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Arlen House

@arlenhouse.bsky.social

New Writing from Ireland for the World

362 Followers  |  190 Following  |  42 Posts  |  Joined: 20.12.2023
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THIS EVENING, Friday 20 February, 7.30pm
United Arts Club, Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin 2

An evening of words, writing & wisdom with Celia de FrΓ©ine & Phyl Herbert. who have both contributed in vast ways to the Irish arts world over the past 50 years.

Published proudly by Arlen House.

20.02.2026 00:45 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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While @artscouncilireland.bsky.social's dysfunction & incompetence has been clear for decades, the 270 page Expert Report reveals the depths of mismanagement in quite staggering detail.

And still so much more to be exposed.

It is clear the AC would fail in its own funding applications.

21.01.2026 16:30 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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While @artscouncilireland.bsky.social's dysfunction & incompetence has been clear for decades, the 270 page Expert Report reveals the depths of mismanagement in quite staggering detail.

And still so much more to be exposed.

It is clear the AC would fail in its own funding applications.

21.01.2026 16:30 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Control, horror, and satisfaction: what's not to like?

Thanks to @booksireland.bsky.social for inviting me to review The Marionette and the Maestro, the new collection of short stories by Tanya Farrelly.

@arlenhouse.bsky.social

18.12.2025 16:39 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Cover of Blood Atlas is a large brown ship coming out of the ocean. The cover is cream.

Cover of Blood Atlas is a large brown ship coming out of the ocean. The cover is cream.

PITCH FOR THICKER THAN WATER

I have this idea for a screenplay: one day, the UN severs all familial ties on Earth, and people are free to choose relatives. Our hero, estranged from his son, endeavours to re-apply for the role of dad. But then, he hears news that his son has already filed for a new dad a teacher, sports coach, a friend's dad - and this breaks his heart. A plot twist occurs midway through our family feature when he considers where his own father is; the old fart is in a nursing home somewhere, staring at a dirty wall. So, our protagonist enrols as a janitor at this facility-a montage shows him cleaning shit along a narrow hall until he starts to steal moments of confused tranquillity in the old man's room, joining him to study a wall stain shaped like DΓΊn Laoghaire's pier, where, one morning, the old man forced a 99 on them to numb a silent pain. The film ends as the son from the start, without warning, turns up with ice cream ... but real life isn't that breezy, I know. I just like that this dumb little script could allow three troubled men to admit they could have gone easy on each other, without knowing when, or knowing how.

PITCH FOR THICKER THAN WATER I have this idea for a screenplay: one day, the UN severs all familial ties on Earth, and people are free to choose relatives. Our hero, estranged from his son, endeavours to re-apply for the role of dad. But then, he hears news that his son has already filed for a new dad a teacher, sports coach, a friend's dad - and this breaks his heart. A plot twist occurs midway through our family feature when he considers where his own father is; the old fart is in a nursing home somewhere, staring at a dirty wall. So, our protagonist enrols as a janitor at this facility-a montage shows him cleaning shit along a narrow hall until he starts to steal moments of confused tranquillity in the old man's room, joining him to study a wall stain shaped like DΓΊn Laoghaire's pier, where, one morning, the old man forced a 99 on them to numb a silent pain. The film ends as the son from the start, without warning, turns up with ice cream ... but real life isn't that breezy, I know. I just like that this dumb little script could allow three troubled men to admit they could have gone easy on each other, without knowing when, or knowing how.

Poem-a-day advent calendar 🎁 Day 18 is 'Pitch for Thicker than Water' from 'Blood Atlas' by @lukemorganpoet.bsky.social 🌹 @arlenhouse.bsky.social

18.12.2025 13:11 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Women Writers Workshop Eavan Boland leads a workshop for women writers at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre.

Arlen House - celebrating 50 years

Eavan Boland leads the WEB Women Writers Workshop at Annaghmakerrig in 1985 - including fascinating interviews with Eavan, and attendees Mary Morrissy, Roz Cowman and Rosemarie Raughter.
rte.ie/archives/202...

@nessao.bsky.social

13.12.2025 13:14 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Cover of Spaight's book is a painting featuring blues, reds and black, there are flickers of white in the blue

Cover of Spaight's book is a painting featuring blues, reds and black, there are flickers of white in the blue

MY GRANDMOTHER'S KITCHEN:

Sketch at 8

Wooden as a string puppet, my grandfather lies in the white ruffles and lace of the coffin. My mother touches his face as though she decodes the parchment-like skin of his unselfing. A croak like the original tremor of language rises from the women dressed in black who beetle through the room. Other voices merge, an almost sweet sound like a hive's hum; a storm brewing - only to falter as each woman surrenders and keens from her own sorrow. I'm high on lemonade. Candlelit shadows mount the walls, blot part of us into the dark. I'm afraid and want to go home. My mother is unlike my mother: she is like a fish in a shoal, the pressure sense of their bodies creating a contour that twists and turns; their world sealed. Face after face could be hers: my first time to sense she belongs only there.

