Irish Biography

The past they tried to hide.His mother died from cancer in 1955. His father committed suicide shortly thereafter. Paddy Doyle was sentenced in an Irish district court to be detained...

'The first time Shocks saw Amber coming, he lowered his head so she could wrap her arms around his nose. It was as if they understood each other's pain. Like...

The BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Edna O'Brien's The Country Girls trilogy begins in August 2019.I thought of life's many bounties, to have known the extremities of joy and sorrow,...

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,...

'This is a book about the comfort and sustenance that can be got from gardening and from the earth, about the wonderful pleasures and fulfilment that I get from my...

This book charts the career of a man who has always been respected for his compassion, quirky way of thinking and fearless opposition to orthodox psychiatry. More importantly, he tells...

In this long-awaited bioraphy, Wilde the legendary Victorian - brilliant writer and conversationalist, reckless flouter of social and sexual conventions - is brought to life. More astute and forbearing, yet...

Hugely entertaining and refreshingly honest, So Me is the memoir everybody has been waiting for. Graham Norton, whose impish charm and quick wit has earned him a place in our...

Much of Mark Mehigan's twenties read like a 'how-to' manual: How to get very drunk without raising people's suspicions you might be an alcoholic. Although outwardly successful, nearing 30 he...

In this book of consideration and appreciation, best-selling author and broadcaster Mary Kennedy takes stock of her life and those things most important in it. She considers what makes us...

Born in Cloughjordan in Co. Tipperary, MacDonagh was a poet and playwright, an educator and political activist. Appointed to the IRB Military Council he became a member of the Provisional...

"Dignity was our most valuable possession". Joe Duffy is a household name in Ireland. As the presenter of RTE Radio One's "Liveline" programme, he takes the pulse of the Irish...

Not another memoir of childhood? Well, yes actually. Not another regressive desire to capture a golden weren't-we-poor-but-happy age? Well, no. Nor a pursuit of misery and repression either. This is...

Brian Keenan went to Beirut in 1985 for a change of scene from his native Belfast. He became headline news when he was kidnapped by fundamentalist Shi'ite militiamen and held...

Originally from west Kerry, Thomas Ashe was a schoolteacher in north County Dublin and a founding member of the Irish Volunteers. During the 1916 Rising he commanded the Fingal Battalion...

This is the story of John McGahern's childhood; of his mother's death, his father's anger and bafflement, and his own discovery of literature and his ambition to become a writer....

One day, years after he's moved away from his childhood home in rural Ireland, Dermot Healy returns to care for his ailing mother. Out of the blue she hands him...

Written in an engrossing novelesque style, yet with nothing fictional included, the book recounts, with engaging honesty, the arc of one human journey in a Belfast-based therapy from 1988-1997. To...

LONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR NATURE WRITINGA WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF 2023: NATURE AND TRAVELWhen Kerri and her partner M moved to a small, remote railway cottage in the...

A true story of abuse. Three sisters. A shattered Irish childhood.Joyce, June and Paula Kavanagh were three sisters born to a family of ten in Ballyfermot, Dublin in the 1960s....

'This story is the result of long hours of delving into the pasts of my nanny and my ma. I hope it will give some insight into the experiences of...

For most of her life, Stefanie Preissner was a people-pleaser. From hair-raising sleepovers and endless offers of cake to unwanted second dates and unrealistic work demands, she said yes to...

From the award-winning, number one bestselling author of The Cow Book.It is summer, the hay and silage have not yet been made on John Connell's farm, so he has time...

'It's always a bad idea to go online and book a flight when you've had too much wine. You never know where you might end up.'This was how Michael Harding...

In Running from the Shadows Stephanie Hickey tells, in her own words, how she survived abuse at the hands of a trusted family member and of how running, a simple...

In this reflective and enriching memoir, John Tuomey navigates the places and memories of his life over the scope of twenty-five years. First recognised for the urban regeneration of Dublin's...

'Magnificent.' Irish Times'Much to savour.' The Times'An event in Irish culture.' TLSThe collected letters of John McGahern, 'one of the greatest writers of our era' (Hilary Mantel) and 'the most...

Jason Byrne is 17. With his leaving cert under his belt but no idea what to do next, who better to ask for advice than his dad, Paddy? There's a...

This is the story of John McGahern's childhood, his mother's death, his father's anger and violence, and how, through his discovery of books, his dream of becoming a writer began.At...

It was love at first taste for fifteen-year-old Tadhg Hickey when he drank a can of Scrumpy Jack on the night of his exam results. Straight away it provided a...

The Crocodile by the Door by Selina Guinness - shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award - is a remarkable, compelling and moving memoir of a farm, a family and a...

'A really vivacious account of frayed family relationships across decades and around the world' Financial Times PodcastQuick-witted, charismatic and generous; angry, vicious and hurt; in pubs all over Cork City,...

'Incredibly moving' --Anne Enright, winner of the Man Booker PrizeAn Affair with My Mother by Caitriona Palmer: a moving and gripping story of love, denial and a daughter's quest for...

Stories to inspire.Stories to connect.Extraordinary moments in which women's lives changed forever.Exhilarating, heartbreaking and ultimately inspiring, The Day That Changed My Life is a remarkable collection of stories of Ireland's...

Postman Larry Griffin vanishes during his rounds in Stradbally on Christmas Day 1929. The only clue to what happened was an abandoned bicycle on a deserted country road. The story...

Born a bastard to a teenage mother in the slums of 1950s Dublin, Martha has to be a fighter from the very start.As her mother moves from man to man,...

This timely memoir by one of the most prominent Catholic nationalist politicians in Northern Ireland is a primary source for the social and political history of the province, from the...

In the 1970s Alice Leahy left nursing to work and live in a Dublin homeless shelter. This is the story of her life and life choices, from an empowering childhood,...