When Books Ireland founding publisher, Jeremy Addis, announced publication was to cease in late 2013, the Wordwell team couldn’t bear to see this wonderful publication disappear and took over its production in early 2014. The ‘new’ Books Ireland is now available in both print and digital formats and is enjoying a new lease of life with a full-colour format, a layout revamp, a move to bi-monthly publication and a recently launched mobile app. It celebrated its 40th anniversary in March 2016.

Books Ireland is committted to the publication of responsible critique of literary output in Ireland and offers a unique insight into the latest trends and developments in the Irish book world. Each issue contains a series of reviews, from indepth two-page features to shorter synopsis of all recent titles in our First Flush listing. The Book Notes section provides the latest news on festivals, literary awards and our talented contributors leave no page unturned in their quest to review as many new Irish titles as possible within 60 pages.

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CONTENTS

Books Ireland is available in both print and digital format. Click here to subscribe. 

Opinion

Claire Savage writes about the rewards and responsibilities of self-publishing.

Book notes

Tony Canavan with the latest news from the world of books and books rights.

Features

John Quinn pays tribute to poet Francis Ledwedge on the 100th anniversary of his death.

Edwin Higel reflects on 25 years of New Island.

Michael Pierse examines how the Irish working class have been represented in literature.

Bookshop Focus: Caroline Healy paints a word portrait of Louisburgh’s Books@One.

John Gray shines light on the largely forgotten working-class Belfast writer Thomas Carnduff,

Tim Fernée writes about the project to bring the eighteenth-century classic Melmoth the Wanderer into the 21st century.

Camilla Dinkel, facing retirement, is looking for someone to take over the Dingle Bookshop.

Behind the screen Tony Canavan on Liam O’Flaherty’s The Informer.

A summer crop of books: Our choice of the best books to pack for your holiday at home or abroad.

Reviews

Livinia Greacen—The Long-winded Lady (notes from The New Yorker) by Maeve Brennan.

Cathal Póirtéir—Seacht mBua an Éiri Amach/The Seven Virtues of the Rising by Pádraic Ó Conaire (Arlen House).

Hugh McFadden—Virgil and Joyce: nationalism and imperialism in the Aeneid and Ulysses by Randall J. Pogorzelski.

Bookcase

Louisa Carroll—Irish Cultures of Travel: writing on the Continent, 1829–1914 by Raphaël Ingelbien.

John Gibney—Michael Collins: Dublin 1916–22 by Joseph E.A. Connell Jnr.

Joseph Horgan—Austerity and Recovery in Ireland: Europe’s poster child and the great recession by William K. Roche, Philip J. O’Connell and Andrea Prothero (eds).

Matthew Farrelly—A History of Running Away by Paula McGrath.

Tony Canavan—Something in the Blood: the untold story of Bram Stoker, the man who wrote Dracula by David J. Skal.

Fiona Murphy—Married Quarters by Shane Connaughton.

Patricia Byrne—Irish-American Autobiography: the divided hearts of athletes, priests, pilgrims and more by James Silas Rogers.

Caroline Hurley—The Clubhouse Mystery by Erika McGann.

Hugh Oram—The Catholics: the Church and its people in Britain and Ireland, from the Reformation to the present day by Roy Hattersley.

Leabhair Idir Lámha

Cathal Póirteir begins his new column with his selection of recent books in Irish.

First-timers

Sue Leonard with the best of début fiction.

Crime Spree

Paula O’Hare checks out the crime scene.

‘My Favourite …’

Jane Casey tells us why her list of favourite books just keeps growing.