James Bacon, who has done great work on Flann and trains, is giving a talk on the history of the censorship of comics in Ireland at the National Library on 6 August at 6pm. Flann will get a mention! More details via the link below:

Banned Comics at the NLI

A history of censorship of comics in Ireland

nli.ie

I am so sad to hear of the death of Glen Hansard.

The Irish Times@irishtimes.com · last wk.

Tributes paid to Glen Hansard: ‘A troubadour whose gift for storytelling brought so much joy’

Coming soon from UCD press! New Zealand's Irish Revolution draws on new primary sources and archival material to examine New Zealand responses to the events in Ireland 1912-1923. I was delighted to write on the way the poets of the Easter Rising, Joyce and Yeats were linked in NZ newspapers.

New Zealand’s Irish Revolution

Offering original New Zealand perspectives on the Irish Revolution from the third Home Rule crisis to the establishment of the Irish Free State, this collection explores the political, social, and cul...

ucdpress.ie

The Hounds of the Mórrígan by Pat O'Shea blew my mind when I was young. Early on in the novel the main character, Pidge, sees signposts pointing the wrong way and knows that the geography of his home town has been upended. Whenever I see signposts askew, I think of this book with such fondness.

Irish Literary Times@irishlittimes.bsky.social · 3w ago

A publishing industry inside joke from 1928. If you've ever read a book from Alfred A. Knopf, you will be familiar with their little essays about typeface. This is from Meaning No Offence, by John Riddell, from The John Day Company (a competitor, as you might guess).

Finally! Myles na gCopaleen's book handling service is now available in Berlin. (I mean, are we surprised? East German avant-garde cool always recognises a good idea)..

‘Coffee must be dropped at different height than wine’: The Berlin team making books look well-read

An idea to make books look a bit more used, once jokingly proposed by one Myles na gCopaleen, has been made real in German capital

irishtimes.com

I very much enjoyed speaking with @drchrismurray.bsky.social about Kevin Barry's novel 'The Heart in Winter' for the Irish Books Podcast. You can check out our discussion below, or wherever you choose to get your podcasts.

Tragic Balladry in the Wild West: Kevin Barry's The Heart in Winter

Podcast Episode · Irish Books · 3 June · 39min

podcasts.apple.com

Sad to hear Marjane Satrapi, author of this extraordinary memoir, has died

- What do you do? - I edit fiction. - What does that mean? - Well, to cut a long story short. - - - - - - - - - Yes?

Please consider applying for this fabulous opportunity

Maebh Long@maebhlong.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Applications for a new, 2 year postdoctoral position are now open! Please share widely. The Eamon Cleary Postdoctoral Fellowship in Irish Studies, based at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, the University of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand, is open to Ph.D. graduates in any area of Irish studies.

Applications for a new, 2 year postdoctoral position are now open! Please share widely. The Eamon Cleary Postdoctoral Fellowship in Irish Studies, based at Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, the University of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand, is open to Ph.D. graduates in any area of Irish studies.

EXTREMELY EXCITING news about 'Killing Kelly', a film adaptation of Flann O’Brien’s ’Two in One’ starring Jason Isaacs and Thomasin McKenzie. Production to begin in Dublin later this year and we cannot wait for the skin-tingling, skin-wearing, skin-fusing comedy horror.

'Killing Kelly' Wears the Skin of Jason Isaacs?!

First details on 'Killing Kelly', a crazy Ireland-set dark comedy thriller heading to Cannes from 'Skeleton Key' director Iain Softley.

dreadcentral.com

Call for Proposals for a new edited collection on 'Transformations: Irish Literature and Social Change’: the artistic works which have reflected and even helped to activate what could be described as a revolution in the Irish experience of class, disability, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality.

