The Print Journal
Appearing twice a year, Irish Pages is a Belfast journal combining Irish, European and international perspectives. It seeks to create a novel literary space, North and South, adequate to the unfolding cultural potential of the island’s new political dispensation.The magazine is cognisant of the need to reflect in its pages the various meshed levels of human relations: the regional (Ulster), the national (Ireland and Britain), the continental (the whole of Europe), and the global.
Since its full-scale launch in 2003, Irish Pages has established itself as the island’s premier literary journal, combining a large general readership with outstanding writing from Ireland and overseas. With a print-run now standing at 3,000, the journal is also, increasingly, read outside Ireland and Britain. Widely considered the Irish equivalent of Granta in England, or The Paris Review in the United States, it offers an unrivalled window on the literary and cultural life of these islands – and further afield.
Each issue assembles a carefully edited mix of English, Irish and Scots, prose and poetry, fiction and non-fiction, style and subject-matter, in an overall fit aimed at a wide range of reading tastes. The cover theme suggests some of the content, and emerges from the editorial process – the blend of what is selected from submissions, and what is sought or commissioned.
In addition, Irish Pages includes a number of regular features: The View from the Lagan, an editorial commenting on cultural or political issues from Ireland and overseas; From the Irish Archive, an extract of writing from a non-contemporary Irish writer, or on a non-contemporary Irish theme; In Other Words, a selection of
translated work from a particular country; and The Publishing Scene, a commissioned piece taking a critical look at some aspect of the literary world in Ireland, Britain or the United States. Each issue also contains an outstanding portfolio of colour photography from a leading photographer; an article on Belfast or Northern Ireland; work from at least one emergent or new writer; writing on the natural world; and a major essay of literary distinction on an ethical, historical, religious, social or scientific topic. There are no standard reviews or narrowly scholarly articles: the journal is most definitely not an academic publication. Irish Language and Scots writing are published in the original, usually with English translations or glosses.
Although Irish Pages is mainly a prose journal, poetry is, of course, a major component of the journal’s mix of genres. On average, about a third of contributors (10 or so poets), and about a fifth of each issue (35-40 pages) is given over to poetry, in both Irish and English, and including translations from other languages. Several issues have additionally carried a substantial essay on the poetic art by a noted practitioner.This distinct but circumscribed space for poetry reflects the view of the poet-editors that in the context of a general- readership journal such as ours, a lean selection of poetry is likely to be read more attentively within the overall mix.
The only criteria for inclusion in the journal are the distinction of the writing and the integrity of the individual voice. There are no favoured styles, themes, schools, publishers, critical hierarchies, ethnicities and so on. Equal attention will be given to established, emergent and new writers.
Appearing twice a year, Irish Pages is a Belfast journal combining Irish, European and international perspectives. It seeks to create a novel literary space, North and South, adequate to the unfolding cultural potential of the island’s new political dispensation.The magazine is cognisant of the need to reflect in its pages the various meshed levels of human relations: the regional (Ulster), the national (Ireland and Britain), the continental (the whole of Europe), and the global.
Since its full-scale launch in 2003, Irish Pages has established itself as the island’s premier literary journal, combining a large general readership with outstanding writing from Ireland and overseas. With a print-run now standing at 3,000, the journal is also, increasingly, read outside Ireland and Britain. Widely considered the Irish equivalent of Granta in England, or The Paris Review in the United States, it offers an unrivalled window on the literary and cultural life of these islands – and further afield.
Each issue assembles a carefully edited mix of English, Irish and Scots, prose and poetry, fiction and non-fiction, style and subject-matter, in an overall fit aimed at a wide range of reading tastes. The cover theme suggests some of the content, and emerges from the editorial process – the blend of what is selected from submissions, and what is sought or commissioned.
In addition, Irish Pages includes a number of regular features: The View from the Lagan, an editorial commenting on cultural or political issues from Ireland and overseas; From the Irish Archive, an extract of writing from a non-contemporary Irish writer, or on a non-contemporary Irish theme; In Other Words, a selection of translated work from a particular country; and The Publishing Scene, a commissioned piece taking a critical look at some aspect of the literary world in Ireland, Britain or the United States. Each issue also contains an outstanding portfolio of colour photography from a leading photographer; an article on Belfast or Northern Ireland; work from at least one emergent or new writer; writing on the natural world; and a major essay of literary distinction on an ethical, historical, religious, social or scientific topic. There are no standard reviews or narrowly scholarly articles: the journal is most definitely not an academic publication. Irish Language and Scots writing are published in the original, usually with English translations or glosses.
Although Irish Pages is mainly a prose journal, poetry is, of course, a major component of the journal’s mix of genres. On average, about a third of contributors (10 or so poets), and about a fifth of each issue (35-40 pages) is given over to poetry, in both Irish and English, and including translations from other languages. Several issues have additionally carried a substantial essay on the poetic art by a noted practitioner.This distinct but circumscribed space for poetry reflects the view of the poet-editors that in the context of a general- readership journal such as ours, a lean selection of poetry is likely to be read more attentively within the overall mix.
