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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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'...

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...

`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,...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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...

Warm, wise and full of practical tips, this book is the ideal guide to every writing life'Wonderful tough love, direct, and very funny advice on how to be the writer...

'We should write because it is human nature to write' Julia Cameron For those jumping into the writing life for the first time and for those already living it, the...

A rallying, celebratory essay about Sylvia Plath, Taylor Swift and unbridled female ambition by the beloved author of Bluets and The ArgonautsIn The Slicks, Maggie Nelson positions culture-dominating pop superstar...

An illuminating new essay collection from one of the most distinctive, exciting and acclaimed writers of her generation, Zadie Smith'Zadie Smith is a wonderful essayist. She is a natural. She...

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...

"If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow; but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much." Mark TwainFrom Six...

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...

***BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK***'Funny, lively and convivial... how rare and nourishing this sort of roaming thought is and what a joy to read' MEGAN NOLAN, SUNDAY TIMES'An...