Gerard Beirne
@gerardbeirne.bsky.social
Author of 8 books of fiction & poetry. Recent:The Thickness of Ice (novel, Baraka Books, 2024);The Death Poems (Salt, 2023).Winner of Rubery Award for Fiction. Shortlisted Danuta Gleed Award, Bord Gais Irish Book Awards, & Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award.
Pinned
Gerard Beirne
@gerardbeirne.bsky.social
· Jul 15
2025 Winners
FICTION Winner The Thickness of Ice by Gerard Beirne A restrained, but immersive novel set in the subarctic town of Churchill, Manitoba. We shift between different times and focuses and that makes...
www.ruberybookaward.com
Very pleased to have won the 2025 International Rubery Book Award for Fiction for The Thickness of Ice (Baraka Books).
www.ruberybookaward.com/2025-winners...
www.ruberybookaward.com/2025-winners...
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
I miss the days of when you wanted to hear a particular song you put a request in on the radio and took your chances.
November 23, 2025 at 12:49 PM
I miss the days of when you wanted to hear a particular song you put a request in on the radio and took your chances.
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
Remember dedicating a song to your crush? Good times!
November 24, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Remember dedicating a song to your crush? Good times!
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
I recall being in a NYC cab, only to hear on the radio that my name requested a song, I hadn’t but the DJ had run out of random names, had to use those of personal friends as no one had ‘faxed’ a request to New York’s most banal radio station of the time. Light FM?
November 23, 2025 at 11:40 PM
I recall being in a NYC cab, only to hear on the radio that my name requested a song, I hadn’t but the DJ had run out of random names, had to use those of personal friends as no one had ‘faxed’ a request to New York’s most banal radio station of the time. Light FM?
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
Based on short stories and characters by the one an only Damon Runyon. For some reason, my dad had the omnibus, and I devoured it. Fell in love.
Guys and Dolls—perhaps the quintessential Golden Age musical comedy—opened at the 46th Street Theatre on this date 75 years ago.
(The legendary Jo Mielziner did the sets)
(The legendary Jo Mielziner did the sets)
November 24, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Based on short stories and characters by the one an only Damon Runyon. For some reason, my dad had the omnibus, and I devoured it. Fell in love.
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
But it was so exciting parking yourself in front of the radio for that chance.
November 24, 2025 at 3:54 PM
But it was so exciting parking yourself in front of the radio for that chance.
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
And if a favorite song was playing on the radio as you pulled up to your place, yo drove around the block to hear it all…
November 24, 2025 at 1:36 AM
And if a favorite song was playing on the radio as you pulled up to your place, yo drove around the block to hear it all…
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
I called a radio station one night (while with my girlfriend) & the DJ answered! Said I was caller number x, got to pick a song, what was my name, my school. I answered the Qs, requested a Beatles song. Next day at school, kids were like, “Wow, we heard you on the radio last night!” LOL. Fun memory.
November 23, 2025 at 11:55 PM
I called a radio station one night (while with my girlfriend) & the DJ answered! Said I was caller number x, got to pick a song, what was my name, my school. I answered the Qs, requested a Beatles song. Next day at school, kids were like, “Wow, we heard you on the radio last night!” LOL. Fun memory.
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
I miss the days when you could have a song dedicated to someone.
November 24, 2025 at 2:12 AM
I miss the days when you could have a song dedicated to someone.
The inimitable Jim Harrison.
Another poem by Jim Harrison, this one from Plain Song (1965)
November 23, 2025 at 3:52 PM
The inimitable Jim Harrison.
‘We could have asked ChatGPT’: students fight back over course taught by AI.
Staffordshire students say signs material was AI-generated included suspicious file names and rogue voiceover accent.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Staffordshire students say signs material was AI-generated included suspicious file names and rogue voiceover accent.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
‘We could have asked ChatGPT’: students fight back over course taught by AI
Staffordshire students say signs material was AI-generated included suspicious file names and rogue voiceover accent
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:07 PM
‘We could have asked ChatGPT’: students fight back over course taught by AI.
Staffordshire students say signs material was AI-generated included suspicious file names and rogue voiceover accent.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Staffordshire students say signs material was AI-generated included suspicious file names and rogue voiceover accent.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
I miss the days of when you wanted to hear a particular song you put a request in on the radio and took your chances.
