Irish Biography

'Those stories - even the ones that put my life in danger - had to be told. That was my job. That was what I did. It is what I...

Over forty-five years have elapsed since Derek Mahon announced his arrival at the forefront of Irish literary life with the release of Night-Crossing, but he remains an elusive figure.In the...

`In a kind of reflex action, he turned to attack me, but I had him about the waist with one arm, and caught his wrist with the other, keeping the...

Craig, the little boy who can't speak English, isn't allowed to use his real name and hides food - afraid he'll be hungry again. His parents, the Tomescus, are trying...

Sean MacBride (1904-1988) was at different times the Chief of Staff of the IRA, a top criminal lawyer, Irish Foreign Minister, and a founder of Amnesty International, of which organisation...

The key to Brown's interpretation of Yeats is magic. Yeats had a lifelong interest in magic, spiritualism and the paranormal. Brown argues with great force that it is this preoccupation...

Cry Salty Tears is the tale of a mother's survival and eventual triumph over almost unbelievable domestic hardship. Not only did Dinah O'Dowd face the harsh and unforgiving elements of...

'He planted his big arms on the bed on either side of me, and I wanted him to take control - I wanted him to be the boss...'Katie Collins went...

On a gloomy Sunday afternoon at the height of the Troubles, rookie bomb disposal officer Ray Lane was called to the Border to defuse a 1,000kg bomb planted by the...

What happens when history tries to squeeze itself into a town of ten thousand people, most of them related somewhere down the line? For Glenn Patterson's grandparents, Jack and Kate,...

In About Beckett Emeritus Professor John Fletcher has compiled a thorough and accessible volume that explains why Beckett's work is so significant and enduring. Professor Fletcher first met Beckett in...

As the eldest of The Nolan Sisters, Anne Nolan's life appeared from the outside to be one of boundless excitement and glamour - a dream come true for any young...

Exploring the complexity of identity labels through memoir with warmth, insight and signature humour, considering how we might figure out who the hell we are in a world so eager...

Martha is now in her thirties. Her daughter has left home and she is lonely and vulnerable. The hard knocks have taken their toll on her health, and as she...

When Kay O'Gorman started writing this book, every word she put down was infused with shame and guilt. How could this devoted mother, whose whole world was her family, have...

For every woman who's ever looked in the mirror and felt crap: a funny, filthy and uplifting account of one woman's quest to leave body insecurity behind.Jules Coll was a...

In this biography of W.B. Yeats (1865-1939) the author shows him through a life of tumultuous creativity through which he strove to bring new meaning to poetry, vision and politics....

'I was about 10 feet away when a soldier fired the rubber bullet that struck me on the bridge of my nose. I didn't hear the bang of the discharge....

Winner of the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography: The life of satirist Jonathan Swift, written by a master biographer and leading scholar of eighteenth-century literature"Superb. . ....

Born in Dublin in 1917 to politically active parents, Maeve Brennan's childhood in Ireland was moulded by the cultural ideologies of nationalism and lit by the creative energy of the...

At the heart of Once Upon a Hill are the author's grandparents, Jack and Kate, whose sedate old age belies the turmoil of their early life together, and apart -...

This autobiography, a sequel to Nostos, concludes the story of John Moriarty's life in Connemara during the 1980s and subsequent return to his native Kerry. He writes with compelling detail...

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...

A funny, direct, lively and moving account of growing up in small-town Ireland. Healy lovingly coaxes his childhood into being until, one day, his elderly mother hands him the coded...

June 1849: Dr William Wilde, passing a wretched hovel in Dublin's Liberties, discovers James Clarence Mangan in a state of indescribable misery and squalor. Aged just 46, the man dubbed...

John B. Keane is one of Ireland's most popular playwrights. With his plays now reaching the cinema, his work has become known to an international audience. 30 years after John...

Leaving his abusive Irish boarding school after eight long years, Patrick Touher thought his troubles were over. But the adult world was a dangerous place for a naive adolescent. From...

This book tells the true story about a girl named Deirdre, who grew up in an unhappy and dysfunctional middle class home. Deirdre was sexually abused by her father at...

For years the author of In Time's Eye was known only to his devoted followers in The Irish Times as 'Y'. In this book 'Y' reveals himself as Douglas Gageby,...

Oliver St John Gogarty was called by Yeats 'one of the great lyric poets of the age'. Asquith thought Gogarty the wittiest man in London. His brilliant conversation was said...

'Absorbing, poignant and often shocking' Irish Times'Clear-eyed and unsentimental ... a sobering and timely testament' RTE Guide'A reporter once asked me what justice would look like for me, and I...

When Deirdre Purcell turned sixty, she cheered. Never again would she have to worry about fitting into a size ten dress, and while her dream of crossing the US on...

Read the story of Joe through his own interviews and the memories and anecdotes of his family, including his brother Ben who was by his side in showbusiness for over...

Ulick O'Connor takes us into the heart of Irish life in the 70s and 80s, evoking the streets and bars of Dublin with their now legendary characters: the world of...