Browse all upcoming Irish published, Irish authored, and Irish interest books this month in First Flush—or dig into our archives all the way back to 2021
First Flush is your number one resource for new Irish book releases. See which books will be on the shelves each month—search by genre, keyword, author or title—or just browse through the archives. Alongside the official Irish Bestseller Charts, all data is supplied by Nielsen Book.
Ash Keys: New Selected Poems, by Michael Longley (Jonathan Cape)
The title of Michael Longley’s New Selected Poems is taken from his poem ‘Ash Keys’. The wing-shaped, wind-borne seeds of the ash-tree might be an image for poems in search of their readers. This selection, based on thirteen individual collections, represents Longley’s unusual range as a lyric poet.
It shows how his themes, genres and forms have evolved and interlaced since the 1960s. Love, violence, the natural world, art, psychodrama, family, the Great War, the Homeric past and Northern Ireland’s troubled present cohabit in these pages – as do depth, wit and beauty. Longley’s poems of the west of Ireland, which pivot on Carrigskeewaun, his ‘soul landscape’, have also made him a pioneer of ‘eco-poetry’.
What’s That as Béarla? by Gary Bannister (New Island)
Latest in a successful series of general introductions to Irish, including What’s That As Gaeilge? and Proverbs in Irish, as well as IBA-nominated Teasaras Gaeilge-Bearla, this book will improve and enrich your spoken and written Irish, and is ideal for beginners.
Being Autistic (and what that actually means) by Niamh Garvey (Jessica Kingsley Publishers)
You’re autistic – but what does that really mean?
Welcome to the ultimate guide to understanding who you are and what it means to be autistic!
In this fully illustrated graphic guide to what it means to be autistic and discover the differences between sensory seekers and avoiders, why you might find some things super easy and other things extra challenging and even begin to understand and navigate all of your big (and small) feelings. Best of all, learn what makes you totally unique. You might just come away with some cool facts to share with your friends and family!
Irish Doctors in the Second World War, by P.J. Casey (Merrion Press)
This highly anticipated sequel charts the contributions of Irish doctors in the Second World War, a conflict that demonstrated to the world that the pace of military warfare had changed forever.
Advancements in medical care during the inter-war years made field medicine almost unrecognisable compared to 1918, but this was tempered by the vast innovations in the machines of war. From the Maginot Line to the Far East, Irish doctors risked their lives in a terrifying new landscape.
Read accounts from Aidan MacCarthy, a Japanese POW present when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and heartrending reports from Irish doctors arriving in liberated concentration camps, exemplifying the unique position they were in as citizens of a neutral country:
‘They [Irish people] don’t understand the horror of this war because it has not been brought home to them. They have spun their own little cocoon and have been indifferent, to a great extent to the sufferings of humanity.’
With a meticulously compiled Roll of Honour commemorating Irish doctors who served, this book is a powerful tribute to their humanity and indomitable spirit.
Ulster Fairytales and Legends, by Peter Heaney & Nicola Heaney, illustrated by Conor Busuttil
Where did the Red Hand, the famous symbol of Ulster, originate? It’s the hand of Heremon, a chief so keen to be first to lay claim to the land that he cut his own hand off the threw it from a ship!
Not all legends from Ulster are so gory, of course, and in this collection we meet The Great Brown Bull, The Horsemen of Aileach, Paiste, The Great Black Pig, Maeve MacQuillan, Fintán, Febor and Fia and, of course, Colmcille and the Book of Movilla. Evocatively illustrated by Conor Busuttil, this collection of myths from Ireland’s northern province will enthrall readers young and old.
These books are a tiny fraction of what’s new this month, so have a browse in First Flush for all titles in every category, or have a mooch about our archives to find your July book!
