For World Book Day why not 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
Habitat, by Catriona Shine
A Sunday Times and Irish Times most anticipated book of 2024, March is publication month for Habitat, by Catriona Shine (Lilliput Press).
Habitat follows seven neighbours over the course of a surreal and life-changing week as their mid-century apartment building in Oslo begins to inexplicably break down around them.
Connected by familial ties, long acquaintance, simmering feuds and longing glimpses, the residents of the building are bound to one another in more ways than they know. As each inhabitant is touched by strange and sinister phenomena, and their apartment-sized worlds begin to fray at the seams, they struggle to grasp that this is a shared crisis that cannot be borne alone.
“Shine’s gaze is fresh, observant and unsettling. Habitat is an inventive and compelling read, a remarkable debut from an immensely talented writer.”—Danielle McLaughlin
Way Out West, by Anthony Galvin (New Island)
Out in March is a new book from Anthony Glavin, former editor of New Irish Writing, and previous literary editor at New Island, whose novels include One for Sorrow, Nighthawk Alley and Colours Other Than Blue.
Way Out West is a gentle coming-of-age story with delicately and affectionately observed characters and subtle reflections on trauma, loss, and a hope that somehow renews. “Anthony Glavin’s wonderful gifts as a humane and skilled storyteller are on display all through this compelling, moving and memorable novel.”—Joseph O’Connor
Barcelona, by Mary Costello (Canongate)
Barcelona is the second collection of short stories from Mary Costello, and one of The Irish Times books to look out for this year.
Here, we meet characters who live turbulent inner lives. In a Spanish hotel room a marriage unravels as a young wife is haunted by a past love. A father travels to Paris to meet his scientist son and is exposed to his son’s true nature. A woman attends a reading by a famous author and comes to some painful realisations about her own marriage.
The stories in Barcelona reveal the underlying disquiet of modern life and the sometimes brutal nature of humanity. Whether on city streets, long car journeys or in suburban rooms, we glimpse characters as they approach those moments of desperation – or revelation – that change or reshape fate.
“From lonely marriages to resentful children, these powerful Irish short stories delve into the underlying brutality of existence”—Emily Rhodes, The Guardian
Into the Night that Flies so Fast, by Milena Williamson (Dedalus Press)
In Into the Night that Flies So Fast, the debut collection of poems from Belfast-based Milena Williamson, the speaker journeys to the small County Tipperary village of Ballyvadlea, to investigate the life and death of Bridget Cleary, in 1895 burned to death by her family on suspicion of being a fairy changeling.
Fusing docupoetry and true crime, travelogue and drama, the book introduces a compelling cast of characters as the ill-fated Bridget, her family and members of her community all come onstage to give their versions of events. In the ‘Interval’ of this play for voices, the speaker herself draws back from Bridget’s story to reflect on her own new life in Ireland, on the relationships and journey that have brought her to this interrogation of one of the darkest episodes in Ireland’s past.
“In this shape-shifting narrative, not only do we meet Bridget Cleary, the woman inside the poet’s head, but we are also given a startling glimpse of how aspects of Cleary’s story reverberate into today; of other voices that will always be an absence. A brilliant debut.”
—Moyra Donaldson
The Golden Hare, by Paddy Donnelly (The O’Brien Press)
A beautiful Irish children’s book appears this month, from the award winning Paddy Donnelly.
Meara and Grandad set out on a journey to find the Golden Hare, a mythical, shape-shifting creature that can jump to the moon in two-and-a-half leaps! Along the way, they discover all sorts of treasures in the trees, under the ground and in the waves.
And who knows where that clever Golden Hare might be hiding …
“Fabulous—brimming with magic and full of hope for our beautiful planet”—Patricia Forde, Laureate na nOg
