Kieran Beville

  Donal Ryan Wins Orwell Prize for Political Fiction The Quiet Genius of Irish Literature By Kieran Beville Donal Ryan, the acclaimed Irish novelist and University of Limerick lecturer, has been awarded the 2025 Orwell Prize for Political Fiction for his novel Heart, Be at Peace . The award ceremony, held yesterday in London, also honoured Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina posthumously with the Orwell Prize for Political Writing, recognising her courageous reportage before her tragic death in 2023. Ryan’s novel was celebrated for its profound empathy, moral insight, and vivid portrayal of rural Ireland navigating economic and social challenges, marking it as this year’s standout work of political fiction. It is a work that judges praised for its emotional clarity, moral vision, and enduring political resonance. Though it is a stand-alone novel (one does not need to be familiar with his previous novel The Spinning Heart ) it is a work which revisits characters from that 2...

  Blind Faith & Blind Politics How American Evangelicals Chose Power Over Principle in Israel-Palestine By Kieran Beville   In the long, anguished history of the Holy Land, few forces have proved as corrosive to the hope of peace as the unwavering, often unthinking support of American evangelicals for the state of Israel. While millions speak of “standing with Israel” as if it were a pure act of faith, this solidarity too often reveals itself as political idolatry — a devotion not to justice, peace, or the teachings of Christ, but to an eschatological script and a culture war mentality that demands enemies. This is not a new story, but it is a story that grows darker each year. Decade after decade, the evangelical community’s zeal has hardened into a moral blindness, where the pursuit of biblical prophecy and right-wing geopolitics override the cries of the oppressed and the inconvenient demands of truth. As bombs fall, walls rise, and young Palestinians see thei...

  Israel’s Devastation of Gaza The Inescapable Verdict of Genocide and War Crimes By Kieran Beville   For more than a year now, the Gaza Strip has borne the brunt of an unrelenting military assault that has devastated its people and infrastructure beyond measure. Reports from Gaza’s Ministry of Health and international humanitarian agencies reveal a staggering death toll exceeding 70,000 Palestinians. Tens of thousands more lie injured, many with permanent disabilities. Amid this catastrophic loss of life, over two million people remain trapped in a strip of land crippled by an ironclad blockade that denies them basic necessities such as food, clean water, medicine, and electricity. Entire neighbourhoods lie in ruins, hospitals and clinics have been bombed repeatedly or are barely functioning due to lack of fuel and electricity, and countless families have been wiped out in their homes. Yet, this human tragedy is far more than the collateral damage of war. Legal ex...