CFP for Transformations: Irish Literature and Social Change

Call for Proposals for a new edited collection on Transformations: Irish Literature and Social Change The early decades of Irish independence are now remembered as a time of repression and socioeconom...

docs.google.com

New in the Parish Review: Journal of Flann O'Brien Studies > “Inflated Egos and Tyrannical Windbags: R.M. Smyllie, Erwin Schroedinger, and the Sin of Pride in The Third Policeman” by José Lanters:

Inflated Egos and Tyrannical Windbags: R.M. Smyllie, Erwin Schroedinger, and the Sin of Pride in <em>The Third Policeman</em>

The nameless narrator of The Third Policeman is in hell not only for the sin of murder but also for the sin of pride that led to it. Pride is defined in the Catholic Catechism as undue self-esteem that seeks attention and honour and sets a person in competition with God. Tempted by Divney (an fear dubh, Irish for the devil), the narrator kills Phillip Mathers for his money, to finance the publication of his edition of all known commentaries on the outlandish theories of the scientist-philosopher de Selby, the idol with whom he is obsessed. The book is intended to gain fame and fortune for himself and immortality for the savant. When the unrepentant murderer is blown up by a bomb planted by Divney which he believes to be Mathers’s cashbox, he immediately finds himself condemned to a hell of his own making. Mirroring the fact that what landed the narrator there was his obsession with editing a book about a deluded scientist, O’Brien turns the instruments of his punishment, Sergeant Pluck and Policeman MacCruiskeen, into elaborate caricatures of, respectively, a well-known editor (R.M. Smyllie of the Irish Times) and a famous scientist (Erwin Schrödinger, professor of theoretical physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies). O’Brien knew both men socially, but he did not hide the fact that he saw Smyllie as a pompous windbag, and Schrödinger – from his own perspective as a life-long Catholic who believed in salvation and damnation – as a Godless, potentially sinful speculative thinker. Both men were avid cyclists. In The Third Policeman, the bloated policemen’s obsession with bicycles and bicycle pumps reflects both the inflated nature of their personalities, which mirror the inflated ego of the narrator himself, and the cyclical, closed nature of the hell (which ‘goes round and round’) to which the latter has been condemned.

doi.org

Now, for your listening pleasure, the latest instalment of the podcast Radio Myles. Toby Harris and Joseph LaBine provide fascinating context to mid-century Irish radio and their excellent special issue of the Journal of Flann O’Brien Studies on O’Brien and the Radio. Get your headphones ready!

13. Joseph LaBine: Flann O'Brien and Radio

A special edition of the Radio Myles podcast dedicated to Joe and Toby's special edition of the Parish Review about Flann O'Brien and the radio.

radiomyles.substack.com

Hot off the press at the Journal of Flann O'Brien Studies is Aoibh Crimmins' article, '"What goes on on the shrapnel-pocked crust of H.M. Mother Earth": Brian O’Nolan and the Second World War'. Crimmins investigates the thorny issue of engagements with fascism in the Cruiskeen Lawn. Read it here!👇

“What goes on on the shrapnel-pocked crust of H.M. Mother Earth”: Brian O’ Nolan and the Second World War

This article examines the significance of the Second World War to the writings of Brian O’Nolan via the multidisciplinary and multilingual research of the entire corpus of O'Nolan's Cruiskeen Lawn art...

parishreview.openlibhums.org

Have you long been aching to know how Flann O’Brien would have fared on Twitter? Or here on Bluesky? In the latest publication in the Journal of Flann O’Brien Studies, Rosemary Jenkinson reveals all! #speirgorm

Flann O'Brien and Social Media

Rosemary Jenkinson analyses how a contemporary Flann O'Brien would fare in the toxic, combative era of social media, with reference to the Flamingo edition of The Best of Myles.

parishreview.openlibhums.org

Next up in the Journal of Flann O’Brien Studies, Calista McRae reads Paul Muldoon's sonnet, ‘Le Flanneur’ (2011), against his reflections on and affinities with Brian O'Nolan. McRae traces both writers’ interest in cliches, terrible puns, and language that is funny, tricky and very readable.

Cross-Genre Reflections in Paul Muldoon’s ‘Le Flanneur’

I read Paul Muldoon's dense, complex, shifting sonnet, ‘Le Flanneur’ (2011), to explore Muldoon’s reflections on and affinities with Brian O'Nolan. 'Le Flanneur' delicately considers O'Nolan's life, c...

parishreview.openlibhums.org

👉🏻 Songs to the Siren, a new exhibition opening 24 January at The Model in Sligo, reflects on the pseudonyms and hidden identities of Flann O’Brien / Brian O’Nolan. Curated by artists Paul Hallahan and Lee Welch, this is a must-see for fans of O’Brien (and of Tim Buckley, who inspired the title!)

