Niall Mcdevitt News Today

History, live music, and a day of cats!

Books newsletter: A roundup of the latest literary news and a preview of this Saturday’s books pages

The latest news stories from the Irish Film & Television Network, on production, training opportunities, casting and much more.

The latest news stories from the Irish Film & Television Network, on production, training opportunities, casting and much more.

New Statesman writers and guests choose their favourite books of 2022.

                               Of Babylon, led by a child. his tears run down his beard   The ever-present genius of William Blake will be the subject of a series of literary walks this summer in London. Following the pandemic hiatus, Niall McDevitt returns with ‘Five August Blake Walks’ to take place on the five consecutive Sundays of August 2021. McDevitt, an Irish poet resident in London for 30 years, believes that the best way of getting to know Blake is by going out i...

Antigone with fish fingers. Oedipus as a corkscrew. And a Greek tragedy that becomes a Greek salad. Every tragedy needs its satyr play. After drama welcome relief is needed. After a hard day watching humans wrestle with the gods of Olympus, what the good people of ancient Greece needed was massive phalluses, the clangour of drums and horns, and actors in ridiculous goatish masks to ease the holy terror they had experienced over a whole day (usually three plays’ worth) of drama. Fast forward t...