MY GRANDMOTHER'S KITCHEN: Sketch at 8 Wooden as a string puppet, my grandfather lies in the white ruffles and lace of the coffin. My mother touches his face as though she decodes the parchment-like skin of his unselfing. A croak like the original tremor of language rises from the women dressed in black who beetle through the room. Other voices merge, an almost sweet sound like a hive's hum; a storm brewing - only to falter as each woman surrenders and keens from her own sorrow. I'm high on lemonade. Candlelit shadows mount the walls, blot part of us into the dark. I'm afraid and want to go home. My mother is unlike my mother: she is like a fish in a shoal, the pressure sense of their bodies creating a contour that twists and turns; their world sealed. Face after face could be hers: my first time to sense she belongs only there.

🎁 Poem-a-day advent calendar 🎁 Day 12 is 'My Grandmother's Kitchen' from 'Watching for the Hawk' by @bredaspaight.bsky.social πŸ’– @arlenhouse.bsky.social

12.12.2025 10:23 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Control, horror & satisfaction in The Marionette and the Maestro - Books Ireland The nature and forms of control, and the limitless consequences when control is lost – these are Farrelly’s preoccupations.

Neil Hegarty reviews the vivid and inventive new collection The Marionette and the Maestro, by Tanya Farrelly (Arlen House)
@neilhegarty.bsky.social @arlenhouse.bsky.social
booksirelandmagazine.com/control-horr...

08.12.2025 13:13 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Books of the Year 2025 / Part Two Contributors to The Lonely Crowd choose the books they have most enjoyed this year. Part Three follows on Friday. Karys Frank Sarah Hall’s Helm, a gale of a novel in which the Helm wind is personif…

My dystopian novel, The Memorisers, is recommended by Angela Graham as a book of the year: β€˜Chillingly identifiable with today.’ @arlenhouse.bsky.social thelonelycrowd.org/2025/12/09/b...

09.12.2025 18:21 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

My playscript, Manichea: A Play on Cancellation, is launching tomorrow 6pm at the American Bar Belfast - a play, poetry and a pint! @arlenhouse.bsky.social @abbeytheatre.bsky.social

03.12.2025 15:51 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Belfast launch
TOMORROW
Thursday 4 December, 6pm at The American Bar

Liz McManus (ed) *May Morton: Phantom Poet*

Rosemary Jenkinson *Manichea: A Play on Cancellation*

Francis O'Hare *A Different Light*

ALL WELCOME

Arlen House - Celebrating 50 Years

03.12.2025 14:06 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

My new play script, Manichea: A Play on Cancellation, is launching this Thursday 4th at 6 pm at the American Bar Belfast - it will be fun! @arlenhouse.bsky.social Many thanks @booksireland.bsky.social

01.12.2025 11:58 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Rosemary Jenkinson discusses the thrilling prospects of a playscript and her new publication Manichea: A Play on Cancellation @arlenhouse.bsky.social
booksirelandmagazine.com/rosemary-jen...

01.12.2025 09:33 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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LONDON this evening, 7.30pm, Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith

Celebrating Arlen House at 50, launching biggest anthology of Irish women poets ever compiled *Washing Windows V: Women Revolutionise Irish Poetry, 1975-2025*
@nualaoconnor.bsky.social

Hosted by @irishlitsoc.bsky.social

ALL WELCOME

25.11.2025 14:14 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The First Pageβ€”Tanya Farrelly - Books Ireland Tanya Farrelly reads from her new collection The Marionette and the Maestro (Arlen House).

Watch/listen/readβ€”the first page of Tanya Farrelly's new collection, The Marionette and the Maestro, read by the author ❀️
@arlenhouse.bsky.social
booksirelandmagazine.com/the-first-pa...

19.11.2025 12:02 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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London!

Celebrating Arlen House at 50, launching @nualaoconnor.bsky.social's *Menagerie* plus *Washing Windows V: Irish Women Revolutionise Poetry, 1975-2025*

Hosted by @irishlitsoc.bsky.social at @irishculturalcentr.bsky.social Hammersmith, Tuesday 25 Nov, 7.30pm

irishlitsoc.org/event/arlen-...

