Martina Devlin
@martinadevlinbooks.bsky.social
Book lover, novelist, reader, newspaper columnist, occasional lecturer in literature, Irish www.martinadevlin.ie
Reposted by Martina Devlin
Huge thanks to David for dropping in this afternoon. We now have signed copies in stock - perfect Christmas gift for history buffs!
November 27, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Huge thanks to David for dropping in this afternoon. We now have signed copies in stock - perfect Christmas gift for history buffs!
Reposted by Martina Devlin
The wonderful things you see when rambling through the city - ‘a consciousness of their own dignity and worth should be encouraged in women’, Countess Markievicz #speirgorm
November 27, 2025 at 5:50 PM
The wonderful things you see when rambling through the city - ‘a consciousness of their own dignity and worth should be encouraged in women’, Countess Markievicz #speirgorm
Today’s reading, a classic WWI memoir. Brittain goes from enthusiasm to disillusionment to conviction that war is futile.
November 19, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Today’s reading, a classic WWI memoir. Brittain goes from enthusiasm to disillusionment to conviction that war is futile.
Next month legislation to ban fox hunting in Ireland comes before the Dáil. TDs have an opportunity to ban this barbaric blood sport. Will the big parties allow their TDs to do the right thing? My Irish Independent column.
Fox hunting is a cruel 'pursuit' imported from Britain and it's time it was banned
Over the summer, a skinny young fox regularly entered our front garden in the evening to forage among flowerbeds for worms and other insects.
Sometimes, I'd spot him trotting along neighbourhood foo...
www.e-pages.dk
November 14, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Next month legislation to ban fox hunting in Ireland comes before the Dáil. TDs have an opportunity to ban this barbaric blood sport. Will the big parties allow their TDs to do the right thing? My Irish Independent column.
Shivaun O’Casey, daughter of legendary playwright Sean O’Casey, @abbeytheatre.bsky.social launches her memoir Next Year Will Be A Good One. She conjured up Lady Gregory, Samuel Beckett … and Barbra Streisand.
November 13, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Shivaun O’Casey, daughter of legendary playwright Sean O’Casey, @abbeytheatre.bsky.social launches her memoir Next Year Will Be A Good One. She conjured up Lady Gregory, Samuel Beckett … and Barbra Streisand.
Congratulations to Ferdia Lennon who won the 2025 Rooney Prize for his debut novel Glorious Exploits. It’s set in 5th BC Sicily, when captured Athenians stage 2 Euripides plays for food. The judges loved the book (I know because I was one). Ferdia is pictured here @tcd.bluesky.social with his mum.
November 11, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Congratulations to Ferdia Lennon who won the 2025 Rooney Prize for his debut novel Glorious Exploits. It’s set in 5th BC Sicily, when captured Athenians stage 2 Euripides plays for food. The judges loved the book (I know because I was one). Ferdia is pictured here @tcd.bluesky.social with his mum.
An ordinary woman who made an extraordinary contribution - a must-read obituary in Sunday Independent on Mary McGee whose courage forced the Irish State to legalise contraception in the 1970s www.e-pages.dk/sundayindepe...
Mary 'May' McGee Activist who won landmark court case against the State's ban on contraception
Mary 'May' McGee, who has died at the age of 81 after a short illness, made legal and social history in Ireland when she and her husband Shay won a Supreme Court case against the State's ban on contr...
www.e-pages.dk
November 2, 2025 at 9:27 AM
An ordinary woman who made an extraordinary contribution - a must-read obituary in Sunday Independent on Mary McGee whose courage forced the Irish State to legalise contraception in the 1970s www.e-pages.dk/sundayindepe...
We shouldn’t forget the damage done by the #banks to the lives of ordinary people during the crash - any sale of #PTSB shouldn’t be a celebration but a moment for reflection. My Irish Independent column
Don't let them sell this as a 'hurrah' moment - it is built on the pain of many
Asense of injustice rises in a cloud above the sale of PTSB, a bank that would not exist today had taxpayers' money not given it the kiss of life.
That €4bn used to keep the bank from expiring wasn'...
www.e-pages.dk
October 31, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Just popped into @ravenbooks.bsky.social for a chat with owner Louisa who always gives great #book recommendations
October 18, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Just popped into @ravenbooks.bsky.social for a chat with owner Louisa who always gives great #book recommendations
Magnificent Picasso exhibition @nationalgalleryirl.bsky.social
October 17, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Magnificent Picasso exhibition @nationalgalleryirl.bsky.social
Three priorities for the next president of Ireland after Oct 24 #election: build bridges domestically, with #NorthernIreland and the #EU. My Irish Independent column about the race for #Aras
Limited options leave voters deflated as air goes out of this presidential election
It's been like watching a balloon lose air and fall to the ground. One day, the Áras election was buoyant, the next, the field narrowed to a head-to-head between two candidates - and the presidential ...
www.e-pages.dk
October 17, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Three priorities for the next president of Ireland after Oct 24 #election: build bridges domestically, with #NorthernIreland and the #EU. My Irish Independent column about the race for #Aras
New paperback edition of my novel Charlotte about Charlotte Bronte has just landed in bookshops. I popped into Gutter Bookshop for a gloat. As you do.
