Literary Criticism

For thirty years Anne Enright has been paying attention: casting her lucid and distinctive gaze across the world, literature and her own life, and gifting us with her precise insights.These...

Kafka first made the acquaintance of Milena Jesenska in 1920 when she was translating his early short prose into Czech, and their relationship quickly developed into a deep attachment. Such...

Brendan Behan wrote over one hundred articles for Irish newspapers between 1951 and 1956 as he rose to international fame, with most of them written in a weekly column in...

Every now and again I need to get down here, to get into the Diogenes tub, as it were, or the Colmcille beehive hut, or the Mossbawn scullery. At any...

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERPICKED BY THE SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, INDEPENDENT, IRISH TIMES, SPECTATOR, TLS, NEW STATESMAN, MAIL ON SUNDAY, I PAPER, PROSPECT, REVEW31 AND EVENING STANDARD AS A BOOK...

*THE TOP 10 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*'This book might just change your life' Sunday Times'Wise, wonderful, moving and brilliant... will leave your heart in a much better place' StylistAfter years of...

Part memoir, part masterclass by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer's craft, comprising the basic tools...

Vol 10 of Winter Papers, Ireland’s annual anthology for the arts, is published by Curlew Editions. It offers fiction, non-fiction, poetry, photography, visual arts, along with craft interviews and in-conversation...

Kerryman Con Houlihan, who in his time has been a fisherman, a turf cutter and a rugby player, is now best known as one of Ireland's finest journalists. 'In So...

Bird by Bird is the bible of writing guides - a wry, honest, down-to-earth book that has never stopped selling since it was first published in the United States in...

'Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional'A compelling mediation on the power of running and a fascinating insight into the life of this internationally bestselling writer. A perfect reading companion for...

'So bold and so vulnerable at the same time. I don't know how she did it' - Phoebe Waller-BridgeNow with an introduction from Dolly Alderton, author of Everything I Know...

'Quintessentially indispensable ... brimming with generosity and love of life. I want to share this book with everyone I love and those I don't ... in the conviction that Home...

HarperCollins is proud to present its range of best-loved, essential classics. 'When I was about sixteen I suddenly discovered the joy of mere words' Best known for his remarkable novels...

Ulysses is one of the foundational texts of modern literature, yet has a reputation for complexity and controversy. In Ulysses Unbound, Joyce expert Terence Killeen untangles this seemingly knotty classic...

In this book, novelist Colm Toibin offers a deeply personal introduction to the work and life of one of his most important literary influences--the American poet Elizabeth Bishop. Ranging across...

Wired Our Own Way: An Anthology of Irish Autistic Voices is the first collection of personal essays written by autistic Irish adults. One in twenty-seven Irish school children are now...

Under the pseudonym Myles na Gopaleen, Flann O' Brien wrote a daily column in the 'Irish Times' called 'Cruiskeen Lawn' for over twenty years which hilariously satirised the absurdities and...

A true original. In this stunningly unusual prose debut, Doireann Ni Ghriofa sculpts essay and autofiction to explore inner life and the deep connection felt between two writers centuries apart....

"Mary Oliver would probably never admit to anything so grandiose as an effort to connect the conscious mind and the heart (that's what she says poetry can do), but that...

Martin Doyle, Books Editor of The Irish Times, has been an arts journalist for almost 35 years and in that time has interviewed many of the most talented and successful...

In a letter to her editor at The New Yorker, the Irish writer Maeve Brennan described the emotional landscape provided by her mother:She gave me an 'asylum for my affections'...

In 2006, in the wake of several miscarriages, Joanna Pocock travelled by Greyhound bus across the US from Detroit to Los Angeles. Seventeen years later, now in her 50s, she...

TATE BOOK OF THE MONTH 2023A timely critique of consumer culture which captures this image-obsessed moment in history, perfect for fans of Zadie Smith's Feel Free and Jia Tolentino's Trick...

From twice Booker-shortlisted author Deborah Levy, a moving and revelatory collection exploring the muses that have shaped her life and work as a writerIn The Position of Spoons, Deborah Levy...

Revised and enlarged, this edition of John Moriarty's first published work presents a book of revelations, meditated by stories and personal excursions in literture, philosophy and sacred writings.

`The person who loves the addict exhausts and renews their love on a daily basis' In this vivid and powerful collection of essays, the first non- fiction book published by...

'As you are well aware, we never loved each other in your lifetime. Both of us pretended.' Simenon explores the complexity of parent child relationships and the bitterness of things...

Colm Toibin's personal account of encountering James Baldwin's work, published in Baldwin's centenary year. Acclaimed Irish novelist Colm Toibin first read James Baldwin just after turning eighteen. He had completed...

'The ultimate Camp statement: it's good because it's awful.'These two classic essays were the first works of criticism to break down the boundaries between 'high' and 'low' culture, and made...

In these delightful, melancholy prose sketches Maeve Brennan goes in pursuit of the ordinary, taking us on a tour of the cheap hotels, unassuming restaurants, and crowded streets of New...

The bestselling international classic on storytelling and visual communication "You must read this book." - Neil Gaiman Praised throughout the cartoon industry by such luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Matt Groening,...

Considered by many to be the iconic French memoirist's defining work, The Years is a narrative of the period 1941 to 2006 told through the lens of memory, impressions past...

A charmingly idiosyncratic look at writing, creativity, and the author's own novels.Haruki Murakami's myriad fans will be delighted by this unique look into the mind of a master storyteller. In...

In Suppose a Sentence, Brian Dillon turns his attention to the oblique and complex pleasures of the sentence. A series of essays prompted by a single sentence - from Shakespeare...

Twentieth Anniversary Edition with Contributions from Joe Hill and Owen King Immensely helpful and illuminating to any aspiring writer, this special edition of Stephen King's critically lauded, million-copy bestseller shares...

Winner of the 2016 EDGAR, AGATHA, MACAVITY and H.R.F.KEATING crime writing awards, this real-life detective story investigates how Agatha Christie and colleagues in a mysterious literary club transformed crime fiction....

'Very little makes me laugh. I would say the one exception is anything by David Sedaris' GRAHAM NORTON'Sedaris is the God of the comic essay... Sedaris' only rule: be funny...

This anthology of personal essays explore how video games have shaped our lives, our cultural imagination and contemporary storytelling. From novelists and critics to game designers themselves, the writers in...

State, in Relation is a collaborative and personal engagement with the Irish Constitution as a living text through the lens of literature across multiple disciplines including poetry, essay, fiction, visual...

From Achebe and Austen to Zola and Zweig, and from the Epic of Gilgamesh to twenty-first century dystopias and autofiction, here is the complete list of every Penguin Classic in...

THE NUMBER 5 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERTHE IRISH BESTSELLER'Meaningful and impactful ... A vital [read] ... Tell all your friends' BRITISH VOGUE'A powerful collection' SERVICE95'This book is a jailbreak and a...

'Masterly, hilarious, truly insightful' - Philip Hensher, The Spectator A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year 2019 The last major collection of Nabokov's published material, Think, Write, Speak brings...