Rick O'Shea

Busy week already on Arena. Spoke to John Bishop about 'Is This Thing On?' & Rob Doyle about 'Cameo'.

Tonight it's George Saunders on 'Vigil' and @johnmaguire.bsky.social about the Godard season @irishfilminstitute.bsky.social.

Tonight at 7 @rteradio1.bsky.social or wherever you get your podcasts.

Haven't been here for a while. We did a whole other live show with an audience since this one....

Ja.......

For work.....

Today on 746 Books I'm looking forward to all the great fiction coming in 2026 from Irish authors!

746books.com/2026/01/08/i...

This was a lovely chat with the fantastic @eithneshortall.bsky.social about all things SISTER WAKE, Sam, and a dinner party argument about why, no, colonialism was not a 'mixed bag...'

Fiction in Translation Writer and columnist Rónán Hession joins the show to be quizzed about best foreign fiction hitting the shelves, as well as the art of literary translation.

@rickoshea.bsky.social and I had a good natter about translated fiction on Arena @rteradio1.bsky.social earlier in the week. You can listen back here if you fancy it.

www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

My word. (Again.)

Media Minister Patrick O'Donovan: "At the end of the day, it's the choice of a person to make these images... technology is moving so fast... even if the law is changed there's no doubt about... the advances are far faster than law is able to respond..."

If you are still on "X", you have to ask yourself why.

It's been a cesspool for years, recent days are a new low, it's not compulsory to be there.

If you don't leave it now, you have to ask what it would take to make you drop it?

If you are still on "X", you have to ask yourself why.

It's been a cesspool for years, recent days are a new low, it's not compulsory to be there.

If you don't leave it now, you have to ask what it would take to make you drop it?

Whoooooooop!

Delighted that my next novel Richard Heart Julianne will be coming out on the mighty @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social next year.

Hope you enjoy it. I loved writing it.

Rick O’Shea: Why 2026 is going to be a special year for fiction fans January has some gems straight out of the traps – I’m already reading Vigil by George Saunders as I’ll be talking to him on RTÉ Radio 1’s Arena soon.

In case you missed this last week - I took a quick run through some of the books I'm looking forward to most in 2026 for @independent.ie.

m.independent.ie/entertainmen...

Rick O’Shea’s best books of 2025: Great reads you might have missed this year I’m attempting to focus on books that you might not find in other end-of-year lists you’ve seen in the run up to Christmas – the ones that have possibly not gotten the spotlight and love they deserve.

Good to see @davetynan.bsky.social's We Used to Dance Here in @rickoshea.bsky.social's Best Books of 2025 list.

'Cracking, straight from the opening story...I rarely find a collection without a dud story somewhere - this is one of them.'

www.independent.ie/entertainmen...

It's time for a break. I'll be back online on Jan 5th to tell you all about the first regular Arena of 2026.

Stay safe x

We've had live events for Culture Night, The Poems of Seamus Heaney, the RTE Short Story Competition, the 100th Dublin Review.

Everyone has been so lovely at every turn, don't think that every kind word hasn't meant the world to me.

It has been the most extraordinary and challenging time since then. I've spoken to hundreds of reviewers, musicians, filmmakers, actors, academics, composers, writers, poets, opera singers, photographers, artists, fashion designers...

But, it was the year I began on one @rte.ie channel and finished on another.

The year I found myself, for the last five months, sitting in the seat my late colleague Seán Rocks made his own for sixteen years before his sudden, tragic death at the end of July. No-one could have seen that coming.

It's been two years of a year...

It was the year we started with two dogs and ended with three, the year I wrote and ended a book column, the year the @laibluesky.bsky.social gave me their Presidents Medal, the year I interviewed authors and filmmakers on stage, curated events, gave away awards.

🧵

€18,850.......

€18,850.......

Goes into the "to be bought" list with my post-Christmas book tokens....

It's time for a break. I'll be back online on Jan 5th to tell you all about the first regular Arena of 2026.

Stay safe x

We've had live events for Culture Night, The Poems of Seamus Heaney, the RTE Short Story Competition, the 100th Dublin Review.

Everyone has been so lovely at every turn, don't think that every kind word hasn't meant the world to me.

It has been the most extraordinary and challenging time since then. I've spoken to hundreds of reviewers, musicians, filmmakers, actors, academics, composers, writers, poets, opera singers, photographers, artists, fashion designers...

But, it was the year I began on one @rte.ie channel and finished on another.

The year I found myself, for the last five months, sitting in the seat my late colleague Seán Rocks made his own for sixteen years before his sudden, tragic death at the end of July. No-one could have seen that coming.

It's been two years of a year...

It was the year we started with two dogs and ended with three, the year I wrote and ended a book column, the year the @laibluesky.bsky.social gave me their Presidents Medal, the year I interviewed authors and filmmakers on stage, curated events, gave away awards.

🧵

Other than that, have a safe, calm, enjoyable and (where possible!) work free Xmas.

x

Also, we have some Arena specials next week on @rteradio1.bsky.social...