James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was born on the 2nd February 1882 in Dublin into a middle-class family, and the eldest of ten surviving siblingsAdmired as a brilliant student he briefly attended the Christian Brothers-run O'Connell School before excelling at the Jesuit schools of Clongowes and Belvedere. From there he went on to attend University College Dublin from 1898, studying English, French and ItalianIn 1902, Joyce was now in his early twenties, and went to Paris to s...

The cat. Independent when it wants and making us dependent on its whims when it deems. Cats are first thought of as being domesticated in the Near East in about 7500 BC. A few thousand years later in Ancient Egypt they are worshipped as gods. From a domestic cat’s point of view this is pretty much the life they want and that some cats lead right now.Their larger cousins whether in forest, savannah, mountains or desert were fated for their speed, strength, beauty, feline powers and ...

Rosa Mulholland was born in Belfast on 19th March 1841.She originally wished to become a painter but turned to literary pursuits and attempted to publish her first book at 15. Charles Dickens, who took an early interest in her work, did much to encourage and help her during his lifetime including publishing many of her works in his magazine ‘All the Year Round’.Her early years in the remote and mountainous west of Ireland helped her gather backdrops, landscapes and characte...

Francis Edward Ledwidge was born on 19th August, 1887 in the small village of Janeville in Slane, County Meath in Ireland to parents that believed strongly in education.At the age of 5 his father died and the entire family, already desperately poor, were forced into work and by 13 the young Ledwidge took whatever job was to hand—from farm hand to road labourer. Throughout this time he applied himself to his poetry writing whenever and wherever he could. His poems were published on ...

‘A dime a dozen’ as known in America, is perhaps equal to the English ‘cheap as chips’ but whatever the lingua franca of your choice in this series we hereby submit ‘A Rhyme a Dozen’ as 12 poems on many given subjects that are a well-rounded gathering, maybe even an essential guide, from the knowing pens of classic poets and their beautifully spoken verse to the comfort of your ears.1 - A Rhyme A Dozen - 12 Poems, 12 Poets, 1 Topic - The Night - An Introduction2 - To Night ...

A day in the life of Leopold Bloom, an ordinary man living in Dublin, unfolds into an extraordinary journey of self-discovery and exploration. Through a stream-of-consciousness narrative, Joyce weaves together the lives of Bloom, Stephen Dedalus, and Molly Bloom as they navigate the complexities of identity, love, and the human experience.Ulysses blends myth, memory, and reality into a rich tapestry of thought and emotion. A challenging yet rewarding listen, this groundbrea...

William Butler Yeats was born in Sandymount in County Dublin, Ireland on 13th June 1865.His early years moved between Ireland and England. By his mid-teens he was writing but those works were described as ‘entirely Un-Irish’. With Ernest Rhys he founded the Rhymers Club. Based at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street it’s best described as a drinking club for performing poets. Yeats later cited them as ‘The Tragic Generation’. By now Yeats was writing and publishing poetry and st...

The bookshelves of British literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors. From these Isles their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure. Among them are Somerville & Ross - the writing pseudonym for Edith Somerville & Violet Florence Martin Sidney Benson Thorp.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

These British Isles, moored across from mainland Europe, are more often seen as a world unto themselves. Restless and creative, they often warred amongst themselves until they began a global push to forge a World Empire of territory, of trade and of language.Here our ambitions are only of the literary kind. These shores have mustered many masters of literature. So this anthology’s boundaries includes only those authors who were born in the British Isles - which as a geographical de...

'Compelling and satisfying... At times, incredibly funny, at others, heartrending' Sarah Winman, author of When God Was a RabbitCyril Avery is not a real Avery or at least that’s what his adoptive parents tell him. And he never will be. But if he isn’t a real Avery, then who is he?Born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community and adopted by a well-to-do if eccentric Dublin couple via the intervention of a hu...