In 2014 Gemma graduated with a First from NUIG's Writing MA. Gemma’s plays have been staged and supported by AboutFACE, Axis ...

Mark Hernandez received his degree in journalism and worked for two different newspapers in the US, writing articles and taking photos. Now he lives in Ireland and is finishing his MA in journalism ...

Have you ever wondered why your dog’s ears prick up even when you hear nothing? You sit reading the newspaper when Toby runs towards the door barking as if his best friend is outside. It could be ...

War creates monsters, and not all monsters go away when the war does. Some still fight for their lost cause, some fight for their own survival, and some fight because they’ve discovered they love ...

It may be just another great myth surrounding Frank Sinatra, but he supposedly drank a bottle of Jack Daniels every day. Bourbon was Sinatra’s signature drink and Jack Daniels was his favourite brand.

There are always those who see opportunity in chaos. The destruction of the old order leaves gaps that need filling, and “men of vision” see nobody better than themselves to fill those gaps. This does ...

To quote the great Terry Pratchett, people always seem to have a “little blank spot in their heads where someone had written: Kings. What a good idea.” Even in modern times, when we fool ourselves ...

One of the big problems with using paintings and other art pieces as a historical source is that most artists don’t depict reality as it is but rather reality as they wished it would be. Idealised and ...

In 1810 Sir Samuel Romilly, former Solicitor General, told the House of Commons “There is no country on the face of the earth in which there are so many different offences according to law to be ...

There’s a thin line between lying and creating, sometimes. Is the forger who creates new paintings in the style of the old masters any less of an artist than they were? His work is skillful, his ...

In a double length episode Sam Blake quizzes Literary Agent Sallyanne Sweeney from MMB Creative on what she looks for in a new manuscript and how she wades through often 300 submissions a week.