Tolka is a biannual literary journal of non-fiction: publishing essays, reportage, travel writing, auto-fiction, individual stories and more.
We are interested in work that is formally promiscuous and does not always fall into neat categories, encouraging writers to test the creative boundaries of non-fiction. We have published some of the most innovative contemporary writers, including Eimear McBride, Brian Dillon, Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, Roisin Kiberd, and Niamh Campbell. We also strongly promote new writers and new writing, and we publish writers from around the globe.
We are primarily a print journal, with some pieces published online.
Tolka is edited by Liam Harrison and Catherine Hearn. Our contributing editors are Madeline Arkins, Chloé Duane, Tara McEvoy, Martin Schauss and Caoimhe White. In 2026 our translator-in-residence is Polly Barton.
Tolka is designed by Sarah McCoy, and proudly supported by the Arts Council.
Tolka was founded in 2021 by Liam Harrison, Catherine Hearn and Seán Hayes.
Stockists
Tolka is stocked in the following bookshops. Should you wish to stock Tolka, please get in touch.
- Books Upstairs, Dublin
- Hodges Figgis, Dublin
- Dubray Books, Grafton Street and Rathmines
- The Winding Stair, Dublin
- The Library Project, Dublin
- Chapters, Dublin
- Lilliput Press, Dublin
- MoLI
- Tertulia Books, Mayo
- Kenny’s Bookshop, Galway
- Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop, Galway
- Raven Books, Blackrock
- Marrowbone Books, Dublin
- No Alibis, Belfast
- The Small City Bookshop, Bristol
- Gloucester Road Books, Bristol
- Rova Editions, Bristol
- Arnolfini Bookshop, Bristol
- Bookhaus, Bristol
- Heron Books, Bristol
- East Bristol Books, Bristol
- Storysmith, Bristol
- Magalleria, Bath
- Mag Culture, London
- Libreria, London
- London Review Bookshop, London
- Burley Fisher Books, London
- The Bookseller Crow, London
- Brick Lane Bookshop
- October Books, Southampton
In the press
RTÉ Arena interview with Wendy Erskine and John Patrick McHugh | 26 November 2025
A deep dive into Irish literary magazines | The Irish Times | 14 December 2024
‘We all read like hell!’ How Ireland became the world’s literary powerhouse | The Guardian | 20 August 2024
Promiscuous Prose | The Times Literary Supplement | 8 December 2023
What We’ve Been Reading Podcast | 30 January 2023
Surprises, collisions and juxtapositions in Ireland’s thriving literary magazine scene | The Irish Times | 17 December 2022
The Parish, The Universe: Patrick Kavanagh and the World of the Literary Magazine | Museum of Literature Ireland | 2 December 2022
RTÉ Arena interview with Max Porter and Eimear McBride | 24 November 2022
A Conversation about Irish Literature | The London Magazine | 17 August 2022
Seeing Non-Fiction as Left Behind, the Journal ‘Tolka’ Seeks to Elevate It | Dublin Inquirer | 29 September 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
Writing Against the Current | The Irish Times | 8 June 2021
RTÉ Arena interview with Brian Dillon and Catherine Hearn | 27 April 2021
The literary journals championing new Irish writing | Business Post | 14 March 2021