Fantastic Fridays: Beatrice Grimshaw

Welcome to the final entry in our series on Irish writers of the fantastic. Thank you to Swan River Press for this tour through Ireland’s fantasy heritage! “A mountain paradise, yet silent and lonesome, somewhat strange, for all its sweetness of flower and of friend, not friendly . . . ” – “The Blanket Fiend” […]

Fantastic Fridays: Mervyn Wall

Welcome to the series on Irish writers of the fantastic. Swan River Press takes us on a tour through Ireland’s fantasy heritage. “In Ireland anything may happen to anyone anywhere and at any time, and it usually does.” – “The Unfortunate Fursey” (1946) Mervyn Wall (1908-1997) was born in Rathmines, Dublin. He was educated in […]

Fantastic Fridays: Dora Sigerson Shorter

Welcome to the series on Irish writers of the fantastic. Swan River Press takes us on a tour through Ireland’s fantasy heritage. “Up and down the streets I wandered till dawn grew gray, but no dawn arose in my heart, only black night for ever.” – “Transmigration” (1900) Dora Sigerson Shorter (1866-1918) was born in […]

Fantastic Fridays: Elizabeth Bowen

Welcome to the series on Irish writers of the fantastic. Swan River Press takes us on a tour through Ireland’s fantasy heritage. “In her once familiar street, as in any unused channel, an unfamiliar queerness had silted up; a cat wove itself in and out of railings, but no human eye watched Mrs. Drover’s return.” […]

Fantastic Fridays: Ethna Carbery

Welcome to the series on Irish writers of the fantastic. Swan River Press takes us on a tour through Ireland’s fantasy heritage. “One bleak night in autumn a sound outside drew him to the door, and opening it, he stood listening.” – “The Wee Gray Woman” (1903) Ethna Carbery (1866-1902) was the pen name of […]

Fantastic Fridays: C. S. Lewis

Welcome to the series on Irish writers of the fantastic. Swan River Press takes us on a tour through Ireland’s fantasy heritage. “If ever they remembered their life in this world it was as one remembers a dream.” – “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (1950) C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) is widely considered a […]

Fantastic Fridays: Clotilde Graves

Welcome to a series on Irish writers of the fantastic. Over the next few months Swan River Press will be taking us on a tour through Ireland’s fantasy heritage. “Only the dead are faithful to Love—because they are dead,” she said. “The living live on—and forget!” – A Vanished Hand (1914)   Clotilde Graves (1863-1932) […]

Fantastic Fridays: Dorothy Macardle

Welcome to another entry in a series on Irish writers of the fantastic. Swan River Press takes us on a tour through Ireland’s fantasy heritage. “It would be strange, indeed, if the vigour and content of the living could not banish the lingering sorrows of the dead.” – The Uninvited (1941)   Dorothy Macardle—historian, playwright, […]

Fantastic Fridays: Katherine Tynan

Welcome to another entry in a series on Irish writers of the fantastic. Swan River Press takes us on a tour through Ireland’s fantasy heritage. “Any whose business brought them to the attic looked in the corners warily, while they stayed, but the servants did not like to go there alone.” – “The First Wife” […]

Fantastic Fridays: James Stephens

Welcome to another entry in a series on Irish writers of the fantastic. Swan River Press takes us on a tour through Ireland’s fantasy heritage. “What the heart knows today the head will understand tomorrow.” – The Crock of Gold (1912)   James Stephens was born in Dublin in 1880. Like many young Irish poets […]