Irish Non-Fiction

We Irish have enriched the English language with a slew of snazzy gems. Did you know we’re the ones behind quarks, electrons and vectors, Sudocrem and Wellington boots? No surprise that we invented begrudgery, but croquet and Wund…

Did you know that bees have been around for over 100 million years? Or that the Brehon Laws included judgments about the rightful ownership of swarms? And why Irish beekeepers plant bluebells around their hives? From the perfectio…

Patsy Peril was born in 1943 in Coonagh, a small fishing community on the Shannon, not far from Limerick. His family fished from a traditional gandelow boat, using hemp nets. Further upriver was Ardnacrusha, the enormous hydro-ele…

In this wonderful selection, spanning fifty years of Seamus Heaney's correspondence, we are given access as never before to the life and poetic development of a literary titan - from his early days in Belfast, through his controve…

Jesuit priest and amateur photographer, Fr Francis Browne is renowned for his images of the Titanic. However, much less well-known are the pictures that Fr Browne took of Irish country houses over a decade from 1946 onward. At the…

In fact, two places called home …For over sixty years, Alice Taylor has lived in the village of Innishannon, the gateway to West Cork. But her childhood was spent on a farm in North Cork, near the Kerry border, and her memories of…

To mark his 70th birthday Michael Harding travelled to Spain and walked the Camino de Santiago.Yet, as he set off on his pilgrimage, he found he wasn't alone. Accompanying him on his 126-kilometre walk in the heat of the Spanish s…

Pulse of the Nation is a celebration of the GAA's 140 years at the centre of Irish life, from its foundation in November 1884 to the present-day institution that has expanded massively at home and abroad. It zones in on the greate…

Bernard Phelan was working for an Iranian tour operator when he was arrested on false charges of spying on 3rd October 2022, becoming a political hostage. He shared "Satan's block" in Mashhad prison with political prisoners and dr…

A unique presentation of Irish country house interiors, combining well-preserved historic estates with adventurous contemporary restorations, celebrating some of the most characterful houses in Ireland. Forgoing the criteria of st…

Magical images of Ireland's temperate rainforests meet with powerful nature writing on an astonishing journey into the wild, from the award-winning author of An Irish Atlantic Rainforest. In 2023, environmentalist and rewilder Eo…

This book identifies a representative selection of compelling and intriguing artworks by a range of around one hundred of the most challenging and vibrant artists from, or working in, Ireland or whose work addresses Irish landscap…

Loinnir: The sunlight sparkling on the waves, or the merriness you feel after early pints of stout in the morning.  When you speak in Irish, every word is a tiny poem that reveals a new perspective. The Irish language is our inher…

In the sequel to Seamus O’Rourke’s popular first memoir, Standing in Gaps, this innocent Leitrim lad finally flees the nest, briefly sampling life in New York, Dublin and London – before inevitably returning to his beloved, duller…

The Great Famine in Ireland is still a current and emotive subject which draws readers from all spheres. This book tells a story not merely unique to Cork, but of interest to the national population. Famine in Cork City explores t…

GBS was the first great brand – discover how he created this most modern of concepts. The fourth book in the Royal Irish Academy’s award-winning ‘Judging’ series looks at the legacy of George Bernard Shaw, Nobel prizewinner for li…

From the acclaimed, controversial singer-songwriter Sinead O'Connor comes a revelatory memoir of her fraught childhood, musical triumphs, struggles with illness, and of the enduring power of song.Blessed with a singular voice and …

The hilarious guide to the countryside you never knew you needed, from up-and-coming TikTok-and Instagram-hit comedian Killian Sundermann. Welcome to the countryside! A place of rolling hills, winding rivers and natural beauty. Or…

'Arriving in West Cork to cover the murder of Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier, our man on the ground was local journalist Ian Bailey. His level of insight into the killing was extraordinary...'So began the journey of journal…

On Skellig Michael, thousands of birds appear and disappear, erecting towers, coming together in wings of movement which build and unravel over the empty sea.Often, no one else is there to stand beside me on the island. The mind w…

Martin Doyle, Books Editor of The Irish Times, offers a personal, intimate history of the Troubles seen through the microcosm of a single rural parish, his own, part of both the Linen Triangle – heartland of the North’s defining i…

Rough Beast is Máiría Cahill's harrowing story of her life and of what she went through at the hands of what is now Ireland’s largest and richest party. That story is told here for the first time in full detail and with unsparing …

An original and fascinating history of Dublin that tells the story of the city through its bridges. Dublin started life on the south bank of the River Liffey and for six or seven centuries that is more or less where the town staye…

The incomparable George Hamilton returns with a superb offering of travails and anecdotes spanning his five decades on our airwaves and on our screens, always at the heart of Irish culture. Picking up where his first offering, The…

From Robert Sheehan, star of Misfits and The Umbrella Academy, and host of hit podcast The Earth Locker, comes a heartfelt journey to inner peace. In Playing Dead, Robert Sheehan shares intimate reflections on his search for purpo…

At her death in 2020, Eavan Boland left a formidable body of work – poems and prose. Together they transformed Irish poetry and had a considerable influence throughout the English-speaking world. She was also a major essayist, who…

How do you feel about embracing Ireland's native tongue? At odds after a tricky relationship at school? Maybe you've given up, or don't know where to start? Well, is fada an bóthar nach mbíonn casadh ann - long is th…

Liam O'Callaghan's revelatory Blood and Thunder shows that the rise of Irish rugby is inextricable from the tensions, debates and divisions – of politics, religion and class – that have defined modern Irish history. Despite the po…

If the past is another country – what happens when we revisit it, one day a year?Carlo Gébler has done just that. Here is the story of Ireland – from the tail end of the Troubles to the Good Friday agreement, to the glory days of …

For the first time ever, OUT OF SIGHT! explores the rich history of sport and leisure as experienced by Ireland’s blind and vision impaired athletes, their families, friends, and coaches, as recounted in interviews with Joe Geragh…