November 23, 2025 at 12:49 PM
I miss the days of when you wanted to hear a particular song you put a request in on the radio and took your chances.
Well, that was a fun and informative ten minutes with Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNLd...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNLd...
Seriously Entertaining: Benjamin Dreyer on "Just One of Those Things"
YouTube video by House of SpeakEasy
www.youtube.com
November 22, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Well, that was a fun and informative ten minutes with Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNLd...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNLd...
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
Oíche mhaith.
“You cried for night - it falls. Now cry in darkness.”
― Samuel Beckett
“You cried for night - it falls. Now cry in darkness.”
― Samuel Beckett
November 22, 2025 at 1:31 AM
Oíche mhaith.
“You cried for night - it falls. Now cry in darkness.”
― Samuel Beckett
“You cried for night - it falls. Now cry in darkness.”
― Samuel Beckett
Wait, Alouette is about plucking feathers off larks.
November 21, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Wait, Alouette is about plucking feathers off larks.
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
November 20, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
“... there’s mystery enough in the mere fact / of reality...”
~ from ‘A Dove in the House’ by Derek Mahon (2018)
irishpages.org/product/crit...
@irishlittimes.bsky.social @poetryireland.bsky.social
~ from ‘A Dove in the House’ by Derek Mahon (2018)
irishpages.org/product/crit...
@irishlittimes.bsky.social @poetryireland.bsky.social
November 19, 2025 at 5:55 PM
“... there’s mystery enough in the mere fact / of reality...”
~ from ‘A Dove in the House’ by Derek Mahon (2018)
irishpages.org/product/crit...
@irishlittimes.bsky.social @poetryireland.bsky.social
~ from ‘A Dove in the House’ by Derek Mahon (2018)
irishpages.org/product/crit...
@irishlittimes.bsky.social @poetryireland.bsky.social
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
"What is ‘Six Seven’ and why is the world currently obsessed with this latest online trend?"
Just spit balling here, but maybe it has something to do with every media outlet in the world incessantly asking the same fricking question.
Just spit balling here, but maybe it has something to do with every media outlet in the world incessantly asking the same fricking question.
What is ‘Six Seven’ and why is the world currently obsessed with this latest online trend?
What is ‘Six Seven’ and why is the world currently obsessed with this latest online trend?
The viral phrase from a 2024 rap track has children shouting in unison — and leaving adults utterly lost
www.irishtimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:58 PM
"What is ‘Six Seven’ and why is the world currently obsessed with this latest online trend?"
Just spit balling here, but maybe it has something to do with every media outlet in the world incessantly asking the same fricking question.
Just spit balling here, but maybe it has something to do with every media outlet in the world incessantly asking the same fricking question.
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
“He knew everything there was to know about literature, except how to enjoy it”
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22
November 16, 2025 at 12:53 AM
“He knew everything there was to know about literature, except how to enjoy it”
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22
“He knew everything there was to know about literature, except how to enjoy it”
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22
November 16, 2025 at 12:53 AM
“He knew everything there was to know about literature, except how to enjoy it”
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
As a great lexicographer once confided to me:
"We can't change things in the dictionary if you don't change them first."
"We can't change things in the dictionary if you don't change them first."
Yes.
ribcage
Done.
ribcage
Done.
Rib cage is two words. I know this, and yet I need two passes to catch when it's been closed up because my eyes slip right over it. Can we just close this term, please?
November 16, 2025 at 12:08 AM
As a great lexicographer once confided to me:
"We can't change things in the dictionary if you don't change them first."
"We can't change things in the dictionary if you don't change them first."
“If your writing doesn't keep you up at night, it won't keep anyone else up either”
― James M. Cain
― James M. Cain
November 14, 2025 at 10:02 PM
“If your writing doesn't keep you up at night, it won't keep anyone else up either”
― James M. Cain
― James M. Cain
Reposted by Gerard Beirne
"Ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your life in accordance with this necessity."
Rilke, Letters To A Young Poet.
Rilke, Letters To A Young Poet.
November 13, 2025 at 7:06 PM
"Ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must,” then build your life in accordance with this necessity."
Rilke, Letters To A Young Poet.
Rilke, Letters To A Young Poet.