History

Illuminating two very different women united by their love of theatre, Wild-Looking But Fine: Abbey Theatre Actresses of the 1930s (UCD Press) traces the lives of Aideen O’Connor and Ria Mooney; from their debuts on the Abbey stage to performing in New York in 1937, and the lives they made for themselves after that tour. […]

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Two historical fictions shining a light on two captivating women. Martina Devlin’s Charlotte (The Lilliput Press) is a story of Charlotte Brontë’s short but pivotal time in Ireland as never before told, bound by passion and obsession, friendship and loss, loyalty and deception. Nuala O’Connor’s Seaborne (New Island) is an intimate and thrilling portrayal of […]

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Seán Ó Riada (1931-’71), amongst his achievements, is credited as having revived Irish music, both drawing from tradition and through great innovation, along with his band Ceoltóirí Chualann. In Ceoltóirí Chualann: The Band that Changed the Course of Irish Music (Mercier Press), composer, musician, choir director and broadcaster Peadar Ó Riada charts the band’s history, […]

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Enlightening, entertaining and often surprising, Irish Food History: A Companion (Royal Irish Academy) brings the reader on a gastronomic odyssey, from earliest times and the start of the hunter-gatherer community, all the way to the abundant world of modern Irish cooking, safe in the hands of some of the world’s most highly regarded food historians. […]

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So Once Was I: Forgotten Tales from Glasnevin Cemetery (Merrion Press) sets out to celebrate the quirky, strange and sometimes unbelievable tales of lesser-known figures in Ireland’s famous cemetery, which has become the final resting place to a microcosm of Irish society since its gates opened in 1832. Join author Warren Farrell on this walking […]

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Join Tyler Anbinder and Tomás Finn in conversation with fellow historian Mary McAuliffe about their richly researched historical works. Anbinder’s Plentiful Country (Eriu), is a gripping narrative of Irish immigrants who transformed America after the Great Hunger, defying hardship to redefine the American dream. Inside Rural Ireland (UCD Press), edited by Tomás Finn and Tony […]

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Dangerous Ambition: The Making of Éamon de Valera (Eastwood) charts Eddie, later to be known as Éamon, de Valera’s rise from an early life of stark rearing and thwarted ambitions to becoming the founder of the most powerful political party in Ireland for much of the past century. Join author Colum Kenny in conversation with […]

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Taking us back to a hot Dublin summer in 1866, Juliana Adelman’s The Grateful Water (New Island) is a gripping detective story of secrets and guilt, steeped in the city’s history. Leeanne O’Donnell’s Sparks of Bright Matter (Eriu) is an equally gripping game of cat and mouse through Georgian London’s underworld, in pursuit of an […]

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Tomorrow with Bayonets: Dublin: July 1921 – July 1922 (Mercier) by Darren Kelly and Derek Molyneux brings the raw intensity of the Irish Civil War to life in this gripping, fast-paced journey through a year of change and conflict; offering a visceral portrayal of a nation grappling with its identity and sovereignty, seen through the […]

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This event is now booked out with a waitlist in place. Professor of Medieval Irish History at Trinity College Dublin, Seán Duffy, has edited 20 volumes in the Medieval Dublin series for Four Courts Press; an astonishing treasure-trove of knowledge, enabling us to recreate Dublin’s story from the Vikings to the Tudors in all its […]

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