MERCIER PRESS Autumn / Winter Titles 2018
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Mercier Press Advance Information A Happy Type of Sadness: A Journey Through Irish Country Music Kevin Martin July 2018 Country music fandom is at an all-time high in Ireland; social dancing has never been as popular. New artists, bands and venues proliferate; it seems each week ‘Ireland’s latest country sensation’ is brought to the public’s attention through the ever-widening media outlets populated by the genre. This book provides a comprehensive history of the genre looking at the artists and their music and seeking to contextualise the genre within the wider context of Irish culture. It demonstrates the significant role Ireland has played in the history and development of American country music and how, as an old classic country song says, the circle has remained unbroken. It also analyses the associated media, dance and social cultures. Irish country music is now a significant industry on a continuous upward curve. It earns a lot of money for a lot Product format: Paperback of people. It deserves a work of record. Price: €18.99; £15.99
ISBN: 978 1 78117 582 8 Extent: 320 pp This book is the first of its kind. It is written in an easy to understand Format: 234 x 156mm language to appeal to the widest possible demographic. It is also written Imprint: Mercier Press from a neutral point of view but in a way that appeals to the fans of Distribution: Gill
country and Irish music.
Artists covered include Big Tom, Daniel O'Donnell, Nathan Carter, Philomena Begley, Susan McCann and Robert Mizell. The author is an established writer with extensive media experience including RTÉ Radio 1, TV3, Irish Independent, The Irish Times, New York Times, The Irish Post and a plethora of local and regional radio stations.
Kevin Martin taught English, communications and cultural studies for twenty-five years. He is married with two children and lives near Westport, County Mayo. He loves pubs, music, travel and reading. Kevin is also the author of Have Ye No Homes To Go To?: The History of the Irish Pub.
Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House Bessboro Road Blackrock Cork Ireland Tel +353 21 461 4700 Fax +353 21 461 4802 deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie
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An Béal Bocht Myles Na gCopaleen July 2018 Widely regarded as one of the greatest Irish-language novels of the 20th century, An Béal Bocht is a classic satire in Irish by one of the century’s great writers, Myles na gCopaleen/Flann O’Brien/Brian O’Nolan. This extremely funny book, with its rain-sodden peasants of Corca Dorcha who combine pretensions to proficiency in English with true caint na ndaoine in the hope of impressing the insatiable Irish-language enthusiasts, was the proof that the Irish of the Revival had come of age. It earned Flann O’Brien the accolade bestowed upon him by Austin Clarke: ‘our Gaelic satirist’ and is still a useful corrective against the native tendency to take things too seriously. As its subtitle An Milleánach indicates, it satirises Tomás Ó Criomhthain’s famous Blasket autobiography An t-Oileánach as well as other Gaeltacht works like Caisleáin Óir by Donegal writer Séamus Ó Grianna (Máire).
Myles na gCopaleen (aka Flann O’Brien) was born Brian O’Nolan in Strabane in 1911. He began to write as a student at University College Dublin. Thereafter he worked as a civil servant. He wrote a regular tri-weekly column called 'The Cruiskeen Lawn' for The Irish Times for twenty-five years from the early 1940s. In this he made his name as a satirist, writing originally in Irish, then more and more in English. His claim to literary fame rests mainly on two post-modernist works in English, At-Swim-Two-Birds (1939) and the posthumous The Third Policeman (1967).
