Sweet Oblivion

Photos by Bríd O’Donovan

Hi, I’m Aoife – I’m a journalist, writer, and author of the non-fiction book Social Capital.

I write the Sweet Oblivion newsletter on Substack.

My journalism

Since April 2023 I’ve been a freelance arts and culture journalist, after 12 years working as a reporter and then assistant news editor at TheJournal.ie. 

I write features, interview profiles, and opinion pieces and am particularly interested in: books and writers, music and musicians, people’s relationship with technology and social media, film and TV, creativity and the creative process, and Ireland’s relationship with heritage and development.

I write a weekly arts column in the Sunday Times, for its Culture magazine. I also have bylines in the Sunday Times (Culture/Home), The Journal, Irish Times (The Ticket, opinion, arts features and I’ve covered Mick Heaney’s radio column), the Irish Independent (Review, opinion), the Business Post, the Examiner, and Tatler. I’m open to new commissions and am also open to content writing commissions.

Recent interviewees include Kim Gordon, Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, Jean Butler, Cathy Sweeney, and Ardal O’Hanlon. (My recent articles are all here).

I’ve won three merit awards at the Law Society’s Justice Media Awards.

Moderating

As a moderator, I’ve chaired live interviews at events including Culture Crush, Dublin International Film Festival, International Literature Festival Dublin, Minding Creative Minds event, Yes! Festival and Dublin Book Festival amongst others.

Full details of my moderating experience, including video and audio, is here.

Tutoring/workshops

I’ve taught a new course in 2025, Start Your Newsletter, for the Irish Writers centre, and have also taught two six-week courses on Writing for an Online Audience for the Irish Writers Centre.

I’ve also run a course for Creative and Cultural Industries Skillnet, a two-day workshop for Publishing Ireland on publicity and author relationships, and a workshop on writing for an online audience at the Mountains to Sea Festival.

In July 2024, I facilitated a three-day workshop at the West Cork Literary Festival called ‘Finding Inspiration in the Everyday’.

As part of a teaching internship under the Irish Writers Centre’s Evolution programme, I taught first-year Creative Writing students weekly about elements of non-fiction.

Broadcasting

I appear every month on Today with Claire Byrne on RTÉ Radio One with director Brian Reddin to give our TV and film previews. I also appear regularly on RTÉ Arena, Today FM, and Newstalk and occasionally on Ireland AM. I featured recently in an RTÉ documentary about Sinéad O’Connor and also featured in an RTÉ documentary on the Pogues.

Other shows I have contributed to across my career include: Sean O’Rourke Show, Marian Finucane Show, Drive Time, Late Debate on RTE Radio 1; Dave Fanning Show on 2FM; Tonight With Vincent Browne on TV3, The Last Word on Today FM, On The Record with Gav Reilly on Newstalk, Newstalk Breakfast with Susan Keogh.

My book

In April 2023 I published my debut non-fiction book, Social Capital, with HarperCollins Ireland. It looks at our relationship with social media in Ireland, and how it has evolved since the early 2000s, and includes memoir and interviews.

You can find links for where to buy Social Capital here, and it’s also available to borrow in your local library and on BorrowBox (and I recorded the audiobook, if you’d prefer to listen to it).

Social Capital was nominated for an Irish Book Award in the Last Word Listeners’ Choice category.

My writing

In 2023, I was delighted to receive an Agility Award from the Arts Council for research and writing work on the early drafts of my debut novel.

I was also selected that year by the Irish Writers Centre for its Evolution programme, along with nine other emerging authors, and have received excellent supports from them as part of this.

My essays and non-fiction have been featured in Lost Together, Banshee journal, ThiWurd, several times on Sunday Miscellany (RTÉ Radio 1), and Visual Verse.

My essay ‘Magic Nights in the Lobby Bar’ is included in the anthology Sunday Miscellany: A Selection 2018 – 2023 (New Island, 2023).

Other work

State.ie (music reviews and interviews); Heineken Music (music reviews & interviews); Thumped.com (music interviews & features); Irish Independent (food, health & living features); The Kildare Nationalist; The Evening Echo; The AntiRoom.

I co-presented the culture podcast Get Around To It with my pal Lauren Murphy, an arts journalist – there are still archive episodes available, just click this link. For three years I hosted a weekly radio show called Sweet Oblivion on the digital station RTE 2XM,