A tribute to Nell McCafferty

In The Irish Times tomorrow, Trevor Birney talks to Mick Heaney about Shooting Crows, his book on the Loughinisland massacre and his arrest by the PSNI over his attempts to expose the collusion behind it. Patrick Freyne talks to the man who unearthed a long-lost story by Dracula author Bram Stoker at the National Library. Bairbre O’Hogan, author of Sing in the Quiet Places of my Heart, a biography of Winifred Mabel Letts, writes about a neglected Irish author. And there is a Q&A with John Banville about his career and latest novel, The Drowned.
Reviews are Brian Hanley on To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism by Sean McMeekin; Patsy McGarry on Opus by Gareth Gore; Adrienne Murphy on Some of our Parts by Laura Kennedy; Martina Evans on the best new poetry; Richard English on In Good Time by Harold Good; Hugh Linehan on Malcolm Gladwell’s Revenge of the Tipping Point; Tony Clayton-Lea on The Real Sinéad O’Connor by Ariane Sherine and Sinéad O’Connor: The Last Interview and Other Conversations; Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi on The Road is Good by Uzo Aduba; John Walshe on How the World Eats by Julian Baggini; Claire Adam on Juice by Tim Winton; NJ McGarrigle on The Catchers by Xan Brooks; John Boyne on Louise Erdrich’s The Mighty Red; Edel Coffey on By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult; and Malachi O’Doherty on Shooting Crows: Mass Murder, Collusion and Press Freedom by Trevor Birney.
This weekend’s Irish Times Eason offer is A Winter to Remember by Roisin Meaney, just €5.99, a €6 saving.
Nell McCafferty was a uniquely talented writer, human rights campaigner and committed feminist. Her ground-breaking writings exposed the injustices of Irish society and class and gender discrimination. It is no understatement to say that Nell changed the position of Irish women in society, in the workplace and in the home. On Monday, November 18th, her friends will gather in the Round Room of the Mansion House to celebrate her life, work and legacy with a special evening of songs, readings and recordings of her media appearances over her lifetime. All are welcome. The event which will be hosted by broadcaster Olivia O’Leary is free but ticketed.
Friends, fans and peers will read some of her incredible work. These include activists Eamonn McCann, Bernadette McAliskey, Ailbhe Smyth, journalists and writers Una Mullally, Evelyn Conlon, Muire McCallion (niece), Martina Devlin, poet Paula Meehan, filmmakers Lelia Doolan and Margo Harkin and more. Music will be performed by Mary Coughlan.
Lifelong friend and event organiser Marie Redmond said “This is a public celebration of Nell. As well as being an extraordinary talent and activist, in over 50 years of friendship she taught me about being open, honest and forthright and to always speak the truth. Nell has the respect of thousands of people in Ireland and beyond, and I wanted to create an opportunity for us to come together to celebrate the uniquely brilliant talent and person that she was and the impact of her work for the women of Ireland. She was honest, fearless and kind, generous, witty and warm and she changed the very fabric of the Ireland of her time.”
McCafferty lived in Dublin from 1970 but always remained a loyal Bogsider, proud of her roots. With a career spanning 50 years, her books include A Woman to Blame, In the Eyes of the Law, Peggy Deery and Nell: an Autobiography.
Her ground-breaking writings on the treatment of those with little resources by the courts exposed the injustices of Irish society and the class discrimination that existed in the Irish legal system. Her friend Eamonn McCann described her as “an instinctual socialist”.
This November the Irish Writers’ Weekend returns to the British Library, reflecting the rich literary heritage and growing diversity of Irish writing and its global influence.
On Friday, November 22nd, the opening panel event will feature author and broadcaster Graham Norton with Louise Kennedy, writer of Trespasses, and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon.
The next day the poet hosts Muldoon’s Picnic, the London debut of his much-loved cabaret of words and music accompanied by members of the ‘founding fathers of Celtic rock’, the legendary Horslips. The festival closes on Sunday evening with a special event, A Tribute to Edna O’Brien, as Bob Geldof, Denise Gough and others gather to remember the great author, who died in July.
