Tolka is a new biannual literary journal of non-fiction: publishing essays, reportage, travel writing, auto-fiction, individual stories and the writing that flows in between.

We are a journal for writers to express themselves beyond the limits of fixed genres, forms or subjects – mapping the fluid and chaotic ways through which language, stories and the self can be continuously rendered anew. Inspired by the innovations of recent Irish literature, where authors have sought profound ways to explore new depths of subjectivity, Tolka encourages writers to test the creative boundaries of non-fiction.

The Tolka river, from which we derive our name, comes from the Irish tolga: to overflow or to flood. We hope that Tolka can provide space for an overflow of new writing, writing that articulates various ways of living, feeling and thinking that have not yet been put into language. We seek to publish work from a wide range of backgrounds and environments, work that emphasises the luminous aesthetic of ordinary experiences, work which insists on its social and democratic importance in everyday life. 

Tolka is edited by Liam Harrison, Seán Hayes and Catherine Hearn, and proudly supported by the Arts Council.

Issue One of Tolka is currently stocked in the following bookshops:

• Books Upstairs

• Hodges Figgis

• Dubray Books Grafton Street

• Dubray Books Rathmines

• The Winding Stair

• The Library Project

• Antonia’s Bookshop

• Kenny’s Bookshop

• Banner Books

• Tertulia Bookshop

Tolka in the press

Writing Against the Current | Irish Times | 8 June 2021

The literary journals championing new Irish writing | Business Post | 14 March 2021

Why Ireland’s literary journals are brilliant stepping stones for emerging writers | Irish Independent | 11 July 2021

Tolka in conversation with the Resting Willow blog | 10 June 2021

RTÉ Arena interview with Brian Dillon and Catherine Hearn | 27 April 2021

Seeing Non-Fiction as Left Behind, the Journal ‘Tolka’ Seeks to Elevate It | Dublin Inquirer | 29 September 2021