Product format: Paperback Price: €9.99; £8.50 ISBN: 978 1 78117 643 6 Extent: 128 pp Format: 198 x 129mm Imprint: Mercier Press Distribution: Gill
Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House Bessboro Road Blackrock Cork Ireland Tel +353 21 461 4700 Fax +353 21 461 4802 deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie
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The First Sunday in September Tadhg Coakley August 2018
‘The First Sunday in September really is quite an achievement. The stories are vibrant and authentic, brimming with intensity and desire. I enjoyed it immensely.’ – Donal Ryan ‘Inventive and compelling, this lifts off the page. A visceral sports novel, and yet so tender.’ – Danny Denton ‘Imagine Raymond Carver meets Donal Ryan and you have Tadhg Coakley’s novel. His writing is taut and vivid, his voice compelling and compassionate.’– Mary Morrissy Product format: Paperback Price: €14.99; £11.99
‘The First Sunday in September takes us into the hearts and minds ISBN: 978 1 78117 567 5 of a medley of characters who sometimes win but often lose, and Extent: 240 pp Format: 215 x135mm whose experiences of life ring true.’ – Madeleine D’Arcy Imprint: Mercier Press Distribution: Gill
It’s All-Ireland Hurling Final Day. A hungover Clareman with gambling debts travels up to Dublin for the match, secretly hoping his county will lose. An Englishwoman attends the final with her partner, wondering when to tell him that she’s pregnant. A long-retired player watches the match from the stands, his gaze repeatedly falling on the Cork captain, whom he and his wife gave up for adoption years earlier. Clare’s star forward struggles under the weight of expectation. Cork’s talisman waits for the sliothar to fall from the sky, aware that his destiny is already set. Technically daring and with an unforgettable cast of characters, The First Sunday in September announces an exciting new voice in Irish fiction. A mix of Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge and Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding
Tadhg Coakley graduated with first-class honours from the MA in Creative Writing in University College Cork in 2017. His stories have appeared in publications such as Quarryman, The Honest Ulsterman, and Silver Apples, as well as in the From the Well anthology. First Sunday in September is his debut novel.
Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House Bessboro Road Blackrock Cork Ireland Tel +353 21 461 4700 Fax +353 21 461 4802 deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie
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Mercier Press Advance Information The Man Who Moved The Nation: A Daughter's Story Lisa Collins September 2018 'I wish I was an actor, because if I was an actor, I’d be acting about dying. But I’m not an actor. I am dying. I’m dying from cancer as a result of smoking.’ – Gerry Collins The whirlwind final few months in the life of Gerry Collins – the man behind the famous QUIT campaign run by the HSE in 2014 – movingly recounted by his daughter. In early 2014 Gerry Collins’ moving words carried across the nation. This was due to his central role in the ads for the HSE’s QUIT campaign, which sought to convince people to give up smoking. The nation saw a brave man warning others, trying to save people from making the same mistake that he made. But Gerry was also a family man. A father. For Lisa Collins, her dad had always been ‘her person’. She simply couldn’t imagine a future without him. In immediate and honest prose, Lisa guides us through this turbulent period in her life and the life of her family as they battled against the diagnosis, as filming for the ads commenced and the campaign was launched, and the public spotlight was suddenly thrust upon the Collins family – all while Lisa struggled to accept her father’s impending death and Gerry’s health quickly deteriorated. This account of the final months of the life of Gerry Collins, the man who moved the nation with his bravery and honesty, is at once heartbreaking and inspiring, succeeding as it does in capturing the joyful soul of Gerry Collins himself, as well as showcasing the heart and resilience of the daughter and family who supported him right to the very end.
Lisa Jennifer Collins was born in Dublin and grew up in Greystones. Lisa is a local business owner, and also works to support and create networks of local businesses and women in business. Lisa lives with her husband in Co. Wicklow. From 2011 to 2014, Lisa, her father Gerry and her wider family took part in an award-winning national television and media campaign to encourage smokers to quit. The QUIT campaign and Gerry Collins are credited with helping reduce smoking prevalence in Ireland by over 100,000 smokers since 2013. The Man Who Moved The Nation is her first book, written about and dedicated to her father.
