The author of Cloud Atlas recreates the sense of wonder of his earlier works – and brings back some familiar characters – in a more intimate tale of a 13 year old boy's adventures in a quiet English village. By Nell Freudenberger

Seventeen-year-old Trevor Hamilton was the most highly supervised sex offender in the North when he murdered 65-year-old Attracta Harron. Having been released early for a brutal rape sentence, he was free to drive around illegally and select his victim. Now he faces 'one of the longest sentences ever' handed down in the North. Susan McKay reports

The IMPAC book prize was most recently contested by an Irish writer in 2003 when the sadly departed John McGahern was nominated for That They May Face the Rising Sun.

Niall O'Dowd, editor of the New York-based Irish Voice, is regarded as straight-talking, credible, tenacious and pragmatic. Since January he's been leading the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform. Profile by Marion McKeone.

For talk radio to work the talk has to be about something. Ideally something substantial, by which I don't mean ne...

Channel 4 masks a typical reality TV show as a 'social experiment', while RTÉ brings up the standard with some vintage Beckett

The frenzy about avian flu continues to gain momentum. Hours of airtime and yards of column inches are dedicated to spec...

Billy Leahy on the Kerlin exhibition of the gentle and alluring works of little known German artist Norbert Schwontkowski

 The diminution of investigative journalism as a result of reinforced privacy laws would be negligible. It is important to state this clearly in refutation of the conventional journalistic assertion that the strengthening of privacy provisions will result in wrongdoers and criminals acquiring increased immunity from detection.

Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk wants to hear about your darkest, most disgusting, most humiliating secret – so he can put it in his next novel. The cult novelist talks to William Hederman