iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 4h

I used to work right next to Chipping Sodbury back in the day, in the Hotpoint tumble dryer factory, where I tinkered away on a new dishwasher design. So, I’ll have the Chipping Sodbury Retired Librarians’ Poisoning Inspection Unit, if you don’t mind, please and thank you.

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 3h

—Gilda, are you decent? —Me? [long pause] Sure. I'm decent.

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 3h

Going in: Secret of the Incas.

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 23h

In The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie, which I am rereading, she describes “a round table covered with the latest books and magazines.” I got stuck on that line. All the latest? Which books? How many? I mean, it’s got to be a lot of books, no matter how you look at it.

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 16/10/2026

Oscar Wilde, born on this day in 1854: “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.” -Lady Windermere's Fan, 1892

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Felicity Hayes-McCoy @fhayesmccoy.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Dublin friends! Free event in the lovely @chaptersbookstore.bsky.social's beautiful Parnell St shop Booking essential. Tickets going fast according to an email I received this morning 🎉🫖 I'm massively looking forward to it. Hope to see you there. #spéirgorm #booksky 💙📚 #tae tinyurl.com/4mwd7ynp

tinyurl.com

Afternoon Tea with a Beloved Author An intimate afternoon with Felicity

Afternoon Tea with a Beloved Author An intimate afternoon with bestselling Irish writer Felicity Hayes-McCoy

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Just wonderful.

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

“I am hugely insecure and desperate to be loved, and I want my reader to adore me, to a disturbing, stalkerish degree.” — Kevin Barry, interview with The Short Review, 2012

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

“I am hugely insecure and desperate to be loved, and I want my reader to adore me, to a disturbing, stalkerish degree.” — Kevin Barry, interview with The Short Review, 2012

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

Sally Rooney: To publish my work in the UK could now constitute a serious criminal offence. After a process of consultation and deliberation, and with my full agreement, my publisher Faber has therefore determined that it can no longer supply my work within the UK. www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

irishtimes.com

Sally Rooney’s books will no longer be available in UK over her support for Palestine Action

Faber blames UK antiterrorism legislation for decision to stop distributing bestselling author’s works

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Children's Books Ireland @childrensbooksireland.ie · 14/10/2026

We are delighted to announce that Children's Books Ireland has been named as a finalist in the 2026 Charities Institute Ireland People’s Choice Award and we need your vote to win! Learn more and vote here ⬇️ childrensbooksireland.ie/news-events/...

Two young students standing in front of a bookshelf holding books and smiling.

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 14/10/2026

The moon wisely keeping its distance

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 13/10/2026

Ballybeg Goes Global: Brian Friel’s Work Around the World www.nli.ie/news-stories...

nli.ie

Ballybeg Goes Global: Brian Friel’s Work Around the World

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

A weekend of treats with still more to come

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

"If prose is a house, poetry is a man on fire running quite fast through it". Anne Carson

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Via Nobel Prize: "New Nobel Prize laureate in literature Anne Carson stands surprised in her kitchen in Reykjavík, Iceland."

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

For Flann O’Brien’s (Brian O’Nolan’s) birthday: The Dubliners reciting The Workman’s Friend: When things go wrong and will not come right, Though you do the best you can, When life looks black as the hour of night – A pint of plain is your only man. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYud...

youtube.com

A Pint of Plain - The Dubliners

YouTube video by stecaswell

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

"But you did live at the Hotel Chelsea with the controversial photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, did you not? And, according to my notes, you also engaged in animal cruelty and exploitation by forcing horses to make a long playing album with you."

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The Gruffalo by Sally Rooney by @tomgauld.bsky.social

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

For U2 in the Irish charts, it's a loud case of silencio.

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Saturday sun Came early one morning In a sky so clear and blue Saturday sun Came without warning So no one knew what to do www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwaq...

youtube.com

Saturday Sun

YouTube video by Nick Drake - Topic

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“The job of the writer is to kiss no ass, no matter how big and holy and white and tempting and powerful.” — Ken Kesey

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Leonard Cohen's birthday: "Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash."

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

"Me and my brother, it just used to be me and my brother. We used to do things together. We used to have fun. We used to roam the streets. There was people suffering of pain and hunger. Some people, their tongues were hanging out of their mouth. He used to juggle apples. He was,he used to amuse us."

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Carl Kinsella @carlkinsella.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

'To make the government look like the good guy, Harris has to make it seem like there’s some malevolent cohort of lazy, gadabout ne’er-do-wells out there, and the budget will finally rescue us from them. The only problem is that no such cohort exists in any meaningful way." Surrealing:

thejournal.ie

We can never get up early enough to truly satisfy them

This week’s targets include poor children, imaginary lazy people and, of course, immigrants.

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Some location shots for GI Blues were taken in front of the Wiesbaden main station while Elvis was still in Germany. (The film was already in production then, although they used a body double for Elvis until he got to Hollywood.)

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Hey, Wiesbaden, where Elvis often visited when stationed nearby in Friedberg and where he met Priscilla! (I visited there a very long time ago.)

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Thoroughly enjoying Crampton Hodnet by Barbara Pym—one of the first novels she wrote, circa 1940, but which was only published posthumously, in 1985. Such fun.

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I mean, if you have to get tied up by someone...

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

“It shows that translation – especially literary translation – is not just a matter of right or wrong, good or bad, but a continual exploratory process of interpretive reimagining and re-making.” www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...

theguardian.com

Emily Wilson to retranslate the Odyssey from scratch

Wilson, whose 2017 English translation of Homer’s epic poem inspired Christopher Nolan’s box office hit, is revisiting it after criticising the film adaptation

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Starting the day off with Belle Baker. Would love to have heard her version of All of Me.

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Thanks. I've read her work on and off over the years and like it a lot but have never seen the Sligo one before. I am intrigued.

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

No, I hadn't! Brilliant.Thanks. (Do you mind if I share the photo?)

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Lads in the alley giving it a fair shot, considering their state. @mickpuck.bsky.social's “The Whole of the Moon”: "You saw the whole of the moon. Whoh-hoh. Wooh-hoh. You saw the crescent. We saw Brigadoon. Too high, too [mumble], whole of the moon. Whoohoh. Wooh-hooooooooh. "Whole of the moon."

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

From my old stomping ground of New Brunswick, Canada, to boot. Had his contract with the Irvings’ Brunswick News terminated for drawing a cartoon criticising Donald Trump’s border policies. Demoted by The Washington Post and later let go by The Chronicle Herald—all for expressing his viewpoint.

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I haven't seen it in years. I am going to have to revisit it. Slapstick. As I recall, it's almost silent. Mostly sound effects if any. My dad loves it and talks about it often.

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

It reminds me of when we went to rent a television back in our college days, and the TV rental guy, recognising us instantly as students, roared, “No!” To which my flatmate asked, “Is that a definite no?”

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Irish Literary Times @irishlittimes.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Where we're at now:

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Sorry to say (or happy to say—I can’t make up my mind), but this one is now fully booked!

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Here I am! Two places available only. Six weeks. 12 great stories. And lots of writing and discussion.

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Gerard Beirne @gerardbeirne.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I do like this quote: “After you reach a certain age, they think you’re over. Well, I will never be over. I’ll be making records if I have to sell them out of the trunk of my car. I’ve done that in my past, and I’d do it again.” Dolly

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Rónán Hession @ronanhession.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

New tune! Wait Stop Don't

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