Irish Non-Fiction

The Bailout Babies dives into the lives of a generation caught between Ireland’s crash and comeback. Born in the boom, they grew up in an era of good jobs, easy debt and leisurely brunches. But before they were old enough to benef…

Harry Barry's life and career has been shaped by defining events: a solitary childhood with chronic illness, a traumatic experience in school, and family tragedies that set him on a course of dedicating his life to medicine and he…

She Died Young is the literary work of an astonishing mind in which intellect, madness, art and raw honesty unite. It is as far from a ‘celebrity memoir’ as you can get. With humour, honesty and a poetic sensibility, Brenda Fricke…

Hurling is Ireland’s national game – a source of fascination and pride, even to people who have never played it. Ciarán Murphy, a lifelong club footballer, used to be one of those people. Then he spent a summer trying to play hurl…

'The Essential George Boole: Logic, Love and Legacy' is a captivating portrait of a brilliant mind and the family that shaped him. George Boole, a largely self-taught genius, as a youth mastered multiple languages and scientific d…

In The Gaeilge Guide, Mollie Guidera - Ireland's leading online Irish teacher and creator of the hit platform 'Irish with Mollie' - brings her joyful, down-to-earth approach to the page in a book guaranteed to spark your connectio…

The Irish people have a deep affinity for horses and an enduring passion for the sport they make possible. Jump racing - often regarded as the ' poor relation' of flat racing - has captured the hearts of generations across the isl…

This book features thirty-eight sites which contain collections of the finest and most interesting - and in several instances, little known - twentieth-century stained glass in Dublin city and county; the majority of the windows w…

Irish Names is a fascinating exploration of Ireland’s rich naming heritage, offering nearly nearly a thousand authentic names drawn from the annals, genealogies, mythology and historical literature of early medieval Ireland. Caref…

The GAA is more than a game. It’s a cornerstone of Irish identity – woven into parishes, families and the national psyche. But behind the passion and pride lies a question that has never really been asked.Where is the …

Leo Varadkar shares his fascinating experience as Irish prime minister at a time of much change and turbulence, in this remarkably honest memoir. Leo Varadkar was an unlikely Taoiseach – the youngest on taking office in 2017, the …

"Playing rugby at the highest level has been the focus of my life for as long as I can remember. I have enjoyed many truly amazing and humbling moments, suffered my share of struggles but also had a career I can always be proud of…

Meet the néaladóirí (cloud-watchers) and réadóirí (stargazers) from our past who, without the luxury of Met Éireann at their disposal, observed birds, trees, animals, as well as markers on land and sea for signs of weather change.…

“IT ALL STARTED WITH MY BALLS.” So begins Colm Tóibín’s fabulously compelling essay, laced with humor, about his diagnosis and treatment for cancer. Tóibín survives, but he has entered, as he says, “the age of one ball.” The secon…

Ireland has tended to think of itself as a ‘Goldilocks’ country: not too hot, not too cold, and well positioned to ride out the climate emergency. But this is a fantasy: the effects of climate change in Ireland will be profound, a…

Executed by a British firing squad on May 12, 1916, for his role in organizing the Easter Rising, James Connolly was one of the most prominent radical organizers and agitators of his day. As a labor organizer, Connolly stressed th…

We’ve Come a Long Way is the moving double memoir of Brendan and Mary, who left 1950s rural Ireland for a new life in Birmingham. From village roots in Kerry and Tipperary to love, family and football in England, their story is on…

IT ALL RESTS ON A STORY. THIS IS ONE YOU WON'T FORGET. In these pages, Dr Suzanne Crowe opens the doors to a world few ever see: the charged and fragile realm of paediatric intensive care.From her earliest days as a junior doctor…

Rosita Sweetman tells with irresistible dry humour the story of how she fled from a turbulent upbringing into a relationship that became marked by emotional abuse. Set against the backdrop of mid-20th century Ireland, her narrati…

Join zoologist Dr Fionn Ó Marcaigh on a journey across Ireland, exploring stunning landscapes and sharing heartwarming stories – each as remarkable as the seven native corvids whose intelligence has allowed them to thrive where ma…

An intimate and evocative celebration of the life and legacy of music and political icon Sinéad O’Connor, featuring writers including Neko Case, Sinéad Gleeson, Rayne Fisher-Quann, Porochista Khakpour, and more.  More than thirty …

Through the Lens of Time: The Horgan Brothers' Ireland 1890-1940 Step back in time through the extraordinary photographs of The Horgan Brothers, who captured Ireland during its transformation from British rule to an Independent Re…

A haunted record of a life devoted to the visual art of the cinema and the written word, by Ireland's greatest director and one of her finest novelists. In this vivid, moving and strange memoir, Neil Jordan – the author of classic…

Great Irish Walks and Hikes is your ultimate guide to exploring the breathtaking landscapes of Ireland on foot. This book is a treasure trove for both seasoned hikers and casual walkers, offering a curated selection of fifty trail…

Anne Marie Allen was fifteen when she was accepted onto a cookery school course that promised real qualifications and a future in the career of her dreams. Seeking a better life, she moved to the calm and peaceful countryside of t…

How far would you go for the missing?Blending private and public history, cultural analysis, family memoir, and autobiography, Clair Wills explores profound questions about memory, loss, motherhood, and emigration. She traces a hi…

Into the world of 1950s Ireland - a lushly green, windswept landscape studded with holy wells and the decaying country houses of a vanished ruling class - arrives Ithell Colquhoun. An occultist and a surrealist painter, Colquhoun'…

In The 50 Best Family Hikes in Ireland, Mairéad Furlong and Fergal McLoughlin share their experiences of climbing more than 200 of Ireland’s mountains with their child (who is currently eight years old), drawing on their expertise…

Over the last thirty years, the English Premier League has grown to become the richest and most popular league in football – and the Irish have been at the heart of its success since the very beginning. In exclusive interviews wit…

What is it like to run for election? How do public representatives deal with the cut-throat competition from their rivals – and their own running mates? What’s the Dáil bar really like? And why, given the almost constant abuse tha…