A lovely write up of the conversation the great Nicole Flattery and I had when she was the 2025 Writing Fellow at the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, Univerisity of Otago:

A Conversation with Nicole Flattery - CISS Irish Writing Fellow 2025

Earlier this year, Dunedin Public Libraries and Ōtepoti UNESCO City of Literature had the joy of hosting young Irish author Nicole Flattery, in conversation with Professor Maebh Long, the Eamon Cleary...

hail.to

We are HIRING! The Open Library of Humanities is seeking a PhD student to assist with editorial, marketing and technical duties. The position is fully funded and open to funded PhD students at CHASE institutions. 📅 31/03: www.openlibhums.org/news/883/ Please RT!

CHASE placement opportunity at the Open Library of Humanities

The Open Library of Humanities is seeking a PhD student to assist with editorial, marketing and technical duties as part of our small, hardworking team. The placement is only available …

openlibhums.org

Alan Titley’s moving homage to Breandán Ó Conaire is now published, fully open access, in the Journal of Flann O’Brien Studies. The tribute is published in both Irish and English.

In Memoriam: BREANDÁN Ó CONAIRE, comhghleacaí agus scoláire

In memory of BREANDÁN Ó CONAIRE

parishreview.openlibhums.org

Elliott Mills’s great commentary on Flann O’Brien and the Irish Civil Service in the new episode of Radio Myles makes a perfect companion piece to Katherine Ebury’s episode on O’Brien and the death penalty. Check out the Radio Myles podcast, expertly hosted by Tobias W. Harris, to hear more!

Tobias W. Harris@tobias-w-harris.bsky.social · 7mo ago

New Year, new ideas about #FlannOBrien! This episode of Radio Myles features Elliott Mills who has plunged into the depths of Brian O'Nolan's work in the Irish civil service. Listen and read on Substack or anywhere else: radiomyles.substack.com/p/12-elliott...

The latest article in the Journal of Flann O'Brien Studies is 'Flann O’Brien and the Irish "Radio-Mind," 1926-1976' by Tobias W. Harris and Joesph LaBine. This article reads O’Nolan’s work within the context of contemporary theories of radio, tuning in to the crackle and static of the wireless.

Flann O’Brien and the Irish ‘Radio-Mind,’ 1926-1976

Radio broadcasting has major significance for O’Nolan’s career. This article reads O’Nolan’s work within the context of contemporary theories of radio, arguing that radio transmission was a live event...

parishreview.openlibhums.org

Such a pleasure to have @pauleamonnfagan.bsky.social at Otago, and what a brilliant opening keynote he gave!

Paul Fagan@pauleamonnfagan.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Delighted to be at the Dunedin Centre for Irish & Scottish studies for the ISAANZ Conference on “Health, Wellness & Care” organised by @maebhlong.bsky.social I'm honoured to deliver the conference's opening keynote address on "Celibacy, Care, Queer Kinship: From Frances Power Cobbe to Kate O'Brien"

Donegal to Dakar: the Irish play about British rule hitting home in post-colonial Senegal

Donegal to Dakar: the Irish play about British rule hitting home in post-colonial Senegal

An African staging of Brian Friel’s Translations resonates deeply as the country distances itself from France

theguardian.com

This is a brilliant idea 💡 Let's not make one of the most historical buildings in Dublin a fecking mall! This cause is close to my heart - please sign: my.uplift.ie/petitions/th... @uplift.ie

The Irish Academy of Fine Arts, at the GPO

Why the GPO? &nbsp;The GPO offers a rare and remarkable opportunity. Many of the great academies of Europe, such as the Royal Academy in London, the Repin Academy in St. Petersburg, the Ecole de beaux...

my.uplift.ie

Lynley Edmeades’ ‘Hiding Places‘ is bloody amazing. I don’t want to tell you what to do, but you should go buy a copy immediately.

In the next episode of everyone’s favourite podcast, Radio Myles, Maebh Murphy presents a compilation of voices and atmospheres, scholarly ideas and craic agus ceol from the 8th International Flann O'Brien conference in Strabane. It’s a knockout episode so get those headphones on agus éisigí anseo!

10. The Society in Strabane

In this guest edition of Radio Myles, Maebh Murphy presents a compilation of voices and atmospheres, scholarly ideas and craic agus ceol from the 8th International Flann O'Brien conference in Strabane...

radiomyles.substack.com

Our final article for 49.1 - Long, Burnette, Grard & Theunisz explore how a narrative of immunity was used to sell various products in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. #OzStudies #Advertising #immunity #MedicalHistory www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....