In 2008, four journalists including Anna Carey, Sinéad Gleeson and Edel Coffey set up the anonymous blog The Anti Room as a place to talk about everything from everything from fashion to feminism, sex to sport, music to politics.  The blog was nominated for Best Group Blog at the Irish Blog Awards in 2009. The blog returns and has expanded to welcome a wide range of regular contributors including founders Anna, Edel, Sinéad; journalists Tanya Sweeney, Nadine O’Regan, Lauren Murphy, Susan Daly, Aoife Barry, Fiona McCann, Margaret Ward;  bloggers Suzy Byrne, Lisa McInerney, Megan McGurk and Naomi McArdle; documentary-maker Aoife Kelleher and writers Arlene Hunt, Nuala Ní Chonchúir and June Caldwell. We’re on Facebook and on Twitter if you’d like to keep in touch. ... Similar posts

You may remember SoundChick at SoundCheck from a wee posty last year. Well, the chicks are back for a complete and utter Birdfest. I need say no more than reproducing SoundCheck’s own blurb: Here at SoundCheck, we enjoy all things girly, and are therefore more than delighted to bring you the latest in our SoundChick series. The best female DJs in the land will descend on Spy from 7pm to LATE this Thursday (7th) for a night of birdie dancing, frolics, cocktails and excellent tunes. Those DJs are: Jenny Huston Sinead Ni Mhordha Edel Coffey Ragin Spice Anna Carey Sinead Gleeson Corina ‘YoCo’ Gaffey Aoife Mc Tainer Bang Roisin O’Dea Sweet Oblivion Bernie Divilly UnaRocks + more I know, right, GIANT line-up. Also, as part of ScreenCheck, we’ll be screening CLUELESS in the... Similar posts

I don’t generally have much truck with Kilkenny, this on the basis that its hurlers knocks the stuffing out of Wexford on an annual basis, but yesterday, at the invitation of organiser Neville Thompson (right), I headed down country for the inaugural Castlecomer Writers’ Festival. A fine day it was too, with the sleepy hamlet bathed in sunshine and none of the locals inclined to boast that their county’s hurlers are the finest specimens of the art known to mankind, and are therefore the finest sportsmen ever to grace the planet.   Anyhoos, I did my best to ruin the convivial atmosphere by injecting some crime into proceedings but no one seemed to take it personally, and the morning’s crime writing workshop went off without a hitch, apart from the fact that I was unforgivably... Similar posts

I've been watching some Irish television.Yes, the weather really has been that bad.On Monday, I caught the blogosphere's art guru Sinead Gleeson on the Seoige and O'Shea show. That's the one on in the afternoon, where flustered guests try not to stare too hard at Grainne's legs and bosoms (see above), while Joe O'Shea stutters at them.Sinead was on as an expert guest, but she wasn't talking about Ireland's arts scene. No, she was on to discuss how people in Ireland today have so little idea of geography that they'd be lucky to find Tallaght if there weren't big signs on the M50 carpark to tell them.No offence, Sinead (who, for those who missed it, is surprisingly foxy for an internet geek and art wonk), but when did you become (as billed) a 'social commentator' with special interest in... Similar posts