost stories is that the supernatural elements are so fantastic that they overwhelm the plot. But there's no such danger here. The action is brisk, and Randall-Jones keeps the focus firmly fixed on our nervous young narrator, ensuring that every ghoulish image is filtered through her eyes. ('In the dim light, the Conductor's eye sockets seemed to sink into themselves. As if they were empty. As if his head were only a skull… [then his] bony face turned human again. It did funny things, darkness.') The result is that this is more a story of derring-do than 'paranormal horror' – and all the better for that.
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Ferdia Lennon's Glorious Exploits wins Authors' Club Best First Novel Award
In The Irish Times this Saturday, Jeanine Cummins tells Niamh Donnelly about her new novel and surviving the controversy that surrounded her previous bestseller, American Dirt. Michael Crummey, the Canadian winner of the €100,000 Dublin Literary Award, talks to Niamh Donnelly. And there is a Q&A with Gethan Dick about her debut novel Water in the Desert, Fire in the Night. Reviews are Seamus Martin on Unfinished Empire: Russian Imperialism in Ukraine and the Near Abroad by Donnacha Ó Beacháin and Putin's Sledgehammer by Candace Rondeaux; Kevin Power on Don't Forget We're Here Forever by Lamorna Ash; Rónán Hession on the best new translated fiction; Pat Leahy on The Secret Life of Leinster House by Gavan Reilly; Richard Pine on The Greek Revolution and the Violent Birth of Nationalism by Yanni Kotsonis; Oliver Farry on Vikings in the East: From Vladimir the Great to Vladimir Putin, the Origins of a Contested Legacy in Russia and Ukraine by Martyn Whittock; Michael Cronin on Ripeness by Sarah Moss; Tara Bergin on Infinity Pool by Vona Groarke; Adrienne Murphy on Girl with a Fork in a World of Soup by Rosita Sweetman; Brian Hanley on Swift Blaze of Fire, Olympian, Cleric, Brigadista: the Enigma of Robert Hilliard by Lin Rose Clark; and Kevin Gildea on The Unaccountability Machine by Dan Davies. This weekend's Irish Times Eason offer is Precipice by Robert Harris, just €5.99, a €6 saving. Eason offer Ferdia Lennon's Glorious Exploits has won The Authors' Club 2025 Best First Novel Award. READ MORE This year's guest adjudicator, novelist Tracy Chevalier, presented the £2,500 award to the Dublin author at a reception at the National Liberal Club in London. 'Glorious Exploits is a remarkable leap of the imagination into 4th-century BC Sicily, where two young potters have the madcap idea of directing Athenian prisoners in a Euripides play,' she said. 'Ferdia Lennon somehow manages to convince us he was there, with a distinctly Irish voice and style of storytelling. It is a funny, heartbreaking, confident debut, and a glorious triumph.' Chevalier selected the winner from a shortlist that also included: All My Precious Madness by Mark Bowles; The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley; The Borrowed Hills by Scott Preston; Hard by a Great Forest by Leo Vardiashvili; and Tiananmen Square by Lai Wen. The prize is for the debut novel of a British, Irish or UK-based author, first published in the UK. There is no age limit. The winning novel is selected by a guest adjudicator from a shortlist drawn up by a panel of Authors' Club members, chaired by Lucy Popescu, who said, 'An inventive, bittersweet novel about the power of the imagination. Lennon skilfully weaves the Irish vernacular into his tale; his imaginative characterisation and evocative descriptions are a joy.' Lennon has previously won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction and the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize for his debut novel. 05/11/2024 - NEWS - Writer Eilish Fisher. Photograph Nick Bradshaw / The Irish Times Début author Eilish Fisher and illustrator Dermot Flynn have picked up the KPMG Book of the Year today for their novel, Fia and the Last Snow Deer at the 35th KPMG Children's Books Ireland Awards. The verse novel, which is set in pre-historic Ireland, tells the story of 13-year-old Fia and her beloved snow deer Solas, was also awarded the Éilís Dillon Prize celebrating Fisher's outstanding début children's book. Announced by host Rick O'Shea at a ceremony held in Merrion Square, in partnership with International Literature Festival Dublin, a total of six awards were presented to Irish authors and illustrators, who will also receive a total prize-fund of €16,000. Winners of this year's awards are: The Honour Award for Illustration: Beanie the Bansheenie, written by former Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer and illustrated by Steve McCarthy; The Honour Award for Fiction – Little Bang by Kelly McCaughrain; The Junior Juries' Award - Little Bang by Kelly McCaughrain; The Judges' Special Award – The Dictionary Story by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. The Eilís Dillon Award was awarded to Eilish Fisher recognising an outstanding first children's book for 'Fia and the Last Snow Deer. Paul Baggaley, Sheila Armstrong and Sinéad Mac Aodha The European Union Prize for Literature jury has awarded Sheila Armstrong a Special Mention for her debut novel Falling Animals. This recognition includes €5,000, extensive opportunities to travel to promote the book at European book fairs and literary festivals and significant support for future translations. The European Union Prize for Literature (EUPL), supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, is an annual initiative to recognise the best emerging fiction writers in Europe. Armstrong's publisher, Paul Baggaley, Editor-in-Chief at Bloomsbury Books, and Sinéad Mac Aodha, Director of Literature Ireland (the literature organisation which nominated the book for the award), pitched Falling Animals in Prague to a seven-member literary expert jury. The award ceremony took place at the Prague book fair (Book World Prague) last Friday. Mac Aodha said: 'Sheila's sensitive and lyrical, polyphonic novel is both an exploration of loss and loneliness and a celebration of the very necessary ties of community. The book is rooted in the wild northwestern Atlantic seaboard and its evocation of Sheila's homeplace is beautifully achieved. 'We are so grateful that this jury could appreciate both the cultural specificities of the work and its wider European literary resonances. We look forward to seeing Sheila Armstrong's work grow even further in confidence and ambition as a result of this recognition and the many translation opportunities it will afford her'. Baggaley said: 'Publishing Falling Animals has been a real highlight of my publishing career, but this is still just the beginning in the recognition of Sheila's unique talent for addressing universal themes with her exquisite literary sensibility. I am convinced this prize will bring many international publishing partners and will help Sheila's writing reach readers worldwide, and it couldn't be more deserved.' Thirteen countries were in contention this year with the outright winner, Italian writer Nicoletta Verna, receiving €10,000 as well as promotional and translation support for her book, I giorni di Vetro (Days of Glass), published by Einaudi. Belgian writer, Philippe Marczewski, also received a Special Mention for his novel, Quand Cécile (When Cécile), published by Éditions du Seuil. Fintan Drury will be launching his new book, Catastrophe: Nakba II in Hodges Figgis, Dublin, next Thursday, May 29th, at 6pm, introduced by Dr Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, the Palestinian ambassador to Ireland; on June 4th, at 6.30pm, in Easons, Dún Laoghaire, in conversation with Dion Fanning; on June 5th, at 6.30pm, in Chapters Bookshop, Parnell St, Dublin; on June 12th, at 6.30pm, in O'Mahony's Bookshop, Limerick; and on June 13th, at 6pm, in Charlie Byrne's, Galway city. Natascha McElhone and Lena Headey in a scene from the movie Mrs Dalloway circa 1997. Photograph: MichaelTo mark the centenary of Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway, the Irish Writers Centre will host a day of panel discussions and conversation on Saturday, June 7th. Curated by writer Belinda McKeon, the conference runs from 11am to 3pm at the Centre's home in 19 Parnell Square, Dublin 1. First published in 1925, Mrs Dalloway remains a landmark of modernist literature. The novel's depiction of a single day in the life of its characters continues to resonate a century later, and the Irish Writers Centre's event will explore Woolf's enduring influence on novelists, poets, essayists and readers today. Participants will hear from a stellar line-up of speakers, including Mary Cregan, Naoise Dolan, Emilie Pine, Belinda McKeon, Nuala O'Connor and Claire-Louise Bennett. Discussions will explore themes of memory, urban life, writing the self, and the shifting boundaries of literary expression. Price: €50 / €45 (members or concession). Tickets available at Bloomsday in Tehran Skein Press is publishing a book this autumn by Iranian-Irish visual artist Roxana Manouchehri, This is not a cookbook is a memoir of growing up in Tehran following the Iranian revolution