Colm O’Regan’s witty, fiercely loyal Mammy holds her own alongside millennials, politicians, podcasters and men’s-rights activists

If it weren’t for a certain pesky virus, the talented Irish R&B artist would be gathering fame and fortune on the tour circuit right now. Instead, she’s taking her music online in generous collaborative projects

Broadly acknowledged as the most influential Irish rapper, God Knows sees the murder of George Floyd as a defining moment for black and Irish artists

Though it’s only just past its halfway point, 2020 has already been the strangest of years for Dublin rock trio The Coronas – for reasons that need no elaboration

Ilaria Bernardini’s first novel in English is an intriguing study of art and deception and how relationships can be maintained when truth isn’t always what it seems

Two decades on from his groundbreaking debut Original Pirate Material, Mike Skinner – aka The Streets – is still trying to make full sense of a confused, changing world

A new report has laid bare an apparent gender bias against female musical acts on Irish radio. Why has this come about, and how can it be reversed?

Caution is advised with Neil Young’s legendary ‘lost’ album

The Zambian-Irish poet and rapper’s recent performance at the National Gallery was mesmerising. She says the lack of an in-person audience gave her the room to truly be free

When Dr Kate McGarry was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, she set out to write a memoir documenting her experience as both doctor and patient. After she died, her husband, Dr Finbar Lennon, continued her story

This striking collection of 20 short stories both wallows in the City of Tribes’s bustling festivals and artistry, and meditates on the turbulent landscape surrounding it

The acclaimed Canadian writer has followed up Station Eleven with another dystopian tale

Bina is a brilliantly drawn heroine in Anakana Schofield’s novel of warnings

After the sudden death of her husband, psychotherapist Sasha Bates navigates her way between the analytical head and the broken heart

Liz Nugent’s novels bring outsiders and unhappy families into sharp focus, and her latest, Our Little Cruelties, tackles the last taboo of the ‘bad mother’ head on

For art-rocker Sophie Allison, blue is the colour – but so are grey and yellow, on her beguiling new album

With the coronavirus crisis laying waste to the social calendar, what happens to the FOMO generation when there’s nothing left to miss out on?

The band are all about opposing forces – and it’s evident in their lyrics, which switch between hostility and vulnerability until the two almost merge

The rapper’s debut LP Stride was widely praised for its lustrous hooks, encompassing smooth R&B tinges, deft vocal flows and a hint of gospel. But after securing his Irish fan base, the Dublin-based artist nominated for an RTÉ Choice Music Prize is now setting his sights overseas

The comedian has spent his career walking the tightrope between visionary and attention-seeking edgelord. Embracing the darkness, he says, appeals to him more than trying to become a better person