Other Writing
Mostly book reviews, author interviews, book/TV/movie-related features, personal essays, writing/publishing advice, etc. I am a regular contributor to the Irish Times and ten years’ worth of bookish writings can be found at their website.
Selected pieces:
Unflinching examinations of contemporary teenage life in October’s YA picks (Irish Times, 2024)
New YA titles for autumn from award-winning writers and illustrators (Irish Times, 2024)
Celestial bodies, murder and time travel: YA books for August (Irish Times, 2024)
June’s YA fiction: magical realism grounded by sharp observations about teenage social dynamics (Irish Times, 2024)
March YA reads: love in a time of Famine (Irish Times, 2024)
February YA roundup: Spring into horror mode (Irish Times, 2024)
Libraries and LGBTQ+ books: controlling what people read is a dark, dangerous step (Irish Times, 2023)
Uncomfortable truths and complexity in Service, by Sarah Gilmartin (Books Ireland magazine, 2023)
Best young-adult fiction of 2022 (Irish Times, 2022)
“If men did pregnancy, more horror would look like this…”: review of Where I End, by Sophie White (Books Ireland magazine, 2022)
Survival stories that will leave lasting impressions: the latest YA titles (Irish Times, 2022)
YA fiction: back to the past in June’s best books for teens (Irish Times, 2022)
The Poet by Louisa Reid: tackles ‘problematic older man’ trope with nuance (Irish Times, 2022)
How Irish YA and children’s authors embraced LGBTQ+ themes (Irish Independent, 2022)
October’s best new YA: poetry, philosophy, politics (and kissing) (Irish Times, 2021)
From the internet to historical stories: Meet the new female voices in Irish literature (Irish Examiner, 2021)
Censorship and curation in children’s books (Irish Times, 2021)
YA fiction: Children of Lir’s Aífe tells her side of the story (Irish Times, 2020)
Miles O’Brien Redefines What it Means to be an Irishman in Space (StarTrek.com, 2020)
Nuance and the danger of issues in young adult fiction (Irish Times, 2019)
8 Reasons to Watch ‘DS9’ During Pride Month (StarTrek.com, 2019) | adapted into a video essay (2021)
The secret lives of writers (and their day jobs) (Irish Times, 2018)
Face The Truth | Selective Storytelling In Bohemian Rhapsody (HeadStuff, 2018)
The Devastation Of Comedy | Upstart Crow Season 3 Review (HeadStuff, 2018)
Literature Essay | There Was No YA When I Was Growing Up (HeadStuff, 2018)
Ode To The Psychiatrist’s Brother | 25 Years Of Frasier (HeadStuff, 2018)
25 Reasons Why Sleepless In Seattle, At 25, Is Still The Greatest Romantic Comedy Of All Time (HeadStuff, 2018)
Behind The Form Rejection (HeadStuff, 2018)
Ultimate Teen Angst Drama Dawson’s Creek Turns 20 (HeadStuff, 2018)
Sneaky abortion novels? They’re a new movement, and I’ve signed up (Irish Times, 2017)
Mental Illness & The Secret Wish-Fulfilment Of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (HeadStuff, 2017)
The Star Trek Predictions Of The 21st Century | Are We On Course For World War 3? (HeadStuff, 2017)
Older than you think: Irish teen fiction was alive and well in 1990s (Irish Times, 2016)
The rise of the YA novel in verse (Irish Times, 2016)
Frances Hardinge’s Costa triumph is a big win for all YA authors (Irish Times, 2016)
Alan Rickman’s Snape charms, intrigues and by series end breaks our hearts (Irish Times, 2016)
Contributor: David Bowie: Irish writers pay tribute (Irish Times, 2016)
Speaking up: a brief history of rape culture in young adult fiction (Irish Times, 2015)
The Feminist Goes to the Theatre (The Coven, 2015)
What Irish Writers Did In College: Part 1 and Part 2 (writing.ie, 2012)