Martin Doyle
@martindoyle.bsky.social
Books Editor of The Irish Times; author of Dirty Linen: The Troubles in My Home Place (Merrion Press)
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Martin Doyle
@martindoyle.bsky.social
· Dec 23
I have tried to record the toll the Troubles took on my neighbours, the long tail of trauma left beh...
The scale of the Northern conflict, more than 3,700 dead over 30 years in a population of just 1.5 million, is impossible to comprehend. I focused on my own parish
www.irishtimes.com
“Writing Dirty Linen brought me closer to my roots, helped me face almost forgotten fears. The low-level anxiety I lived with may have been all in my head but it wasn’t my imagination. I have sat with the people it actually happened to. They are my tribe.” www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Reposted by Martin Doyle
Reposted by Martin Doyle
I found these souvenirs of an Ireland v England under-21s match in 1991 yesterday by coincidence as there is an Ireland v England under-21s match tonight too. Brentford was like a home match for me as The Irish in Britain News, where I worked at the time, was based there too, beside the Brewery Tap
November 14, 2025 at 8:36 AM
I found these souvenirs of an Ireland v England under-21s match in 1991 yesterday by coincidence as there is an Ireland v England under-21s match tonight too. Brentford was like a home match for me as The Irish in Britain News, where I worked at the time, was based there too, beside the Brewery Tap
Reposted by Martin Doyle
Always a long/shortlist worth paying attention to 👇
We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation in 2025! "Each of these books arrives in English in expert and accessible translations that honour the art and voice of their original authors."
tinyurl.com/f9sccz4v
tinyurl.com/f9sccz4v
November 11, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Always a long/shortlist worth paying attention to 👇
Reposted by Martin Doyle
Booker Prize 2025: David Szalay wins for Flesh @martindoyle.bsky.social
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Booker Prize 2025: David Szalay wins for Flesh
‘We had never read anything quite like it,’ says judging panel chair Roddy Doyle of the author’s ‘extraordinary, singular’ novel
www.irishtimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:46 AM
Booker Prize 2025: David Szalay wins for Flesh @martindoyle.bsky.social
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Hot off the press release. My second book is a collection of interviews with Irish writers from Alice Taylor in 1991 to Sebastian Barry, Wendy Erskine, Colum McCann, Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín, John Banville, Emma Donoghue and Anna Burns in 2025. Out April from the Lilliput Press
November 10, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Hot off the press release. My second book is a collection of interviews with Irish writers from Alice Taylor in 1991 to Sebastian Barry, Wendy Erskine, Colum McCann, Anne Enright, Colm Tóibín, John Banville, Emma Donoghue and Anna Burns in 2025. Out April from the Lilliput Press
Creative imagination and analytic capacity do not always pair well. The accomplished author of fiction and the successful essayist are not necessarily interchangeable. Enright has put her writer’s gifts at the service of a genuine, sustained “ecstasy of attention”
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Attention by Anne Enright: Critical alertness fuelled by an ever-expanding curiosity
Substantive collection of essays covers a range of topics including Alice Munro, mother and baby homes, and the troubling intersection between life and art
www.irishtimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Creative imagination and analytic capacity do not always pair well. The accomplished author of fiction and the successful essayist are not necessarily interchangeable. Enright has put her writer’s gifts at the service of a genuine, sustained “ecstasy of attention”
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Reposted by Martin Doyle
Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Reposted by Martin Doyle
My @irishtimes.com review of Vaim by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls, is now online for subscribers.
Vaim by Jon Fosse: Nobel-winning author shows his playful side
First of three related novels has a mysterious, folk tale quality to it
www.irishtimes.com
November 1, 2025 at 8:44 AM
My @irishtimes.com review of Vaim by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls, is now online for subscribers.
Reposted by Martin Doyle
Reviewed this excellent book a few weeks ago. Made the point that the MAGA movement are increasingly embracing open antisemitism - a process accelerated by Carlson's hosting of Fuentes this week. Their view is already on the dominant one of the Irish fascist right.