17.11.2025 23:35 β€” πŸ‘ 11    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Celebrating 50 Years of Arlen House

Arlen House & Books Upstairs invite:

Liz McManus (ed) *May Morton: Phantom Poet*
Noelle Lynskey *Featherweight*
Ruth Carr *Catching the Missing Beat*
Rosemary Jenkinson *Manichea: A Play on Cancellation*

Sunday 30 November, 2pm
Books Upstairs CafΓ©

ALL WELCOME

17.11.2025 19:05 β€” πŸ‘ 7    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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Arlen House & Books Upstairs launch invite:

Liz McManus (ed) *May Morton: Phantom Poet*
Ruth Carr *Catching the Missing Beat*
Noelle Lynskey *Featherweight*
Rosemary Jenkinson *Manichea: A Play on Censorship*

Sunday 30 November, 2pm, Books Upstairs

ALL WELCOME

Celebrating 50 Years of Arlen House

16.11.2025 16:35 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Arlen House

looking forward to seeing @arlenhouse.bsky.social at the #DublinSmallPressFair2025! Arlen House publish a broad range of literature in English agus as Gaeilge

arlenhouse.ie

11.11.2025 14:47 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Great readings @booksupstairs.bsky.social in Dublin on Sunday with the gang. I read from my new short story collection, Laganside Lights @arlenhouse.bsky.social

11.11.2025 13:55 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Arlen House & Books Upstairs invite you to enjoy readings from 5 stunning works of Irish literature:

Deirdre Cartmill *Under the Blue Seraphim*
Rosemary Jenkinson *Laganside Lights*
Luke Morgan *Blood Atlas*
Francis O'Hare *A Different Light*
Csilla Toldy *Firebird*

Sun 9 Nov 2pm, Books Upstairs

05.11.2025 17:15 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Funeral for campaigner Sr Stan to take place in Dublin The funeral of social justice campaigner and Focus Ireland founder Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, who died aged 86, will be held in Dublin this afternoon.

Launching Sr Stanislaus Kennedy's groundbreaking research on female homelessness *But Where Can I Go? Homeless Women in Dublin* (Arlen House, 1985) with Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald & Catherine Rose.

Rest in power, Stan

RTÉ Archives: A day in the life with Sr Stan in 1985
www.rte.ie/news/2025/11...

07.11.2025 11:20 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Arlen House & Books Upstairs invite you to enjoy readings from 5 stunning works of Irish literature:

Deirdre Cartmill *Under the Blue Seraphim*
Rosemary Jenkinson *Laganside Lights*
Luke Morgan *Blood Atlas*
Francis O'Hare *A Different Light*
Csilla Toldy *Firebird*

Sun 9 Nov 2pm, Books Upstairs

05.11.2025 17:15 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Launched "Blood Atlas" at the Irish Secretariat in Belfast last night, alongside new work from these other fine writers - Celia de FrΓ©ine, Ruth Carr, Deirdre Cartmill and Csilla Toldy. Thanks to @arlenhouse.bsky.social and the audience for coming out to support new irish poetry!

05.11.2025 09:11 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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I had a wonderful time in Cork reading from my new short story collection, Laganside Lights, at the Cork International Short Story Festival @munsterlitcentre.bsky.social @arlenhouse.bsky.social

20.10.2025 12:41 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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A magical event in Cork celebrating Arlen House at 50, honouring Catherine Rose, Ireland's first feminist publisher; plus launching the biggest anthology of Irish women poets ever published β€’ Washing Windows V β€’ with an amazing speech by EilΓ©an NΓ­ ChuilleanΓ‘in + stunning readings from contributors.

15.10.2025 15:50 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Flyer for the Dublin Small Press Fair, 28/29 November, Pearse Steeet Library

Flyer for the Dublin Small Press Fair, 28/29 November, Pearse Steeet Library

The inaugural Dublin Small Press Fair is happening at the end of November!

30+ presses, events, readings, and more. Organised by me and @eireannmor.bsky.social. More information coming very soon - follow @dublinsmpressfair.bsky.social for updates

15.10.2025 14:02 β€” πŸ‘ 48    πŸ” 28    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 8
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Had a pop-up reading at @carleton.edu, Minnesota yesterday. Edgar Allan Poe showed up! Thanks to students and staff of the English Department.

@arlenhouse.bsky.social

15.10.2025 12:07 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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See @shaunagilligan.bsky.social's poem in Ballincollig Regional Park with Cork City Libraries "Poems in the Park" celebrating 50 years of Arlen House. Other poets @nualaoconnor.bsky.social Medbh McGuckian @rosemaryj77.bsky.social Tara Newley Arkle @nessao.bsky.social Deirdre Brennan, Pauline Bewick

14.10.2025 21:33 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Visiting University of Notre Dame, Indiana, last week. Poetry reading and Q&A hosted by @ndirishstudies.bsky.social. A joy to speak to the students, especially those who are studying gaeilge. BhΓ­ sΓ© iontach gaeilge a labhairt leis na daltaΓ­. @arlenhouse.bsky.social

13.10.2025 11:54 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0