Product format: Paperback Price: €16.99; £14.49 ISBN: 978 1 78117 570 5 Extent: 224 pp Pictures: 16 Illustrations, colour Format: 215 x135mm Imprint: Mercier Press Distribution: Gill
Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House Bessboro Road Blackrock Cork Ireland Tel +353 21 461 4700 Fax +353 21 461 4802 deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie
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Mercier Press Advance Information The Valley of the Squinting Windows Brinsley MacNamara September 2018 Valley of the Squinting Windows is a classic Irish novel set in central Ireland c. 1914–16. Garradrimna is a tiny village where everyone is interested in everyone else's business and wishes them to fail. Twenty years before the events of the book, Nan Byrne has a relationship with a local man, Henry Shannon, hoping to marry him for his wealth. She falls pregnant but Henry refuses to marry her. After a miscarriage, the baby is buried at the bottom of the garden. Henry marries another woman and later dies, while Nan emigrates to England and marries Ned Brennan. They later move back to Garradrimna, where the villagers rejoice in telling Ned about his wife's past. Ned is now an alcoholic, brought low by the humiliation of his wife's past promiscuity. He makes a little as a labourer, whereas Nan works every day at sewing to support their only child, John, studying in England to become a Catholic priest. However, she has become as cruel, petty and jealous as the rest of Garradrimna, and connives with the postmistress to sabotage Myles Shannon's chance at romance with an English girl, to get revenge on the Shannon family for rejecting her. John returns to Garradrimna for a holiday, where he befriends Ulick Shannon (son of Henry) and falls for Rebecca Kerr, a schoolteacher. Ulick and Rebecca have a relationship, however, and when Rebecca becomes pregnant she is disgraced and expelled from the village. Ulick abandons her and John murders him, weighing the body with lead and hiding it in the lake. Rebecca leaves for Dublin and an uncertain future. An old gossip informs Nan and John that she was there the night Nan gave birth to Henry's child – in reality, the child was born alive and was given to Henry and his wife – who they raised as their son, Ulick Shannon.
Product format: Paperback Price: €14.99; £12.49 ISBN: 978 1 78117 649 8 Extent: 288 pp Format: 215 x135mm Imprint: Mercier Press Distribution: Gill
Brinsley MacNamara, whose real name was John Weldon, was born near Devlin, Co Westmeath, in 1890. He joined the Abbey Theatre Company in 1909 and toured with it in the United States. In 1912 he decided to devote his time to writing and The Valley of the Squinting Windows, published in 1918, established him as a leading Irish writer, though it raised a storm of violent protest. He went on to write six novels, two books of short stories and many plays for the Abbey of which he was, for a time, a director. He died in February 1963.
Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House Bessboro Road Blackrock Cork Ireland Tel +353 21 461 4700 Fax +353 21 461 4802 deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie
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Mercier Mercier Press Press Advance Advance Information Information Pilgrim Pilgrim Louise LouiseHall Hall September September2018 2018 Deeply Deeplymoving movingand andevocative evocativeprose. prose. Haunting, Haunting,tender tenderyet yethopeful. hopeful. Pilgrim Pilgrimisisaabeautiful beautifulread readthat thatlingers. lingers.––Carmel CarmelHarrington Harrington InIn this this cynical cynical age age it’s it’s aa joy joy toto encounter encounter such such sincerity, sincerity, and and wonderfully wonderfullyunexpected unexpectedtotosee seecontemporary contemporaryfiction fictionas asaaprofession profession ofof fervent ferventyet yet gentle gentlefaith. faith.Louise Louiseisisaabrave braveand and humane humanewriter, writer,aa breath breathofofthe thefreshest freshestair. air.––Donal DonalRyan Ryan After Afteraamajor majorrow rowwith withhis hiswife, wife,Sarah, Sarah,Charlie CharlieCarthy Carthystorms stormsout outofofthe the family familyhome. home. Just Just hours hours later later he he finds findsout outthat that Sarah Sarah has has become become the the victim victimofofaahit hitand andrun rundriver driverand andisisinincritical criticalcondition conditionininhospital. hospital. Product Product Productformat: format: format:Paperback Paperback Paperback Price: Price: Price:€18.99; €18.99; €18.99;£15.99 £15.99 £15.99 ISBN: ISBN: ISBN:978 978 97811178117 78117 78117616 616 616000 Extent: Extent: Extent:288 288 288pp pp pp Format: Format: Format:234 234 234xx156mm x156mm 156mm Imprint: Imprint: Imprint:Mercier Mercier MercierPress Press Press Distribution: Distribution:Gill Gill Gill Told Toldwith withaadeep deep humanity humanityand and grace, grace,Pilgrim Pilgrim isisaa story storyabout about aa man man Distribution:
Sarah’s Sarah’s death death and and Charlie’s Charlie’s self-absorbing self-absorbing grief grief throws throws their their daughter daughter Jen’s Jen’s life lifeinto intoturmoil. turmoil.Will Willan an unwanted unwantedpilgrimage pilgrimagetotoMedjugorje Medjugorje heal heal Jen Jen and and Charlie’s Charlie’s relationship, relationship, or, or, should should Jen Jen prepare prepare toto lose lose her her remaining remainingparent?. parent?.