Mark Mazower’s On Antisemitism: A Word in History - Clear, comprehensive and nuanced. A book that can contribute to honest discussions that are desperately needed in a new age of racism, war and genocide, writes Dr Brian Hanley
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Mark Mazower’s On Antisemitism: A Word in History - Clear, comprehensive and nuanced
A book that can contribute to honest discussions that are desperately needed in a new age of racism, war and genocide
www.irishtimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 9:43 AM
Reviewed this excellent book a few weeks ago. Made the point that the MAGA movement are increasingly embracing open antisemitism - a process accelerated by Carlson's hosting of Fuentes this week. Their view is already on the dominant one of the Irish fascist right.
Reposted by Martin Doyle
I am unashamedly obsessed with Anne Enright: her glorious opinions, her razor-sharp prose. This interview was a treat. What an absolute treasure.
Tomorrow’s Ticket today, including my interview with Anne Enright
October 25, 2025 at 7:07 PM
I am unashamedly obsessed with Anne Enright: her glorious opinions, her razor-sharp prose. This interview was a treat. What an absolute treasure.
Reposted by Martin Doyle
This is a great interview and best thing I read all weekend. Anne is a treasure.
My Anne Enright interview: “I am fed up saying I have a problem with authority, and that is why I do not write realism. Naturalistic fiction is a lie – and a dull one at that. This is me changing the narrative from your ‘broken’ to my ‘honest’ or even ‘smart’.”
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Anne Enright: ‘I’m in a lull. I’m trying to recalibrate after a long decade of elder care’
Anne Enright’s time looking after her parents has given the Booker winner an opportunity to take stock, both personally and creatively
www.irishtimes.com
October 26, 2025 at 10:30 AM
This is a great interview and best thing I read all weekend. Anne is a treasure.
My Anne Enright interview: “I am fed up saying I have a problem with authority, and that is why I do not write realism. Naturalistic fiction is a lie – and a dull one at that. This is me changing the narrative from your ‘broken’ to my ‘honest’ or even ‘smart’.”
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Anne Enright: ‘I’m in a lull. I’m trying to recalibrate after a long decade of elder care’
Anne Enright’s time looking after her parents has given the Booker winner an opportunity to take stock, both personally and creatively
www.irishtimes.com
October 26, 2025 at 8:33 AM
My Anne Enright interview: “I am fed up saying I have a problem with authority, and that is why I do not write realism. Naturalistic fiction is a lie – and a dull one at that. This is me changing the narrative from your ‘broken’ to my ‘honest’ or even ‘smart’.”
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Tomorrow’s Ticket today, including my interview with Anne Enright
October 24, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Tomorrow’s Ticket today, including my interview with Anne Enright
Reposted by Martin Doyle
And let us be clear: the judge said the Parachute Regiment murdered people and lied about it, in roughly as many words.
Because of delay and lies, it couldn’t be proven to the criminal standard which individuals murdered; but those troops murdered and lied.
www.judiciaryni.uk/files/judici...
Because of delay and lies, it couldn’t be proven to the criminal standard which individuals murdered; but those troops murdered and lied.
www.judiciaryni.uk/files/judici...
October 24, 2025 at 9:12 AM
And let us be clear: the judge said the Parachute Regiment murdered people and lied about it, in roughly as many words.
Because of delay and lies, it couldn’t be proven to the criminal standard which individuals murdered; but those troops murdered and lied.
www.judiciaryni.uk/files/judici...
Because of delay and lies, it couldn’t be proven to the criminal standard which individuals murdered; but those troops murdered and lied.
www.judiciaryni.uk/files/judici...
Reposted by Martin Doyle
My Richard Hawley at 3Olympia ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️review: Love songs, with strings attached. “He’s a hopeless romantic,” my friend Stevie whispers after the first of a superb set of forlorn love songs. I’d agree, if he weren’t so damn good at it. He’s a peerless romantic.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...
