Setting the world to writes

Isn’t it difficult to think straight these days? In too many countries, chief among them the United States, ruthless, amoral liars have risen to the top, using a populist playbook that appeals to voters’ worst instincts. And that’s only counting democracies. Can someone please hurry up and write, or rewrite, a populist playbook that appeals to voters’ better instincts, like tolerance, fairness, cooperation and generosity?

While we’re at it, can we reset the bond between the sexes, which seems to be worse now than it was in my youth? For heaven’s sake, it’s natural for men and women to work as a team. Forget about the historical blip of patriarchy, our original social groups were based on cooperation and pooling skills. You can see that in workplaces any day of the week. No one needs to submit to anyone else, especially not in the partnership of marriage. What a disgusting message to give to young men and women.

For all the attention given to so-called incel men, there are just as many invisible women who would like to be with someone but aren’t. That’s life and it’s not necessarily permanent. Yes, we could do more to build communities and that might help . If you care about loneliness, that’s a good place to put in some effort. Much better than demonising the opposite sex.

Before I go back to the regular business of telling you what book events I have coming up (in Zurich, Lausanne, Brussels and Geneva!), I will say one more thing about the term toxic masculinity, which I feel is deliberately misunderstood by certain groups. Toxic is an adjective here. No one is saying that to be male is to be bad. Toxic can and should be replaced by other adjectives, like wonderful, admirable, healthy. It’s obvious that there are different ways to be masculine and the toxic way – characterised by aggression, entitlement and exploitation – should be condemned.

Wonderful masculinity is what I see embodied by the men in my life. Masculinity characterised by decency, bravery, protectiveness, wit, intelligence, honour. All the good stuff. It hasn’t gone away. And there are role models for this kind of masculinity everywhere we look – even in politics. So we can stop pretending young men have no positive role models. Actors, scientists, teachers, fathers, sportsmen, writers, farmers, doctors – they are everywhere. Just point them out!

I’ll leave it there for now and just quickly list the events in the calendar for 2026. First, I am going to be a guest of the Zurich James Joyce Foundation for an author event on Friday, February 20th at 6.30pm. This outpost of Irish culture in Switzerland has been doing amazing work for years on Joyce and on literature in general. It’s an honour to be invited there and I hope I see some friendly faces in Augustinergasse next month. Full details and an email address to sign up to the event (required) at this link. The moderator is Rafaël Newman.

A week after that I will be heading to Brussels to give a writing workshop with the Wordcraft Collective. The workshop is entitled Holding it all Together: Structure in Fiction Writing. The Wordcraft Collective is a community of Brussels-based authors writing in English. They sound lovely and I’m looking forward to the workshop at 11am on Saturday, February 28th. Open to members and non-members, sign up here.

On March 5th, I’ve been invited by the Irish Business Network Switzerland to give a talk on the art of storytelling at Books Books Books in Lausanne. The event is open to all and it’s a good chance to discover the lovely new, bigger and brighter location of my favourite Swiss bookshop!

I’m excited to announce that I will be interviewing John Boyne at the Société de Lecture in Geneva on May 20th at 7pm. We’ll be talking about his new book / series of novellas The Elements, winner of the Prix du roman FNAC 2025 and the Prix Femina étranger 2025. I’ve read Water so far and loved it. John came to Fribourg for the Irish Festival in 2023 and I’m really looking forward to seeing him again.

I’d like to congratulate another Irish writer, Catherine Crichton, whose first novel tells the story of Harry Clarke’s ill-fated final stained glass masterpiece, The Geneva Window. She’s signed a contract with Stairwell Books in York to publish the book next year and I’m very excited to read it. Harry Clarke went to a sanitorium in Davos for his TB and sadly died in nearby Chur as he was trying to return home to Ireland. His life and work is a wonderful subject for historical biofiction.  

I also heard today that Martina Devlin, who came to Fribourg and Zurich last year to present her novel Charlotte during Ireland Week, will have a new book coming out in September. This one is based on the life of Mary Shelley and I cannot wait to read it!

I almost forgot to say that the Irish state broadcaster RTE published an extract from Before the Leaves Fall on its culture website in December. If you haven’t read the book yet, now’s your chance to check it out. And if you have read it, don’t forget to post a review somewhere online as every mention really helps.

Ps. Some of you may have heard that I applied for a writer’s residency (long-held wish) on Achill Island for this year. I found out this week that I wasn’t successful so I’m going to try elsewhere. Wish me luck!

Pps. I’ve posted a picture of myself and my mother Máire here on our way from her house to the Gutter Bookshop in Dublin last October for the launch of Before the Leaves Fall. Such a happy day.