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Mercier Press Advance Information Falling for a Farmer Maura McElhone September 2018
'I was hooked from page one. Hilarious, evocative, poignant, perceptive and beautifully written, it will strike a chord with every reader. I LOVED it!' – Patricia Scanlan Blending amusing anecdotes with thoughtful reflections and lessons in love, life and farming, Falling for a Farmer takes readers on the journey of a returned emigrant who comes back to Ireland looking to rediscover home, and does so, albeit through unexpected means. A sort of Bridget Jones’s Diary meets All Creatures Great and Small , Falling for a Farmer is one woman’s true life story of her journey from wide-eyed townie to full-blown farmer’s girlfriend. From pulling calves and wrapping bales, to being 'stood up for silage' and receiving the phone call that every farmer’s loved ones dread, Maura McElhone’s memoir chronicles the often humorous, sometimes sobering experiences that ensue when town and country collide.
Maura McElhone is a content writer and columnist whose work has appeared in The Irish Times, the Irish Farmers Journal and RTÉ Radio 1's CountryWide. Born and raised in Portstewart, County Derry, she studied in Scotland at undergraduate level and completed a Masters in Writing at the National University of Ireland, Galway. After six years living and working in the U.S., Maura ' unemigrated ' in 2014, and returned home to Ireland. She now lives in Kildare with her fiancé, their relationship providing the inspiration for her popular blog, Falling for a Farmer. Maura is the 2017 recipient of the Cecil Day Lewis Literary Bursary for Emerging Writers from Kildare County Council.
Product format: Paperback Price: €14.99; £12.49 ISBN: 978 1 78117 604 7 Extent: 224 pp Format: 215 x 135mm Imprint: Mercier Press Distribution: Gill
Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House Bessboro Road Blackrock Cork Ireland Tel +353 21 461 4700 Fax +353 21 461 4802 deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie
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Mercier Press Advance Information Children's Book Of Irish Folktales Mr Kevin Danaher September 2018 The special magic of the Irish imagination shines forth in these fourteen authentic folktales. These tales are filled with the mystery and adventure of a land of lonely country roads and isolated farms, humble cottages and lordly castles, rolling fields and tractless bogs. They tell of ghosts and giants, of strange happenings and wondrous deeds, of fairies and witches and of fools and kings. Above all in these stories there is a sense of the full wonder of a world where the marvellous and the unexpected can always happen, and nothing is ever quite as it seems. Product format: Paperback Price: â‚Ź9.99; ÂŁ8.49 Kevin Danaher has drawn on a wide variety of sources and on more ISBN: 978 1 78117 644 3 than thirty years of research into Irish folk tradition. He has published Extent: 160 pp Pictures: 77 Illustrations, black & white many books including In Ireland Long Ago and The Year in Ireland. Format: 198 x129mm Distribution: Gill
Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House Bessboro Road Blackrock Cork Ireland Tel +353 21 461 4700 Fax +353 21 461 4802 deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie
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Mercier Press Advance Information Fighting for the Cause: Kerry's Republican Fighters Dr Tim Horgan October 2018
The untold stories of some of the men and women of County Kerry who gave their all in Ireland’s fight for independence. In Fighting for the Cause well-known Kerry historian Dr Tim Horgan tells the stories of some of the Kingdom’s extraordinary men and women who fought for an Irish Republic. They include the Fenian Jerry O’Sullivan, who blew up a wall of Clerkenwell prison in 1867 in an attempt to free two prisoners; Bridget Gleeson and Nora Brosnan, who were both incarcerated for their Republican activities; John Cronin, whose attacks on the British forces in 1920 were so audacious that he was considered a maverick by his own brigade commanders; Pat Allman, who was hidden above the Gap of Dunloe to recover from bullet wounds sustained in a fight with Free State forces; Paddy Landers, who spent nine months in Limerick Gaol, from where he would attempt to broker peace during the Civil War; and David Fleming, whose sustained hunger strikes in the 1940s would destroy his health and lead to long-term psychological trauma. Each of the people profiled in this book suffered for ‘the Cause’ but none faltered in what they considered their duty to Ireland.
