Irish Biography

People have been enchanted by elephants for centuries: they have inspired parables, films, songs, religions and wars. For Gerry Creighton, this fascination came at an early age. His father was...

'Money is handy for doing messages' was a phrase the young Tommie Gorman heard from his father, growing up in Sligo in the 1960s. Struggle was never far away but...

The Tailor and Ansty was banned soon after its first publication in 1942 and became the subject of much bitter controversy. It has become a modern Irish classic, promising to...

The head of the Guinness family tells the true story of how his ancestors created the largest brewery in the world.In this narrative non-fiction book, Arthur Edward Guinness, the 4th...

Leo Varadkar shares his fascinating experience as Irish prime minister ata time of much change and turbulence, in this remarkably honestmemoir.Leo Varadkar was an unlikely Taoiseach – the youngest on...

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...

"Sweeney's prose is on fire. A blistering book that readers will relish enormously." MICHAEL HARDING"A cracking read ... a championship season as redemption song." MICHAEL CLIFFORD"All the tension of a...

Between 2016 and his retirement in 2022, Assistant Garda Commissioner John O'Driscoll was the public face of Garda operations targeting organised crime. This put him at the centre of a...

Winnie and George tells the true and previously untold story of two individuals who lived remarkable lives, both before and after they crossed paths. Enhanced with dramatised dialogue, it is...

'We asked listeners to be honest, creative, funny, engaging and evocative in their writing ... to try to make us laugh, cry and think. We never imagined we would get...

Marian Finucane was a trailblazing broadcaster, the first to champion women's issues on air, and respected for her fairness, empathy and doggedness. One of a small group of Irish people...

Pat Spillane is one of the best-known sportspeople in Ireland. Selected for the GAA's Team of the Millennium and winner of eight All-Ireland senior football medals, he is one of...

"Phil doesn't like physical affection. She doesn't love you because you don't exist. She doesn't care if you have something important coming up. A busy week, a daunting appointment, a...

For once, these men are the objects; I am the subject. Me, me, me.Rosemary Mac Cabe was always a serial monogamist - never happier than when she was in a...

From humble beginnings in Romania, Josef Cretzan went on to become one of the most accomplished glass blowers of the 20th century. For 37 years his knowledge and skills were...

The youngest of seven children from a renowned Portumna hurling family, Joe Canning was regarded as a prodigy from the moment he stepped onto the pitch as a boy. Could...

A powerful, probing book about PTSD. As a journalist Keane has covered conflict and brutality across the world for more than thirty years, from Rwanda, Sudan, South Africa, Somalia, Iraq,...

In his book, Niall Breslin speaks openly about living with depression and anxiety, and his crippling journey to finally acknowledging 'Jeffrey' - the name he chose for it - years...

'Vivid and compelling and so moving... Kit's depiction of her parents' dynamic is both painful and comforting to read' Marian Keyes*Soon to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4*From the award-winning...

'In these strange days Michael Harding's route taking and wise words gently nudge us towards the future, steadying us as we navigate the great unknowns ahead' Joe Duffy The bestselling...

'Searingly honest, funny, self-deprecating, Harding's narrative seems to rest on the pulse of Ireland' Irish TimesOne day in the summer of 2016, Michael Harding's wife brought an unusual gift home...

Mary Lou McDonald is the bookies' favourite to be Ireland's next Taoiseach. She would be the first woman to reach the office, and the first Sinn Fein leader ever to...

'What happens when we die?' is the question answered by award-winning journalist Colm Keane in his sensational book Going Home, which contains the most comprehensive descriptions ever provided by Irish...

You could say that Frank McNally is a travel writer - he writes while the world travels by!For almost twenty years, Frank's name has occupied the byline of the ever-present...

For almost forty years, Paul Williams has chronicled the life and crimes of some of Ireland''s most notorious godfathers, killers and thieves. In Crooks he brings his readers for a...

'Mary Kennedy's new book is part memoir, part spiritual guide, part self-help book. It's like the gift of a Christmas visit from a friend' RTE GuideA sense of home, and...

'A delightful evocation of Irishness and of the author's deep-rooted love of the very fields of home' Publishers WeeklyAlice Taylor's classic account of growing up in the Irish countryside, the...

'Harding writes like an angel' Sunday TimesTalking to Strangers, from the No.1 bestselling author of Staring at Lakes, Hanging with the Elephant and On Tuesdays I'm a Buddhist is 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...

'Sublime' - Donal Ryan, author of Strange Flowers'A book about the raw, riotous, brutally beautiful act of being alive.' - Kerri ni Dochartaigh, author of Thin PlacesAlice Kinsella was in...

'Fascinating . . . O'Driscoll's research is impressive' Ben Macintyre, The Times'It would be hard to overstate how good this book is . . . a fantastic read' Sunday Independent'Superb...

Nora Ephron meets Bram Stoker in Sophie White's vivid and ambitious literary non-fiction collection. White asks uncomfortable questions about the lived reality of womanhood in the 21st century, and the...

Tom Crean was the indestructible farmer's son from Kerry who sailed on three major expeditions to the unknown Antarctic over a century ago. He was among the few men who...

'Moving and insightful' - Rosanna DavisonRemarkably honest, brutally heroic and darkly humorous memoir following a devastating diagnosis of early onset Parkinson's disease.Twitch is a frank and funny memoir about picking...

'Captivating' Manchan Magan'Sublime' Eoghan Daltun'An earnest and uplifting blend of biography, almanac, travelogue and conservation call-to-arms' The Irish TimesSean Ronayne always knew he was different. Nicknamed 'nature boy' by the...

The book shows Michael's 'logical opportunism' in action, and explains how the Smurfit culture and systems provided a world-beating competitive advantage. 'It is up to others to judge how well...

'An absolutely brilliant read' Patrick Kielty, Late Late Show, RTE'Blisteringly honest . . . hilarious, traumatic, joyful and terrifying. Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy read!' Liz...

Angels at My Fingertips takes us back to the territory that made Angels in My Hair a million selling, international bestseller. Stories of Lorna's early life in rural Ireland, of...