Bernardine Evaristo's 'Manifesto'
Bernardine Evaristo’s autobiographical account traces her personal, sexual and creative journeys on the way to her recent artistic success and her ‘established and unswayable’ character.
Read MoreAn Cailín Ciúin | The Quiet Girl
Colm Bairéad’s superb version of Claire Keegan’s ‘Foster’ is beautifully done.
Read MoreresearchED Dublin: the return
researchED Dublin returns on Saturday 24th September. Grab your ticket while you can from the evening of Thursday 12th May.
Read MoreAn English Meet, 2022
An account of the English Meet on Thursday 5th May 2022 at St Columba’s College, with the presentation and relevant links.
Read MoreEnglish Teaching vacancy
We’re hiring: English teaching vacancy for 2022-23 and perhaps beyond.
Read MoreNeil Sentance: 'Water and Sky' & 'Ridge &Furrow'
Neil Sentance has written two marvellous short collections, imagining the lives of his family over many decades on the border of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.
Read More'Your Show' by Ashley Hickson-Lovence
Ashley Hickson-Lovence’s novel Your Show, an imagining of the career of the only black Premier League referee, Uriah Rennie, is a zippy and enjoyable read.
Read MoreNotes on 'Never Let Me Go'
A post with some notes for those teaching Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go (on the Leaving Certificate comparative list):
Read MoreOn Senior Cycle Reform in English
Comments on the planned Senior Cycle changes in English in Ireland.
Read MoreVivian Gornick on J.L. Carr
Vivian Gornick’s Unfinished Business includes a chapter on J.L. Carr’s beautiful short novel A Month in the Country, as she reconsiders it after reading Pat Barker’s Regeneration.
Read MoreSonia Thompson on Ron Berger
Sonia Thompson’s short ‘In Action’ book on Ron Berger’s An Ethic of Excellence is concise, practical and helpful for teachers and school leaders at any level.
Read MoreToni Morrison's 'Desdemona'
Toni Morrison’s play Desdemona gives voice to the silenced women from Shakespeare’s story.
Read MoreAn English Meet, Thursday 5th May 2022
A sharing opportunity for teachers of Leaving Certificate English, May 2022.
Read MoreBernard MacLaverty's 'Blank Pages'
In his late 70s, Bernard MacLaverty has given us a marvellous collection of short stories of the highest quality, in the ironically-titled Blank Pages.
Read MoreToni Morrison's 'Recitatif'
Toni Morrison only published one short story, ‘Recitatif’. It is now published for the first time in book form, with a brilliant introductory essay by Zadie Smith.
Read MoreZadie Smith's 'The Wife of Willesden'
Zadie Smith’s The Wife of Willesden is a lively and enjoyable drama, bringing Chaucer’s Wife of Bath into the twenty-first century.
Read MoreThinking about 'Othello'
10 revision exercises on quotations in Othello. They are designed for pair-work 15-minute sessions in class, but work perfectly well for individuals. The purpose is to generate ideas and debate about the play, and they should only be done once you know the play well, particularly as retrieval practice.
Read MoreKiernan Ryan on 'Othello'
Kiernan Ryan’s new overview of Shakespeare’s tragic oeuvre is magisterial and consistently interesting. Here are some notes on his chapter on Othello.
Read MoreJoel Coen's 'Macbeth'
Joel Cohen’s visually-stunning version of Macbeth is a consistently interesting addition to the conversation we have been having with this play for hundreds of years.
Read MoreJames Harpur's 'The Examined Life'
James Harpur’s collection The Examined Life is a highly pleasurable sequence of poems recalling his time in an English boarding school in the 1970s.
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