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
Walter Scott to Maria Edgeworth in 1825 on his adventures in Co. Wicklow and local perceptions of the tribe of poets.
January 1, 2026 at 6:04 PM
Walter Scott to Maria Edgeworth in 1825 on his adventures in Co. Wicklow and local perceptions of the tribe of poets.
Seán Mac Mathúna, award-winning writer in Irish and English, dies aged 89
Writer’s play The Winter Thief, set in Kerry in during the War of Independence, won the Bank of Ireland Award
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Writer’s play The Winter Thief, set in Kerry in during the War of Independence, won the Bank of Ireland Award
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Seán Mac Mathúna, award-winning writer in Irish and English, dies aged 89
Writer’s play The Winter Thief, set in Kerry in during the War of Independence, won the Bank of Ireland Award
www.irishtimes.com
December 31, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Seán Mac Mathúna, award-winning writer in Irish and English, dies aged 89
Writer’s play The Winter Thief, set in Kerry in during the War of Independence, won the Bank of Ireland Award
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Writer’s play The Winter Thief, set in Kerry in during the War of Independence, won the Bank of Ireland Award
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
The Let Them Theory is Ireland’s bestselling book of 2025.
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan and The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor are bestselling Irish titles
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan and The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor are bestselling Irish titles
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
The Let Them Theory is Ireland’s bestselling book of 2025
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan and The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor are bestselling Irish titles
www.irishtimes.com
December 31, 2025 at 1:22 PM
The Let Them Theory is Ireland’s bestselling book of 2025.
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan and The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor are bestselling Irish titles
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan and The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor are bestselling Irish titles
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Reposted by Martin Doyle
For me… a critical justification of a subscription… as well as the sheer pleasure of it.
“the only Irish media outlet with a network of correspondents around the world, believing as we do in the value of an Irish perspective on world events.”
www.irishtimes.com/media/2025/1...
“the only Irish media outlet with a network of correspondents around the world, believing as we do in the value of an Irish perspective on world events.”
www.irishtimes.com/media/2025/1...
Message from the Editor: We’ve hit a milestone – our journalism is fully funded by subscribers
The Irish Times recently passed an important milestone: revenue generated by subscribers for the first time fully funds our journalism
www.irishtimes.com
December 28, 2025 at 4:52 PM
For me… a critical justification of a subscription… as well as the sheer pleasure of it.
“the only Irish media outlet with a network of correspondents around the world, believing as we do in the value of an Irish perspective on world events.”
www.irishtimes.com/media/2025/1...
“the only Irish media outlet with a network of correspondents around the world, believing as we do in the value of an Irish perspective on world events.”
www.irishtimes.com/media/2025/1...
Reposted by Martin Doyle
Who went bra shopping with John Berger? Whose childhood routine involved visits from the snake charmer? Who disliked the “big, unfriendly giant” Roald Dahl? Was it the same person Dahl told to try children’s fiction because “the little bastards’d swallow it?”
I read some memoirs by Booker winners:
I read some memoirs by Booker winners:
Ten of the best memoirs by Booker Prize-winning authors | The Booker Prizes
Discover the inner workings of some of the greatest Booker Prize-nominated authors with our list of captivating memoirs
thebookerprizes.com
December 16, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Who went bra shopping with John Berger? Whose childhood routine involved visits from the snake charmer? Who disliked the “big, unfriendly giant” Roald Dahl? Was it the same person Dahl told to try children’s fiction because “the little bastards’d swallow it?”
I read some memoirs by Booker winners:
I read some memoirs by Booker winners:
Reposted by Martin Doyle
Joseph O’Connor wins Irish Book of the Year 2025 with The Ghosts of Rome
Joseph O’Connor wins Irish Book of the Year 2025 with The Ghosts of Rome
Sequel to My Father's House is the second in the Escape Line trilogy, inspired by the true story of Fr Hugh O’Flaherty
www.irishtimes.com
December 11, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Joseph O’Connor wins Irish Book of the Year 2025 with The Ghosts of Rome
Reposted by Martin Doyle
I am one of the Garner-likers. But I like other things too! Find out what here👇
Books of the year 2025: 36 Authors and critics pick their favourites. Roisín O’Donnell’s Nesting, Helen Garner’s How to End a Story and Liadan Ní Chuinn’s Every One Still Here are among the year’s top choices
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Books of the year 2025: Authors and critics pick their favourites
Roisín O’Donnell’s Nesting, Helen Garner’s How to End a Story and Liadan Ní Chuinn’s Every One Still Here are among the year’s top choices
www.irishtimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 8:38 AM
I am one of the Garner-likers. But I like other things too! Find out what here👇
Books of the year 2025: 36 Authors and critics pick their favourites. Roisín O’Donnell’s Nesting, Helen Garner’s How to End a Story and Liadan Ní Chuinn’s Every One Still Here are among the year’s top choices
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Books of the year 2025: Authors and critics pick their favourites
Roisín O’Donnell’s Nesting, Helen Garner’s How to End a Story and Liadan Ní Chuinn’s Every One Still Here are among the year’s top choices
www.irishtimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 8:25 AM
Books of the year 2025: 36 Authors and critics pick their favourites. Roisín O’Donnell’s Nesting, Helen Garner’s How to End a Story and Liadan Ní Chuinn’s Every One Still Here are among the year’s top choices
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Irish Book Awards 2025: Roisín O’Donnell, Claire Gleeson and Manchán Magan among winners. Jacqueline Connolly, Andrew Porter, Cecelia Ahern, Andrea Mara, Elaine Feeney, Joseph O’Connor and Michael D Higgins also honoured
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Irish Book Awards 2025: Roisín O’Donnell, Claire Gleeson and Manchán Magan among winners
Jacqueline Connolly, Andrew Porter, Cecelia Ahern, Andrea Mara, Elaine Feeney, Joseph O’Connor and Michael D Higgins also honoured
www.irishtimes.com
November 28, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Irish Book Awards 2025: Roisín O’Donnell, Claire Gleeson and Manchán Magan among winners. Jacqueline Connolly, Andrew Porter, Cecelia Ahern, Andrea Mara, Elaine Feeney, Joseph O’Connor and Michael D Higgins also honoured
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...
Reposted by Martin Doyle
I’m a past winner of the Orwell Prize & won partly because I exposed Vote Leave’s unlawful activities.
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove Made Orwell Prize Judge Despite Record of Attacking Journalists and Dodging Scrutiny
Critics say "Orwell would have enjoyed the irony" of the former Conservative minister's appointment
bylinetimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:53 PM
I’m a past winner of the Orwell Prize & won partly because I exposed Vote Leave’s unlawful activities.
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
Michael Gove was its co-convener & refused to answer a single q. He’s now a judge of the prize & our world is truly one that Orwell would recognise
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/25/m...
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...