Photo of Oodi, the Central Library of Helsinki, courtesy of the Oodi website I don’t want to give any oxygen to an unelected billionaire...

Address by President of the Republic of Finland Alexander Stubb at the Support Ukraine plenary session in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 24 February...

It’s hard to believe that it’s over 50 years ago since ABBA won the Eurovision with Waterloo in 1974. They may not be Finnish, but are...

As well as being the happiest people in the world, Finland has also taken the crown as the number one coffee-drinking nation per capita, ...

'Knife' by Salman Rushdie I was delighted to be invited to join the (English language) book club with the International Women’s Group in...

On His Deathbed by Edvard Munch The number of museums, exhibitions and cultural experiences that are available in Helsinki, and indeed...

On paper at least, there is no way the Finns should be declared as the happiest people in the world - and for the seventh year in a row....

I am lucky enough to be involved in a few wonderful writing groups. Our poetry writing group, FinyTribe (don't ask, it would need a...

Useful Tips for Descriptions and Emergencies I have been back and forth to Helsinki, the capital city of Finland, since my husband Seán...

Happy New Year to everyone, especially to my blog subscribers. By what date is it determined to be too late to offer this wish, I...

At this busy time of year, reading microfictions is a great way to get some 'literary nourishment' in short spurts. A microfiction is...

In recent months I was lucky enough to be introduced to the people and to the wonderful creative community space that is The Well in...

It's that time of year already and it's time to take a look at the Spring brochure for Adult Education in Knocklyon....

(This piece was originally published in 'InTouch' magazine, INTO , December 2013, but it is no longer available online in their archive....

(This microfiction of exactly 100 words was the Winner of the People's Prize in Retreat West in March 2022. The prompt that month was the...

The Retreat West (now WestWord) Microfiction competition is great fun! https://westword.substack.com/p/monthly-micro Early in the month a...

(Published originally in anthology A Pint and a Haircut: True Irish Stories by Londubh Books , 2010) The Liar My parents lived in two...

I'm beyond delighted to have my unpublished Novella in Flash "My Mother Didn't Want Me to Get a Tattoo" highly commended in the AAWP & Spineless Wonders Novella Prize 2024 in Australia. https://aawp.org.au/news/opportunities/ The judges' report was very encouraging. The next challenge is to find a (publishing) home for it! Highly Commended: My Mother Didn’t Want Me To Get A Tattoo – Kathryn Crowley Judges’ Report: The judges enjoyed immensely this understated, but brilliantly

I was honoured to be asked by the chairperson of the Knocklyon Literary Festival, Carolann Copland, to be the judge of the inaugaural...

The unexpected glorious weather of the past few days has raised my spirits. Then I got an email! To open it to read that my Novella in...