The Essay

Five Irish writers each take a passage from James Joyce’s Ulysses and, through a close reading, explore its meaning and significance within the wider work, as well as what it means to them. Reading Ulysses is a famously challenging experience for most readers, so can our Essayists help? In the fourth essay of the series, novelist and short story writer Mary Costello selects an excerpt from an epis...

Five Irish writers each take a passage from James Joyce’s Ulysses and, through a close reading, explore its meaning and significance within the wider work, as well as what it means to them. Reading Ulysses is a famously challenging experience for most readers, so can our Essayists help? In the third essay of this series, acclaimed Irish writer Colm Tóibín talks about the role of songs and singing...

Five Irish writers each take a passage from James Joyce’s Ulysses and, through a close reading, explore its meaning and significance within the wider work, as well as what it means to them. Reading Ulysses is a famously challenging experience for most readers, so can our Essayists help? In the second essay of the series, young Irish writer John Patrick McHugh selects the fourth episode of the nove...

Five Irish writers each take a passage from James Joyce’s Ulysses and, through a close reading, explore its meaning and significance within the wider work, as well as what it means to them. Reading Ulysses is a famously challenging experience for most readers, so can our Essayists help? In the first essay of the series, award-winning Irish writer Anne Enright explores the first couple of pages of...

Since its creation a century ago, perceptions of Northern Ireland have often been dominated by stories of conflict and political unrest. But as anyone who lives there or who has visited knows, it’s a picture that’s far from complete. Five essays reveal Another Northern Ireland in its centenary year - the idiosyncrasies of the everyday, hidden histories and untold stories, which outsiders rarely ge...

Since its creation a century ago, perceptions of Northern Ireland have often been dominated by stories of conflict and political unrest. But as anyone who lives there or who has visited knows, it’s a picture that’s far from complete. Five essays reveal Another Northern Ireland in its centenary year - the idiosyncrasies of the everyday, hidden histories and untold stories, which outsiders rarely ge...

Since its creation a century ago, perceptions of Northern Ireland have often been dominated by stories of conflict and political unrest. But as anyone who lives there or who has visited knows, it’s a picture that’s far from complete. Five essays reveal Another Northern Ireland in its centenary year - the idiosyncrasies of the everyday, hidden histories and untold stories, which outsiders rarely ge...

Since its creation a century ago, perceptions of Northern Ireland have often been dominated by stories of conflict and political unrest. But as anyone who lives there or who has visited knows, it’s a picture that’s far from complete. Five essays reveal Another Northern Ireland in its centenary year - the idiosyncrasies of the everyday, hidden histories and untold stories, which outsiders rarely ge...

Since its creation a century ago, perceptions of Northern Ireland have often been dominated by stories of conflict and political unrest. But as anyone who lives there or who has visited knows, it’s a picture that’s far from complete. Five essayists reveal Another Northern Ireland in its centenary year - the idiosyncrasies of the everyday, hidden histories and untold stories, which outsiders rarely...

For many of us, isolation is disconcerting and challenging, but for wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, it is something he actively seeks, so he can fully immerse himself in a place and capture its unique sounds in his recordings. In the last of five illustrated essays, Chris vividly recalls his quest to capture the sounds of isolation when he goes in search of the entrance to the centre of the...

For many of us, isolation is disconcerting and challenging, but for wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, it is something he actively seeks, so he can fully immerse himself in a place and capture its unique sounds in his recordings. In the fourth of five illustrated essays, Chris recalls his quest to record wild voices in the darkness and isolation of Dryburn Moor in Northumberland. It can be a r...

For many of us, isolation is disconcerting and challenging, but for wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, it is something he actively seeks, so he can fully immerse himself in a place and capture its unique sounds in his recordings. In the third of five illustrated essays, Chris vividly recalls his quest to capture the voices of a black throated diver or, 'musta kuikka', on an isolated lake in Fi...

For many of us, isolation is disconcerting and challenging, but for wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, it is something he actively seeks, so he can fully immerse himself in a place and capture its unique sounds in his recordings. In the second of five illustrated essays, Chris recalls an exhausting and chilling climb to the pinnacle of Skellig Michael, an isolated rock which rises over 700ft o...

