Irish Interest Books

The first recorded game of ladies’ Gaelic football was played in St James’ Park, Dublin, in 1920. Players competed in ankle-length skirts, watched by a sizeable crowd. But the game was not authorised by the GAA and, in the decades…

By 1588, relations between the superpower of the time, Catholic Spain and the relatively small Protestant England had deteriorated to a new low. Philip II had decided that the best way to deal with English piracy and its support f…

The Cork Folk Festival has played an integral part in the history of Cork music since 1979. Over a period of 45 years it has presented an annual festival which encourages musicians, enchants audiences and contributes to the cultur…

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? Maybeyou've given up, or don't know where to start?Well, is fada an bóthar nach mbíonn casadh ann - long is the road that has …

Is Cailín beag í Rita le smaointe Móra. Nuair a éiríonn sí crosta, samhlaíonn sí go bhfuil dragún fíochmhar feargach aici a chuirfeadh an domhan ar crith.Ach is Féidir tine the na feirge a cheansú, agus tá a fhios ag Rita cén dóig…

Insíonn Susan óg an scéal fíorspéisiúil tochtmhar seo faoin samhradh nuair a bhí sí ocht mbliana d’aois, agus nuair ba bheag nár bádh a deartháir Bruno san fharraige. D’éirigh léi snámh ar ais chuig an trá leis, áit ar éirigh sé a…

Nan lives alone at No. 14 Bóthar na gCastán.  Builders are coming to work on the empty house next door and Nan has her own opinion of all of them.  According to Nan’s three grown-up children she won’t have a moment’s peace.  But w…

In June 1940, the fall of France prompted General Charles de Gaulle to make an impassioned rallying call to his fellow citizens to fight back against the Germans. His famous radio speech, broadcast from the BBC in London, was late…

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 …

Tom Ryan was arrested at his home, near Thomastown, on the night of 5 February 1921. He was held initially in Kilkenny before he was transferred to Kilworth 'rest camp' near Fermoy in mid-March and, on 17 May, to Spike Island inte…

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…

Country houses may be triumphs of architecture, fine and decorative art, and landscape design, but they are also about the history and transmission of ideas. In varying degrees their occupants thought, conversed, read, and respond…

A highly illustrated and portable identification guide to the most common wild flowers and other plants. This innovative photographic guide covers the most common wild flowers and other plants found in Britain and Ireland, as defi…

From the first prehistoric inhabitants of the island to the Windsor Framework for Northern Ireland, this uniquely concise account of Ireland and its people reveals how modern Irish society is the product of a rich, multivalent his…

After being expelled from school for playing football for his country, fifteen-year-old Liam Brady travelled to London to join Arsenal, and soon became an indispensable part of their glorious 1970s team. Rightly considered one of …

First published by David Myler (Mealagh Valley Community Development Association) in 1998, ‘An Archaeological Survey of the Mealagh Valley’ highlights many sites of historical and archaeological interest in the Mealagh Valley, nor…

John Moriarty was an original, a thinker, a poet, a mythologian. He was born and reared just outside the little village of Moyvane in north Kerry. Growing up on his parent’s farm he was attuned to the rhythms of weather and soil f…

Bannister is back! The author of the bestselling Proverbs in Irish and What’s That as Gaeilge? returns with another indispensable guide to the Irish language. This comprehensive compendium includes a thematic index and lists of sy…

Dr Tony Holohan served as Chief Medical Officer in Ireland for 14 years, but only really became known to the public during the Covid 19 pandemic. During this time his remarkable leadership skills came to the fore and he became the…

This highly anticipated sequel charts the contributions of Irish doctors in the Second World War, a conflict that demonstrated to the world that the pace of military warfare had changed forever. Advancements in medical care during…

Ireland's rich literary history has within it a vein of potent fantastic fiction, drawing upon a deep folkloric tradition brimming with tales of the aos si (the people of the fairy mounds), the Otherworld and timeless deities. Wri…

In this meticulously researched biography, the life of Judith Isobel Chavasse (1867-1935)  unfolds through her memoirs and a remarkably preserved collection of diaries. From herspirited childhood and early adulthood in New Court, …

The disquieting story of an unidentified man as told by those who crossed paths with him on the last day of his life, Sheila Armstrong’s debut novel is haunting, lyrical and darkly suspenseful. On an isolated, windswept beach, a p…

Dublin is the only city in the world to produce three Nobel Prize winners for literature. An indication that something remarkable was taking place, not only in the capital but in the whole country, came in the extraordinary conflu…

Pictorial map illustrating almost 200 medieval coats of arms of Ireland's principal families.A map of Ireland showing the locations of the lands occupied by each family between the 14th and 17th centuries, following the Norman inv…

This comprehensive directory lists historic locations in Dublin on a street-by-street basis, describing events during the tumultuous decade from the 1913 Dublin Lockout, through the 1916 Easter Rising and Irish War of Independence…

This landmark work contains a remarkable selection of 560 of the thousands of songs and poems created during, and reflecting upon, the most extraordinary decade of Ireland's history. This opened with the Dublin Lockout of 1913 and…