Richard Hawley at 3Olympia review: Love songs, with strings attached
Concert for Coles Corner album’s 20th anniversary is a showcase for Sheffield band’s versatility and virtuosity
www.irishtimes.com
October 23, 2025 at 9:33 AM
My Richard Hawley at 3Olympia ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️review: Love songs, with strings attached. “He’s a hopeless romantic,” my friend Stevie whispers after the first of a superb set of forlorn love songs. I’d agree, if he weren’t so damn good at it. He’s a peerless romantic.
www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/musi...
Reposted by Martin Doyle
Joseph O’Connor on celebrating a Kerry priest who became a war-time hero
Joseph O’Connor on celebrating a Kerry priest who became a war-time hero
He assembled a network of activists that hid thousands of fugitives, including many escaped Allied prisoners of war
www.irishtimes.com
October 23, 2025 at 5:44 AM
Joseph O’Connor on celebrating a Kerry priest who became a war-time hero
Irish Book Awards: Brenda Fricker, Leo Varadkar, Manchán Mangan and Andy Farrell shortlisted
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Irish Book Awards: Brenda Fricker, Leo Varadkar, Manchán Mangan and Andy Farrell shortlisted
Awards ‘remain the cornerstone of Ireland’s literary calendar’ and will be held on November 27th in Dublin
www.irishtimes.com
October 22, 2025 at 10:26 PM
Irish Book Awards: Brenda Fricker, Leo Varadkar, Manchán Mangan and Andy Farrell shortlisted
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
A fascinating piece, with lots of Irish interest and many useful recommendations/ reminders.
Which book sold 27,000 copies in 30 mins? Which was "a pure pig to write"? Who started planning how to spend the money - then didn't win? Who deemed his own books "pompously moralistic"? What judge called the prize "crooked nonsense"?
My look back at @thebookerprizes.bsky.social in the 1990s:
My look back at @thebookerprizes.bsky.social in the 1990s:
The Booker Prize in the 1990s: 10 novels that are well worth revisiting | The Booker Prizes
The last decade of the 20th century saw A.S. Byatt, Roddy Doyle and J.M. Coetzee win the Booker, but there are many other shortlisted titles that modern readers should seek out
thebookerprizes.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:59 PM
A fascinating piece, with lots of Irish interest and many useful recommendations/ reminders.
Reposted by Martin Doyle
As a colleague noted, they have only been calling for civil unrest in response to one of these reports, the one reportedly involving an immigrant. 2/
October 21, 2025 at 2:12 PM
As a colleague noted, they have only been calling for civil unrest in response to one of these reports, the one reportedly involving an immigrant. 2/
Leonard and Hungry Paul review: Droll Dublin dramedy narrated by Julia Roberts is Normal People for nerds
www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-r...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-r...
Leonard and Hungry Paul review: Droll Dublin dramedy narrated by Julia Roberts is Normal People for nerds
Adaption of Rónán Hession’s book puts real Irish life on the screen without any compulsion to call attention to itself
www.irishtimes.com
October 21, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Leonard and Hungry Paul review: Droll Dublin dramedy narrated by Julia Roberts is Normal People for nerds
www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-r...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-r...
It’s the little things. A small landmark in my Wordle pastime
October 20, 2025 at 7:34 AM
It’s the little things. A small landmark in my Wordle pastime
Irish boxer Rinty Monaghan, the then world flyweight champion, had to postpone a fight in the King’s Hall, Belfast after spraining his ankle while giving a tap-dancing display at a ceili in Laurencetown, Co Down, my home village.
October 19, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Irish boxer Rinty Monaghan, the then world flyweight champion, had to postpone a fight in the King’s Hall, Belfast after spraining his ankle while giving a tap-dancing display at a ceili in Laurencetown, Co Down, my home village.