For many of us, isolation is disconcerting and challenging, but for wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, it is something he actively seeks, so he can fully immerse himself in a place and capture its unique sounds in his recordings. In the first of five illustrated essays, Chris recalls a trip to Antarctica, to a landscape which has been described as ‘The Great White Silence’ to record one of the...

The early powerful ruler who summoned spirits as well as armies. Christopher Harding portrays the lives of five colourful characters from Japan's past to answer the question, "Who are the Japanese"? Beginning in the twentieth century, he works backwards through time to reveal different dimensions of Japanese identity, encompassing sport, art, culture, politics, warfare and religion. In his final e...

The 11th-century courtier who wrote what is thought to be the world's first novel. Christopher Harding portrays the lives of five colourful characters from Japan's past to answer the question, "Who are the Japanese"? Beginning in the 20th century, he works backwards through time to reveal different dimensions of Japanese identity, encompassing sport, art, culture, politics, warfare and religion. I...

The terrifying warlord who brought much of Japan under his control. Christopher Harding portrays the lives of five colourful characters from Japan's past to answer the question, "Who are the Japanese"? Beginning in the twentieth century, he works backwards through time to reveal different dimensions of Japanese identity, encompassing sport, art, culture, politics, warfare and religion. The subject...

The creator of Atom Boy, who brought Japanese cartoons to the world. Christopher Harding portrays the lives of five colourful characters from Japan's past to answer the question, "Who are the Japanese"? Beginning in the twentieth century, he works backwards through time to reveal different dimensions of Japanese identity, encompassing sport, art, culture, politics, warfare and religion. In his sec...

The brutal coach who achieved a gold medal for Japan's women's volleyball team at the 1964 Olympics. Christopher Harding portrays the lives of five colourful characters from Japan's history to answer the question, "Who are the Japanese"? Beginning in the 20th century, he works backwards through time to reveal different dimensions of Japanese identity, encompassing sport, art, culture, politics, wa...

It's the mid-1990s. Joanna Robertson lives in tumultuous Albania, where she's moved to be a journalist. King Leka Zogu returns from exile in a quest to regain his throne. Joanna meets the king as he campaigns in rural, monarchist strongholds ahead of a national referendum. But the country is unpredictable and dangerous, still in the throes of anarchy and violence, largely controlled by armed crimi...

It's the mid-90s, and Joanna Robertson has moved to Albania to be a foreign correspondent, on a hunch that something major was about to happen there. And it has: multiple pyramid schemes collapse, leaving many destitute. In the resulting uprising, the military's arms depots are looted - 2.7 billion items of weaponry, ammunition and explosives now in the hands of a population of 3.4 million, over h...

It's the mid-90s and Joanna Robertson explores Albania's traditional north, where she finds lives are still led according to ancient rules codified in the 'Kanun'. It's a place where innocent young men are doomed to live in hiding to avoid being killed in blood feuds, and where for a woman to be unmarried is either a deep shame, or an honour - if she lives life as a man, in the absence of male sib...

It's the mid-1990s, and Joanna Robertson is settling in her new home: a crumbling flat in Albania's capital Tirana. The country is falling into crisis - miserably poor and with outbreaks of disease so bad that the World Health Organisation feels compelled to intervene. Plenty of material for Joanna to start filing her first news stories - from a bugged phone booth in a hotel, where the call has to...

It's the mid-1990s, Albania is in turmoil after decades of communist isolation. Drawn by the mystery of a country she knows little about, Joanna Robertson sets off to go and live there. In a used car and with only essential equipment, all bought with a business loan thanks to an understanding bank manager, she buys a one-way boat ticket for a place that she only has second-hand knowledge of, glean...

Nobel laureate Naipaul began his career working in radio for the BBC, and it is also where writer Colin Grant met him towards the end of his life half a century later. How had the giant of Trinidadian literature changed during that time since being told to "write like a West Indian" and quickly becoming the precocious editor of Caribbean Voices? This polemical exploration celebrates his contributi...