Notes from lit-land

Some bookish links to read

Adding to the 2026 TBR lists, and other stories.

• We’re getting three new Sarah Dessen novels! As a long-time Dessen fangirl, I’m very pleased to see this. She’s one of those YA writers who’s had huge success but has also shared some of the less-shiny bits, including a whole bunch of manuscripts that don’t work out, and it’s heartening to get those behind-the-scenes looks at creative careers. As I am forever saying, we so often talk about ‘rejection’ as a thing that happens only at the beginning of such careers (the ‘writer X was rejected 50 times, keep going!’ stories) - not something that keeps happening all the way through, in various ways.

• I love, love, love this essay by Caroline O’Donoghue about the personal essays women writers are expected to write in order to promote their books and generally have writerly careers.

• We have a new Laureate for Irish Fiction! If you’re not familiar with Éilís Ní Dhuibhne’s work, where have you been, but I am personally very fond of her short stories, and would humbly suggest starting with her collection The Shelter of Neighbours.

• There’s a Judy Blume biography on the way! This sounds like it’ll be a little bit lit-crit too, which is pleasing. (Her work is usually explored in relation to ‘breaking taboos’, censorship, and making-kids-feel-seen, all of which is important, but I’d love to think more about the how-she-does-it, the craft.)

• I love a smart look at deceptively-‘fluffy’ material (typed the YA critic) and this essay on Emily Henry’s books clicked for me so very much. The one thing it’s a little shakier on is the extent to which publishers can press for certain things, a replication of previous successes, rather than this being entirely an author’s decision. From the same blog, a look at the icon that is Nora Roberts.

• Irish writers with new crime novels coming out in the first half of 2026: The Truth About Ruby Cooper by Liz Nugent and Everything She Didn’t Say by Jane Casey. In lit-fic land, we have Sarah Gilmartin’s third novel, Little Vanities, and Louise Nealon’s second, Everything That Is Beautiful. Let the fangirling commence!

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My short story collection, In The Movie Of Her Life, is out in the world now. Nice things people have said about it can be found here, and you can listen to me talk about it (and books I have loved) on the Burning Books podcast here. Upcoming creative writing workshops include: Outlining Your Novel online workshop (Sat 2nd Aug) and a Writing Short Stories workshop for the Knocklyon Literary Festival (Fri 19th Sept). Nerding out about YA can be found over at the Irish Times website.