Tim Horgan is the author of Dying for the Cause and co-editor of The Men Will Talk to Me: Kerry Interviews by Ernie O'Malley . A well-respected historian from Tralee, Tim gives regular talks on the War of Independence in the Kerry area. Tim comes from a proud Republican tradition as his grandmother, Madge Clifford, was secretary to both Ernie O'Malley and Liam Lynch.
Product format: Paperback Price: €19.99; £16.99 ISBN: 978 1 78117 561 3 Extent: 384 pp Format: 215 x 135mm Imprint: Mercier Press Distribution: Gill
Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House Bessboro Road Blackrock Cork Ireland Tel +353 21 461 4700 Fax +353 21 461 4802 deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie
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Mercier Press Advance Information Irish Legends for the Very Young Ms Niamh Sharkey October 2018 Aimed at early readers and written to be read aloud to young children, Irish Legends for the Very Young contains a new retelling of three of the best-loved Irish legends: 'The Children of Lir', 'How Setanta Became Cúchulainn' and 'Oisín in Tír na nÓg'. Retold with the young reader in mind, these tales are charmingly illustrated by the author, Niamh Sharkey. Creator and executive producer of Henry Hugglemonster , Niamh Sharkey is an award-winning author and illustrator of children's picture books. Her books have won numerous awards including the prestigious Mother Goose Award for the Best New Illustrator and The Bisto Book of the Year for her first two picture books: Tales of Wisdom and Product format: Hardback Price: €6.99; £5.99 Wonder and The Gigantic Turnip.
ISBN: 978 1 78117 645 0 Pictures: 44 Illustrations, black & white Format: 180 x110mm Distribution: Gill
Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House Bessboro Road Blackrock Cork Ireland Tel +353 21 461 4700 Fax +353 21 461 4802 deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie
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Mercier Press Advance Information Seán Ó Ríordáin: Life and Work
Seán Ó Coileáin, WithCló Iar–Chonnacht & Translated by Micheál Ó hAodha October 2018 A biography of Seán Ó Ríordáin detailing his difficult life and his journey to becoming a pre-eminent Irish-language poet. Ó Ríordáin was one of the great Irish-language poets of the twentieth century. Some of his work remains on the standard Irish curriculum. His poem 'Fill Arís' was shortlisted in the Favourite Irish Poems competition recently run by RTÉ. The biography was written by noted professor and Irish-language expert, Seán Ó Coileáin. Seán Ó Ríordáin was one of the most important Irish-language poets of the twentieth century. Born in Ballyvourney, Co. Cork, he later moved to Inniscarra on the outskirts of Cork city. His early life was laced with tragedy, such as the death of his father from tuberculosis and the subsequent loss of his mother, which affected him deeply. In a cruel twist of fate, Ó Ríordáin was later struck down with the same condition that killed his father. As a result, he was in poor health for much of his adult life.