and the significance of the food and recipes shared by the women who raised her. Manouchehri is organising a week-long series of events to take place in Tehran over Bloomsday this year, with help from the Irish embassy in Tehran and Dayhim Art Society. On June 16th and 17th, there will be a private view in the Irish embassy in Tehran and from June 20th to 27th in Rishcee Gallery. There will be an art exhibition around Ulysses, a documentary film, conversation with Joyce translators in Tehran and more. * Local booksellers are sharing some of their top book recommendations for Summer 2025. Maria Dickenson, Chair of Bookselling Ireland, recommends The Names by Florence Knapp and A Family Matter by Claire Lynch. Helene Heaney, Elk Books (opening in August 2025), Warrenpoint, Co Down recommends Charlotte: A Novel by Martina Devlin. Cian Byrne, The Maynooth Bookshop, Co. Kildare, recommends Let me go mad my own way by Elaine Feeney. Tomás Kenny, Kennys Bookshop, Galway, recommends Ingrained by Callum Robinson. John Breen, of Waterstones, Cork, recommends Fair Play by Louise Hegarty. Dawn Behan, Woodbine Books, Kildare, recommends Fun & Games by John Patrick McHugh and La Vie by John Lewis-Stempel. Lynda Laffan, Head of Books, Eason, recommends Air by John Boyne and It Should have been You by Andrea Mara. Trish Hennessy, Halfway Up the Stairs, Greystones, Co Wicklow, recommends Letters to a Monster by Patricia Forde, illustrated by Sarah Warburton; Arabella Pepper: The Wild Detective by ER Murray, illustrated by Monika Pollak; and After by Pádraig Kenny, illustrated by Steve McCarthy. Maria Dickenson, chair of Bookselling Ireland, said, 'There are so many exciting new Irish books arriving in bookshops throughout the country over the coming weeks that will make an ideal summer read. Whether you are reading in an exotic location or enjoying some 'me time' in your back garden, there is something to suit everyone and your local bookseller is on hand to help find your perfect summer 2025 read.' * The Society of Authors (SoA) has announced shortlists for the ALCS Tom-Gallon Trust Award, the Betty Trask Prize, the Queen's Knickers Award, the McKitterick Prize, the Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize, and the books celebrated by the ADCI Literary Prize. The winners will be announced on June 18th at Southwark Cathedral and will share a prize fund of over £170,000. Shortlisted for the ADCI Literary Prize are Victoria Hawthorne for The Darkest Night; Helen Heckety for Alter Ego; Tom Newlands for Only Here, Only Now. Shorltisted for the ALCS Tom Gallon Trust Award for a short story by a writer who has had at least one short story accepted for publication are: Molly Aitken; Naomi Alderman; Daisy Fletcher; Hamish Gray; Katie Hale; and Somto Ihezue. The Betty Trask Prize is presented for a first novel by a writer under 35. Shortlisted are: Bonnie Burke-Patel for I Died at Fallow Hall; Madeline Docherty for Gender Theory; Genevieve Jagger for Fragile Animals; Ashani Lewis for Winter Animals; Elizabeth O'Connor for Whale Fall; Nicolas Padamsee for England is Mine. The Gordon Bowker Volcano Prize is awarded to a UK or Irish writer, or a writer currently resident in those countries, for a novel focusing on the experience of travel away from home. Shorltisted are: Matt Haig for The Life Impossible; Jo Hamya for The Hypocrite; Hisham Matar for My Friends; David Nicholls for You Are Here; Elif Shafak for There are Rivers in the Sky; and Ali Smith for Gliff. The McKitterick Prize is awarded for a first novel by a writer over 40. Shortlisted are Susie Dent for Guilty by Definition; Lauren Elkin for Scaffolding; Ewan Gass for Clinical Intimacy; Lara Haworth for Monumenta; Alan Murrin for The Coast Road; and Tom Newlands for Only Here, Only Now. The Queen's Knickers Award is an annual prize for an outstanding children's original illustrated book for ages 0-7. It recognises books that strike a quirky, new note and grab the attention of a child, whether in the form of curiosity, amusement, horror or excitement. Shortlisted are: Anne Booth and illustrator David Litchfield for The Boy, the Troll and the Chalk; Rachel Bright and illustrator Jim Field for The Pandas Who Promised; Catherine Cawthorne and illustrator Sara Ogilvie for Big Bad Wolf Investigates Fairy Tales; Tiny Fisscher, translator Laura Watkinson and illustrator Herma Starreveld for Bird is Dead; Swapna Haddow and illustrator Yiting Lee for Little Dinosaurs, Big Feelings; Mikolaj Pa, translator Scotia Gilroy and illustrator Gosia Herba for No. 5 Bubblegum Street.