Neil Jordan and Fintan O’Toole discuss memoir writing; capturing the experience of the Irish diaspora is explored by Kevin Barry, Christine Dwyer Hickey and Clair Wills; Dara Ó Briain and guests tackle comedy writing; and Claire Kilroy, Caoilinn Hughes and Séamas O’Reilly consider how family dynamics shape writers’ work. There will also be a special session hosted by leading Dublin-based literary magazine, The Stinging Fly, including Eimear McBride and Lisa McInerney.
Jon Fawcett, head of events at the British Library, said: “We’re delighted to be hosting the Irish Writers’ Weekend at the British Library for the second time, and inviting celebrated Irish writers and creatives to join us for an inspiring festival packed with talks, readings and performances. Irish literature has long had a profound influence on Anglophone fiction and attendees will get to explore the future of Irish writing and publishing as it continues to grow.”
Other contributors include: Lucy Caldwell, Jan Carson, Nora Corcoran, Martina Evans, Sinéad Gleeson, Rónán Hession, Chloe Michelle Howarth, Nandi Jola, Cauvery Madhavan, Jess Mc Kinney, Loah, Michael Magee, Una Mannion, Mike McCormack, Conor Montague, Keith Ridgway, Donal Ryan, Aimée Walsh and Colin Walsh.
Birmingham-Irish writer Kit de Waal is to chair the judging panel for next year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary. Her fellow judges are Bryony Gordon, Amelia Warner, Diana Evans and Deborah Joseph.
The longlist will be announced on March 4th, the shortlist on April 2nd and the winner on June 12th. The sponsors are Audible and Baileys.
The second Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction will be judged by Kavita Puri, Dr Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, Dr Leah Broad, Emma Gannon and Elizabeth Buchan.
The longlist will be announced on February 12th; the shortlist on March 26th; and the winner on June 12th. The sponsor is Findmypast.
Kit de Waal said: “What an honour to be the chair of the 2025 Women’s Prize for Fiction – and in its 30th anniversary year! Not only do I get to read the most brilliant novels by women around and hear what they have to say about our world, but I’m judging with such interesting fellow judges, with all of us looking for the same thing: books that inspire and inform across the genres, books that make us laugh and weep, books that take chances without apology, and above all, books that stay with us long after the last page is read. I’m thrilled and excited.”
Puri, chair of the 2025 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction judging panel, said: “It’s an enormous privilege to chair the second year of the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction, to celebrate outstanding female writers who are creating original work, across a broad range of genres, from history to science and nature, and beyond. Along with my fellow judges, I look forward to seeing how they are responding – in their own fields – to some of the biggest questions of our time, and elevating their exceptional voices.”
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The rise and fall of Oscar Wilde is the focus of an exhibition in Trinity’s Old Library, being held to mark 170 years since the acclaimed playwright was born on October 16th, 1854.
Entitled Oscar Wilde: From Decadence to Despair the exhibition, and an accompanying online exhibition curated by the Library of Trinity College Dublin, maps out Wilde’s meteoric rise to fame and also his dramatic fall from grace.
The 22 exhibits on display in the Long Room include personal photographs, memorabilia, letters, trade cards and theatre programmes which focus on the themes of Wilde’s formative years, Wilde’s years living in Continental Europe, his glittering social circle and his final years in exile. This material and 100 other items are also available for the public to view as a digital collection, the Oscar Wilde Collection, as part of the Virtual Trinity Library.
Anna Burns has been selected as the Grand Laureate (main prize winner) of this year’s Lee Hochul Literary Prize for Peace in South Korea. The Belfast-born author, who won the Booker Prize for Milkman, will attend the events in person. The award, in recognition of her literary achievements and spirit, amounts to 50,000,000 KRW (€36,000).
The Lee Hochul Literary Prize for Peace is an international literary award organized and operated by the Eunpyeong-gu Office, a governmental district office in Seoul. The prize is dedicated to the late author Lee Hochul, whose literary spirit demonstrated a strong and resilient yearning for the unification of the two Koreas and their people. The past laureates include Arundhati Roy, Jenny Erpenbeck, Yan Lianke, Nuruddin Farah, Medoruma Shun, Sahar Khalifeh, and Kim Sukbum.