We’ve compiled a list of our favourite books for history enthusiasts if you’re trying to think presents this Christmas. Have a look at these and other fantastic books at https://www.lilliputpress.ie/.   Maria Edgeworth’s Letters from Ireland, ed. Valerie Pakenham January 1 2018 will be the 250th anniversary of Maria Edgeworth’s birth. Valerie Pakenham’s sparkling new selection of over four hundred letters, many hitherto unpublished, will help to celebrate her memory. Dating from 1825, Maria’s letters reflect sixty years of Irish history, from the heady days of Grattan’s Parliament, through the perils of the 1798 Rebellion to the rise of O’Connell and the struggle for Catholic Emancipation. In old age, she worked actively to alleviate the…

    Four years ago, in this same venue, I attended the launch of Elske Rahill’s debut novel, Between Dog and Wolf. I bought a copy, took it home, and read it over the next couple of days. When I was no more than a few pages in, my unease began to deepen in tandem with my fascination. Here, I realised, was a writer who would not spare my feelings – in other words, here was the very kind of writer I veer towards. Rahill’s novel plunged the reader without filter or protection into the loveless sex lives and interpersonal cruelties of students at loose in Dublin city. By the time I finished it, I…

An abridged version of Luke Gibbons’ speech at the launch of ‘Nobody’s Business’: The Aran Diaries of Ernie O’Malley edited by Cormac O’Malley and Róisín Kennedy […] You could argue that Ernie always kept his cards close to his chest, even when writing his diaries because one of the first things that strikes when reading these, as Róisín mentioned, is the forthright speaking and trenchant observations could not have seen the light of day in their own time. Ernie was taken to court On Another Man’s Wound and he was involved in a liable case. He certainly would have been involved in many a liable case with the content you see in the diaries. As…

  Dublin Book Festival starts this week with lots of wonderful events to look forward to. Come to the launch of In White Ink and Rise Above! Letters from Tyrone Guthrie, and don’t miss Caroline Preston in conversation about her debut novel This Tumult. Another highlight of the festival will be Valerie Pakenham talking about Maria Edgeworth and her newest book Maria Edgeworth’s Letters from Ireland on a panel of Ireland’s Notable Women.   BOOK LAUNCH In White Ink by Elske Rahill GUEST SPEAKER: Rob Doyle Elske Rahill’s remarkable stories are sustained by the experience of motherhood and bring the psychological and physical reality of pregnancy, childbirth, mothering and nurture alive in ways that few writers…