The only criteria for inclusion in the journal are the distinction of the writing and the integrity of the individual voice. There are no favoured styles, themes, schools, publishers, critical hierarchies, ethnicities and so on. Equal attention will be given to established, emergent and new writers.
Some Different Things about Irish Pages
There are, in fact, very few literary journals that avoid reviews and cognate varieties of academic criticism (although we do publish the occasional “essay-review”, or critical essay). Why attempt what the Times Literary Supplement or London Review of Books will always do better? Irish Pages represents a new paradigm focussing entirely on the reading of “primary” writing, rather than its critical or “secondary” mediation.
We wish the journal to be read widely and each issue’s careful mix of genres and styles is essential to the magazine’s appeal outside the ghetto of the literati.There is an especial commitment – uniquely for Ireland and perhaps Britain, at least in a literary journal – to nature/ecological writing as well as creative non-fiction/the essay. And although each issue will carry at least one and often two pieces of fiction, part of the thinking behind this mix is to provide an antidote or an alternative to the enormous critical and commercial attention that is given to the various genres of fiction, at the expense clearly of other genres, whose historical/ethical/social value is surely no less.
Writing in Irish (and Scots Gaelic on occasion) is integral to the editorial mix. To date we have published poetry, drama and fiction
in Irish; we have also published first translations as Gaeilge of a clutch of important essays by major Irish-language writers.We attempt to place the two languages in seamless juxtaposition, to suggest their parity in any definition of the “Irish” in Irish Pages. Outside the Irish language world per se, the publishing of Irish-language writing in journals is often tinged with tokenism; we pursue a much more active bilingualism.
One wider background aim is to give the journal a distinctly dissident edge, to inhabit “the space outside” the Pale of the Received – business-as-usual in all its (especiallyWestern) forms: literary, intellectual, cultural, social, political. Thus, the journal has a particular (though hardly exclusive) commitment to work informed by “the ethical imagination”. We believe that there is a huge thirst for this kind of writing – writing of “high artistic consciousness”, but in the thick of the world and its dilemmas – and that it is immensely important for our increasingly complex global life. You might call it the literary equivalent of an NGO audience: all those readers for whom ethical issues count.
The Editors
There are, in fact, very few literary journals that avoid reviews and cognate varieties of academic criticism (although we do publish the occasional “essay-review”, or critical essay). Why attempt what the Times Literary Supplement or London Review of Books will always do better? Irish Pages represents a new paradigm focussing entirely on the reading of “primary” writing, rather than its critical or “secondary” mediation.
We wish the journal to be read widely and each issue’s careful mix of genres and styles is essential to the magazine’s appeal outside the ghetto of the literati.There is an especial commitment – uniquely for Ireland and perhaps Britain, at least in a literary journal – to nature/ecological writing as well as creative non-fiction/the essay. And although each issue will carry at least one and often two pieces of fiction, part of the thinking behind this mix is to provide an antidote or an alternative to the enormous critical and commercial attention that is given to the various genres of fiction, at the expense clearly of other genres, whose historical/ethical/social value is surely no less.
Writing in Irish (and Scots Gaelic on occasion) is integral to the editorial mix. To date we have published poetry, drama and fiction in Irish; we have also published first translations as Gaeilge of a clutch of important essays by major Irish-language writers.We attempt to place the two languages in seamless juxtaposition, to suggest their parity in any definition of the “Irish” in Irish Pages. Outside the Irish language world per se, the publishing of Irish-language writing in journals is often tinged with tokenism; we pursue a much more active bilingualism.
One wider background aim is to give the journal a distinctly dissident edge, to inhabit “the space outside” the Pale of the Received – business-as-usual in all its (especiallyWestern) forms: literary, intellectual, cultural, social, political. Thus, the journal has a particular (though hardly exclusive) commitment to work informed by “the ethical imagination”. We believe that there is a huge thirst for this kind of writing – writing of “high artistic consciousness”, but in the thick of the world and its dilemmas – and that it is immensely important for our increasingly complex global life. You might call it the literary equivalent of an NGO audience: all those readers for whom ethical issues count.
The Editors
Ampersand: Irish Pages Online
The New Online Supplement from Irish Pages
Ampersand: Irish Pages Online contains twelve sections under which texts of a certain nature, tone or theme are grouped – for example, “Twenty Something & Beyond” and “The Citadel & Its Discontents.” This broadly correlates to the journal, each of whose issues has its own theme.
As with the journal and the press, Ampersand: Irish Pages Online is distinguished by two essential and necessary characteristics, in an age of media noise and publishing hyperbole: literary content of exceptional quality, and individual voices of integrity and independence.
Ampersand is for content only, designed by our Editorial Assistant Mary Cousins last year, with the particular aim over time of attracting younger writers both to the journal and back to print generally. Overall, there will be a consistently ecological worldview that is explored, promoted and defended.
New Ampersand pieces will be added regularly, perhaps bi-monthly, in due course; some will also go into the printed journal and others will come from it; and the site will have a definitely youthful, radical, “ethical imagination” edge á la Hubert Butler.
