Like many before him and after him, Charles Lever qualified as a medical doctor in early life but later forsook medicine for writing. His lively devil-may-care stories enthralled the public and in his day his novels were as popular as those of his friend Charles Dickens. Charles was born in Dublin on 31 August 1806. [...]

Introduced by Maeve Binchy, LifeStory is a unique book which has been created to enable Irish families, couples and individuals to begin the process of compiling and writing their own life histories. It was launched by television and radio presenters Miriam O’Callaghan and Eamon Dunphy. Edited by journalist John Waters, the book is divided into [...]

Literature deepens our understanding of birth, life and death, but they are also components of our existence touched upon every day in the engagement of medicine. Medicine and literature weave inextricably together in the work of body, mind and soul. Many writer-doctors have successfully bridged the worlds of literature and medicine. Some noteworthy writer-doctors include: [...]

Before I ever had a child, patients used to ask my advice about their children. About parenting. About why baby Chloe would never go to sleep in her cot and spent the night kicking her mom and dad in the neck. About why little Jimmy would not poo in the loo at the ancient age [...]

Oliver Goldsmith ambled through much of his life without achieving any great success until he started writing. Then everything changed for him. He became famous but in many ways remained the irresponsible person he was during his childhood. Oliver was born while his father was an Anglican curate in the parish of Forgney, near Ballymahon [...]