October 14, 2025 at 4:23 PM
New paperback edition of my novel Charlotte about Charlotte Bronte has just landed in bookshops. I popped into Gutter Bookshop for a gloat. As you do.
What tourists who grope Dublin’s landmark Molly Malone statue told me and why I think they should stop. My Irish Independent column www.e-pages.dk/irishindepen...
She may be 'just a statue', but I really wish Dublin's tourists would leave Molly alone
Women's breasts have long been fetishised in Western culture. Consequently, some women regard exposing their cleavage as an expression of power and desirability - I have what you long for - while othe...
www.e-pages.dk
October 10, 2025 at 7:54 AM
What tourists who grope Dublin’s landmark Molly Malone statue told me and why I think they should stop. My Irish Independent column www.e-pages.dk/irishindepen...
Reposted by Martina Devlin
Great post from @martinadevlinbooks.bsky.social here: www.independent.ie/opinion/comm... @irishpen.bsky.social @englishpen.bsky.social @peninternational.bsky.social
Martina Devlin: Remembering a hero who gave her life to speaking out against the evils of war
It is not open warfare but nor can it be called peace. Vladimir Putin is prosecuting a hybrid war in Europe, amid an escalation of Russian drone infiltration, and fears have heightened about infrastru...
www.independent.ie
October 3, 2025 at 3:34 PM
My heartbeat’s going pitter-patter with excitement #SeamusHeaney
September 29, 2025 at 8:56 AM
My heartbeat’s going pitter-patter with excitement #SeamusHeaney
Red Hugh O’Donnell’s story continues to resonate 400 years on. He features in a great play, Making History, by Brian Friel. #Spain #Irishhistory
Thousands pay respects to Gaelic chieftain in Spain
Thousands have lined the streets of the Spanish city of Valladolid to pay tribute to the Irish war hero Red Hugh O'Donnell.
www.rte.ie
September 27, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Red Hugh O’Donnell’s story continues to resonate 400 years on. He features in a great play, Making History, by Brian Friel. #Spain #Irishhistory
Ireland is addicted to cheap, fast fashion - but are we willing to pay the real cost? My Irish Independent column
Ireland is addicted to cheap, fast fashion - but are we willing to pay the real cost?
A friend needed a long dress for a black-tie function. She saw nothing she liked in the shops, so she logged on to Chinese fast-fashion online retailer Shein and bought two on-trend possibilities for ...
www.e-pages.dk
September 26, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Ireland is addicted to cheap, fast fashion - but are we willing to pay the real cost? My Irish Independent column
A must: exhibition in London on the great Jean Rhys, author of Jane Eyre prequel The Wide Sargasso Sea. Her voice was "lyrical, laconic+knowing, describing what it meant to be a woman in exile at whim of powerful men". #postcolonialism #Brontes www.michaelwerner.com/exhibitions/...
September 25, 2025 at 7:41 AM
A must: exhibition in London on the great Jean Rhys, author of Jane Eyre prequel The Wide Sargasso Sea. Her voice was "lyrical, laconic+knowing, describing what it meant to be a woman in exile at whim of powerful men". #postcolonialism #Brontes www.michaelwerner.com/exhibitions/...
Emily Dickinson recognised the pleasure given by a handwritten letter.
September 15, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Emily Dickinson recognised the pleasure given by a handwritten letter.
Labour leader Ivana Bacik kindly tells the Irish Times she read my Bronte novel Charlotte on hols.
September 12, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Labour leader Ivana Bacik kindly tells the Irish Times she read my Bronte novel Charlotte on hols.
Why the letter from Michael D Higgins to people aged 100 is a reminder we need people of high calibre to offer themselves as President of Ireland. And a wide field - not a deliberately narrowed one. My Irish Independent column
Not everyone has right stuff for the Áras - what serves party may not serve State
I had the privilege of visiting someone who turned 100 this week and was shown his letter from the President: a typed document, signed in ink by Michael D Higgins and clearly composed by the man hims...
www.e-pages.dk
September 12, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Why the letter from Michael D Higgins to people aged 100 is a reminder we need people of high calibre to offer themselves as President of Ireland. And a wide field - not a deliberately narrowed one. My Irish Independent column
A must-read on racism and its cruelties from the brilliant Cauvery Madhavan www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
When I left India, Ireland welcomed me in. I won’t let bigotry destroy the country we love | Cauvery Madhavan
People from the Indian community, and others, are facing violence that was once unthinkable. We must not give in to the racists, says novelist Cauvery Madhavan
www.theguardian.com
September 8, 2025 at 7:06 AM
A must-read on racism and its cruelties from the brilliant Cauvery Madhavan www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...