Irish Times
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Gustav Parker Hibbett wins John Pollard Prize
In The Irish Times this Saturday, Brian McGilloway tells Fiona Gartland about his new novel, The One You Least Suspect. Mary Ann Kenny tells Deirdre Falvey about her book, The Episode: : A True Story of Loss, Madness and Healing. And there is a Q&A with Niamh Ní Mhaoileoin about her debut novel, Ordinary Saints. Reviews are Paschal Donohoe on How Feminist Economics Can Change the World by Emma Holten; Making Sense of Chaos by J Doyne Farmer; and Why We're Getting Poorer by Cahal Moran; Malachy Clerkin on The Last Ditch by Eamonn Sweeney; James Hanrahan on Abortion: A History by Mary Fissell; Claire Hennessy on the best new YA fiction; Conor O'Clery on The Folly of Realism: How the West Deceived Itself About Russia and Betrayed Ukraine by Alexander Vindman; Adam Wyeth on Writers Anonymous by William Wall; Huda Awan on Paradise Logic by Sophie Kemp; Naoise Dolan on Gunk by Saba Sams; Henrietta McKervey on The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon; Andrew Roycroft on Dazzling Darkness: The Lives and Afterlives of the Christian Mystics & The Magic Theatre by James Harpur; Paul Clements on local history books; and Michael Cronin on Ghost Wedding by David Park. This weekend's Irish Times Eason offer is Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent, just €5.99, a €6 saving. Eason offer Gustav Parker Hibbett has received the 2025 John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize for their debut poetry collection, High Jump as Icarus Story (Banshee Press) at an award ceremony in Trinity College Dublin this evening, Thursday, May 8th. READ MORE This is the seventh year of the prize, which is awarded annually for an outstanding debut collection of poetry in the English language. Valued at €10,000, the prize is sponsored by the John Pollard Foundation and administered by the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre in the School of English at Trinity. Parker Hibbett is a poet and essayist. Raised in New Mexico, USA, they are currently based in Dublin where they are the 2025 Commissioned Writer for Temple Bar Gallery + Studios. They are also pursuing a PhD in Literary Practice at Trinity College Dublin. Parker Hibbett said: 'Since publishing High Jump as Icarus Story, there have been so many small ways, almost daily, that I've been disarmed or humbled or bowled over by other people's care and generosity, by the time so many people have taken simply to sit with my writing. With this award, I'm bowled over in a really big way. 'This year's other shortlisted collections, which create the context of what this award means, all share what is one of my favourite qualities in poetry: the ambition and ability to expand the boundaries of what language can do, what it can hold and remake and conjure. It has been an honour to be here next to them, just as it is a honour now to see my collection next to the impressive lineage of winning collections. I'm very aware that we can choose how we engage with art—what we bring with us when we meet it, how willing we are to take it on its own terms—and that each kindness my book receives is a choice. 'The whole team at Banshee—in particular Jessica Traynor, Eimear Ryan and Laura Cassidy—were the first to meet this book with kindness. They received it with exceptional care, and they joined, with enthusiasm, in the project of helping it grow. The support of my friends and family, particularly my partner Abbie, has been another great kindness that I wouldn't be able to write without. Thank you, of course, massively, to the judging panel—Eoin McNamee, Una Mannion and Tom Walker—for coming to my book with such generosity, and thank you as well to Stephen Vernon, Provost Linda Doyle, and Trinity College Dublin at large for your belief and investment in poetry. What an incredible honour this is. I am endlessly grateful.' Previous winners are Patrick James Errington, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Gail McConnell, Diane Louie, Isabel Galleymore, and Hannah Sullivan. Prof Eoin McNamee, director of the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre, said: 'Gustav Parker Hibbett's debut is a collection of remarkable range and in their own words, unlikely magic, the poet as Icarus falling through selves or rising up to meet them. At once exalted and humble this is work of the highest order.' High Jump as Icarus Story was also shortlisted for the 2024 TS Eliot Prize and the 2025 Farmgate Café National Poetry Award. The five shortlisted titles for the 2025 Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, announced by Listowel Writers' Week. The winner of the €20,000 prize will be revealed at the festival's opening night on May 28th. Photo: Dominic Walsh. Colm Tóibín, Joseph O'Connor, Donal Ryan, Niall Williams, and Christine Dwyer Hickey have been shortlisted for the 2025 Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award, unveiled today by Listowel Writers' Week. The winner will be announced at the festival's opening night on 28th May. Sponsored by Kerry Group, the award carries a total prize fund of €22,000, with €20,000 awarded to the winner and €500 for each shortlisted author. 