The twelve slots can be found under “Ampersand Matters” on the menu at ampersand.press
VISIT THE SITE AND READ NOW:
- Katheen Jamie ON “THE WILD LIFE OF SCOTS”
- Gerry Cambridge ON “THE IDENTITARIAN DELUSION”
- Chris Agee’s “SUNDIAL AND HOURGLASS”
- AN EXTRACT FROM THE CROATIAN CARTOON BOOK The Two of Them
- “SMASHING THE MIRROR” by Ciarán O’Rourke
- Niamh Morritt ON “MILLENNIAL GUILT”
- Sacha Baron Cohen TAKES AIM AT “THE SILICON SIX”
- “VARIETIES OF ISLAM” by Jacob Agee
- “THE IRISH PROBLEM” dissected by Gabriel Rosenstock
- Malachi O’Doherty ON THE GANGES RIVER
Ampersand: Irish Pages Online contains twelve sections under which texts of a certain nature, tone or theme are grouped – for example, “Twenty Something & Beyond” and “The Citadel & Its Discontents.” This broadly correlates to the journal, each of whose issues has its own theme.
As with the journal and the press, Ampersand: Irish Pages Online is distinguished by two essential and necessary characteristics, in an age of media noise and publishing hyperbole: literary content of exceptional quality, and individual voices of integrity and independence.
Ampersand is for content only, designed by our Editorial Assistant Mary Cousins last year, with the particular aim over time of attracting younger writers both to the journal and back to print generally. Overall, there will be a consistently ecological worldview that is explored, promoted and defended.
New Ampersand pieces will be added regularly, perhaps bi-monthly, in due course; some will also go into the printed journal and others will come from it; and the site will have a definitely youthful, radical, “ethical imagination” edge á la Hubert Butler.
The twelve slots can be found under “Ampersand Matters” on the menu at ampersand.press
VISIT THE SITE AND READ NOW:
- Katheen Jamie ON “THE WILD LIFE OF SCOTS”
- Gerry Cambridge ON “THE IDENTITARIAN DELUSION”
- Chris Agee’s “SUNDIAL AND HOURGLASS”
- AN EXTRACT FROM THE CROATIAN CARTOON BOOK The Two of Them
- “SMASHING THE MIRROR” by Ciarán O’Rourke
- Niamh Morritt ON “MILLENNIAL GUILT”
- Sacha Baron Cohen TAKES AIM AT “THE SILICON SIX”
- “VARIETIES OF ISLAM” by Jacob Agee
- “THE IRISH PROBLEM” dissected by Gabriel Rosenstock
- Malachi O’Doherty ON THE GANGES RIVER
Friends of Irish Pages
Friends of Irish Pages is a generous group of readers, writers, business organizations and foundations whose financial contributions help advance the work of Irish Pages: A Journal of Contemporary Writing. The journal gratefully acknowledges this financial assistance on one dedicated page of every issue.
In this difficult economic climate, not only the book trade, but the culture of classic print itself, is under pressure as never before. The continuing support of the Friends of Irish Pages is essential to the vitality and independence of Ireland’s premier literary journal.
With the largest print run of any Irish literary periodical, Irish Pages represents – uniquely for the island – the intersection of a large general readership with outstanding writing from Ireland and overseas. Each issue assembles a carefully edited mix of English and Irish, prose and poetry, fiction and non-fiction, style and subject matter, in an overall fit aimed at a wide range of
reading tastes. For the Irish resident, no less than the Irish expatriate or the overseas reader, Irish Pages offers an unrivalled biannual window on the literary and cultural life of these islands – and further afield.
I would like to become a Friend of Irish Pages with a contribution of £250/€300/$400 or more.
I wish to become a Supporter of Irish Pages with a contribution of my own choice.
To donate online for either option, please click the button below:
Or if you prefer to send a cheque please download our donation form.
Friends of Irish Pages is a generous group of readers, writers, business organizations and foundations whose financial contributions help advance the work of Irish Pages: A Journal of Contemporary Writing. The journal gratefully acknowledges this financial assistance on one dedicated page of every issue.
In this difficult economic climate, not only the book trade, but the culture of classic print itself, is under pressure as never before. The continuing support of the Friends of Irish Pages is essential to the vitality and independence of Ireland’s premier literary journal.
With the largest print run of any Irish literary periodical, Irish Pages represents – uniquely for the island – the intersection of a large general readership with outstanding writing from Ireland and overseas. Each issue assembles a carefully edited mix of English and Irish, prose and poetry, fiction and non-fiction, style and subject matter, in an overall fit aimed at a wide range of reading tastes. For the Irish resident, no less than the Irish expatriate or the overseas reader, Irish Pages offers an unrivalled biannual window on the literary and cultural life of these islands – and further afield.
I would like to become a Friend of Irish Pages with a contribution of £250/€300/$400 or more.
I wish to become a Supporter of Irish Pages with a contribution of my own choice.
To donate online for either option, please click the button below:
Or if you prefer to send a cheque please download our donation form.