A Breath of Fresh Éire by Olga Balaeva (Beehive, €14.99/£12.99) Author and photographer Olga Balaeva is a new kind of Irish writer, representative of the emerging culture of a future island. Born in Moscow she is alive in several languages including Gaelic. She has already Ireland as gaeilge “a user friendly guide to the language”…

Peace Apart: Lasting Impressions of C.S. Lewis by Bishop Fintan Monahan (Veritas, €9.99/£8.99) This little book is the third in a series in which Fintan Monahan, the bishop of Killaloe, is evoking writers who have been important to him, and whom he wishes to encourage others to take up and read. The previous two books…

The poem (Page 36) was written a quarter century ago, at another time of conflict, but the new war in Eastern Europe has made it relevant again. Poster created by Brian Bourke. A limited edition, signed and numbered, in size A3 poster form, is available from Goldsmith Press, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, W12 X260; price €150 post free.  …

The Monastic Heart, 50 Simple Practices for a Contemplative and Fulfilling Life by Sister Joan Chittister (Hodder & Stoughton, £22.99/€27.00) The kind of peace of mind and heart which poets and sages write about proves elusive for many of us these days. We need to remind ourselves, or perhaps for many of us, to actually…

The images from Moscow of the marking of Victory Day, with which the news is filled at time of writing, brought into my mind a fleeting thought that President Putin might like to know more about the evolutionary significance of the extinct Giant Irish Elk. That it has become extinct is only a part of…

Alberto Giacometti: Marvellous Reality,  a bilingual catalogue edited by Émelie Bouvard and others (Grimaldi Forum, Monaco/Fondation Giacometti, Paris, €35.00) Exhibition Giacometti from Life, curators: Sean Rainbird and Janet McLean (National Gallery of Ireland); Catherine Grenier and Thierry Pautot (Fondation Giacometti), continues to September 4 2022, Beit Wing (Rooms 6–10). (Intending visitors need to book an exhibition ticket on-line.) It…

Trust Your Feelings: Learning how to Make Choices with Ignatius of Loyola,  by Nikolaas Sintobin SJ (Messenger Publications, €12.95/£11.95) This is the second of author Nikolaas Sintobin’s books to come to us for review. The first was warmly commended to readers, and this new title is quite as good as the first, and can also be…

July 22 to 28, Newbridge College Theatre, Newbridge Co. Kildare “A bright gem in the literary world!” according to Patrick Samway SJ, this year the 34th G. M. Hopkins Festival is to be held. This is a very real triumph of poetry, art and music over world-closing circumstances. Poet Desmond Egan, the founder and moving spirit…

Burning the Big House: The story of the Irish country house in a time of war and revolution, by Terence Dooley (Yale University Press, £25.00/€30.00) The Anglo-Irish descendancy from the mid-19th century is the stuff of grand tragedy. Everywhere there are echoes of the elegiac. The men and women of the caste were relatively wealthy,…

UDR Declassified, by Micheal Smith (Merrion Press, €18.95/£14.50) The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was set up in late 1969 as the Ulster Special Constabulary (B Specials) was being disbanded as a result of its role in the sectarian violence which broke out in Derry and Belfast the previous August. Inevitably, large numbers of the B…