'Kerry Group's 31-year partnership with Listowel Writers' Week stands as a testament to our enduring belief in the power of storytelling to inspire and connect,' Catherine Keogh, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Kerry Group, said. 'Each year, the calibre of literary talent and vision among the shortlisted writers astounds us, and this year is no exception. We extend our congratulations to all of this year's nominees and eagerly await the announcement of the winning work later this month.' This year's adjudicators, authors Carol Drinkwater and Paul McVeigh, reviewed 48 submitted novels and carefully selected five outstanding titles that reflect the strength, imagination, and storytelling brilliance of contemporary Irish fiction. The shortlisted titles are: Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey; The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O'Connor; L ong Island by Colm Tóibín; Time of the Child by Niall Williams; and Heart, Be At Peace by Donal Ryan. Ned O'Sullivan, chairperson of the Board of Listowel Writers' Week, said, 'The Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award is a valued part of our festival's celebration of Irish writing. We are sincerely thankful to Kerry Group for their continued and generous support. Congratulations to the five shortlisted authors, your novels reflect the richness and diversity of contemporary Irish fiction, and we're proud to honour your work here in Listowel.' * What is Wild? a talk by Mark Cocker, award-winning author of creative non-fiction, naturalist, columnist and broadcaster will take place in St Patrick's Church, Curtlestown, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow at 5.30pm on Saturday, May 17th as part of the Dawn 'til Dusk events in the Shaking Bog festival. Also concert & readings featuring poet, Jane Robinson, violinist, Lynda O'Connor and cellist/composer, Ailbhe McDonagh at 7.30pm on Saturday, May 17th in the same venue. * Olga Dermott-Bond has won the Strokestown International Poetry Competition 2025 as part of this year's Strokestown International Poetry Festival for her poem René Laennec Remembers the day he dreamt a stethoscope. Judge Jane Clarke said: 'The winning poem is a sparkling tribute to the French physician and musician René Laennec who invented the stethoscope. Through gorgeous imagery, rhyme and rhythm the poem conveys the compassion, empathy and commitment that inspired his discovery. The metaphor of the patient's heart beat as 'distant muffled hooves' is surprising, yet perfect for this standout poem that pulses with life. 'Among the 700-plus entries, many poems stood out and warranted rereading. The five shortlisted poems shone in their exploration of relationships with both intimacy and restraint, bringing diverse people, times, and places to life through a deft use of language that evokes music and imagery.' Now in its 24th year, the winner receives €1,000 while the following four shortlisted poets receive €250: Paul McMahon; Winifred McNulty; Judy O'Kane; and Matthew Wimberley. * Considering the colossal shadow cast by Jonathan Swift over Irish literature for 300 years, it seems surprising how little he or his work have appeared in Irish theatre. WB Yeats brought Swift, and his long-time lady friend Stella, into his largely forgotten one-act play The Words Upon the Window-Pane. There has been little else of Swift before or since. That is, until Dublin writer Gerry Mullins wrote Jonathan Swift: Savage Indignation, and premiered it to a full house and a standing ovation at St Patrick's Cathedral last November. Adapting poems by Swift and Stella, and angry letters by Swift's other lady friend, Vanessa, Mullins has written a very entertaining musical about the tumultuous time in each of their lives when the two women found out about each other. Jonathan Swift: Savage Indignation plays next during the Swift and Vanessa Festival in Celbridge, Kildare, on May 31st ( ); and The Lark in Balbriggan, Dublin, on July 5th ( ).
