Category: Contemplation

Contemplation, On Reading

Books of the Year 2025

I was delighted when John Lavin of the great Lonely Crowd asked me to write about my book of the year. Over the past year I’ve read so many great books, both newly published, and classics. I’m currently reading another brilliant one (Tania Hershman’s It’s Time: A Chronomemoir Guillemot Press, 2025). So how did I narrow my list down? I selected a fiction and a non-fiction book that chimed with each other and touched on something akin to magic, in how these two texts explored the body, and creativity, and pathways to and of living.

Check out the Lonely Crowd‘s Books of Year Part 1, Part 2 (where you’ll find my recommendations), and Part 3.

Wishing everyone continued happy reading. May the written word bring you peace and comfort in these last weeks of 2025 and into the new year of 2026.

Image of a sandy path leading out of a forest towards a beach with the sea in the distance, Wexford. Photograph (c) Shauna Gilligan
Contemplation, Writers Read

Reading and Consideration

Now that the brighter days are here (though they have already started to shorten), I’m starting another reading and consideration bout; a lovely mix of stories, poetry, philosophy, essays, fiction and non-fiction. I assembled the pile for physical balance rather than any particular order. The following books appear from top to bottom in the photograph above:

  • Mary O’Donnell Walking Ghosts (Mercier, 2025)
  • Mary Oliver A Poetry Handbook (HarperCollins, 1994)
  • Max Porter Shy (Faber, 2023)
  • Susan Sontag As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh (Picador, 2012)
  • Nóirín Ní Riain Sacred Rituals (Hachette, 2023)
  • Greg Dinner Fragments (Ogham & Dabar Books, 2025)
  • Gerald Dawe Catching the Light (Salmon, 2018)
  • Philip Marsden Under a Metal Sky (Granta, 2025)
  • Jan Zalasiewicz How to Read a Rock (The History Press, 2022)

Contemplation

Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann Statement on Gaza

Irish Times headline 05/06/2025 (Link below)

The statement was covered in mainstream media such as the Irish Times, the Irish Independent (Martina Devlin), and the Sunday Independent with a short but powerful article by Co-Chair of Irish PEN, Dr Liz McManus.

According to PEN International (02/06/2025) this has now been the deadliest war for writers since the second World War.

The Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann Statement on Gaza opens with the words of Fatima Hassouna, writer, photographer, and journalist killed in Gaza on 16 April 2025: ‘If I must die, I want a resonant death… a death that the whole world will hear’. It then goes on to say:

We, the undersigned writers of the island of Ireland, call for immediate action to bring an end to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Since 7 October 2023, at least 181 journalists, 120 academics, and 23 writers have been killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon, making it the deadliest period for journalists (173 Palestinian, two Israeli, and six Lebanese; source CPJ updated on 28 May 2025; see also The Guardian) […]

[…] We stand in solidarity with Palestinian, Jewish, and Israeli people who are opposing the genocide perpetuated by the current Israeli government […]

Please take a few moments to read the full statement.

Also consider becoming a member of Irish PEN/ PEN na hÉireann. The aims of Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann are to promote friendly co-operation among writers in every country in the interests of literature, responsible freedom of expression and international goodwill.