Product format: Paperback Price: €24.99; £20.99 ISBN: 978 1 78117 610 8 Extent: 544 pp Format: 215 x135mm Imprint: Mercier Press Distribution: Gill
Through all this, Ó Ríordáin found a refuge in writing and started on his journey to becoming a renowned poet. In this exhaustive and wide-ranging literary biography, which offers frequent glimpses into his famed diaries as well as his poems and other writings, we are provided with a vivid portrait of both Ó Ríordáin the man and Ó Ríordáin the poet.
Author: Seán Ó Coileáin was an Emeritus Professor of Modern Irish at University College, Cork. He completed his PhD at Harvard University in 1972. He briefly worked alongside his subject Seán Ó Ríordáin in the Irish Department in UCC in the 1970s. Translator: Dr Mícheál Ó hAodha was born in Galway, Ireland, the eldest of eleven children and grew up in the west of Ireland and the north of England. He is a poet who writes in Irish. A recent book, Leabhar na nAistear (The Book of Journeys), explores feelings of loss and longing, silence and speech, memory and forgetting, as associated with the emigrant experience in Britain. He also lectures in the University of Limerick in the Departments of History and Comparative Literature.
Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House Bessboro Road Blackrock Cork Ireland Tel +353 21 461 4700 Fax +353 21 461 4802 deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie
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Mercier Press Advance Information Cork Burning Michael Lenihan November 2018 ‘A tale of arson, loot and murder’ was how one source described the events that would befall Cork city on the night of 11–12 December 1920. In a scene of almost unprecedented destruction, members of the British forces bent on revenge for the ambushes at Kilmichael and Dillon’s Cross set fire to both the commercial and the civic heart of the city. One side of Patrick Street and the area surrounding it were razed to the ground, while City Hall and the neighbouring Carnegie Library were gutted as Auxiliaries and Black and Tans shot at Cork’s firemen and cut their hoses in an effort to ensure maximum damage. Then, to add insult to injury, as the smoke cleared the British government tried to blame Cork’s own citizens for the devastation. Using eyewitness accounts and contemporary sources, and illustrated with exceptional Product format: Hardback images from the period, Cork Burning tells the story of the events Price: €19.99; £16.99 ISBN: 978 1 78117 624 5 before, during and after that infamous night. Extent: 256 pp
It covers such topics as Cork City before December 1920, the Black Format: 240 x 168mm and Tans, Auxiliaries and K Company, Republican Cork, a timeline of Imprint: Mercier Press Distribution: Gill events before the burning of Cork City, early fires and arson by crown forces in Cork, the Kilmichael Ambush, the Dillon’s Cross Ambush, premises destroyed, official investigations into the causes, compensation and rebuilding.
Michael Lenihan is a native of Cork who lives and works in the city. An avid collector of Cork memorabilia, he owns a large library of Cork books, photographs, postcards and maps which has taken over forty years to amass. His previous books, Hidden Cork (2009) and Pure Cork (2011), were local bestsellers.
Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House Bessboro Road Blackrock Cork Ireland Tel +353 21 461 4700 Fax +353 21 461 4802 deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie
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Mercier Press Advance Information Thanks, Penneys Valerie Loftus & Illustrated by Ciara Kenny November 2018 Thanks, Penneys is a love letter to an Irish institution, hilariously exploring our complicated relationship with the shop – from the chaos of the changing rooms to the questionable delights of the lingerie section and beyond. Contains over 100 illustrations that are sure to raise a few giggles. Whether you’re a slave to your Penneys Uggs, or simply enjoy the odd ramble in for a few bits, you’ll find lots to relate to in this book. Destined Product format: Hardback to see the inside of thousands of Christmas stockings! Price: €9.99; £8.49 ISBN: 978 1 78117 622 1 Extent: 224 pp Format: 183 x147mm Valerie Loftus is a journalist who was born and bred in Co Mayo, Imprint: Mercier Press though she has since defected to the Big Smoke. A graduate of DCU’s Distribution: Gill
BA in Journalism, you might have seen her work in Stellar magazine, the Irish Independent, or DailyEdge.ie. Her personal favourite part of Penneys is the beauty section, where you will probably find her spending wild amounts of money on makeup under the pretence of ‘getting the few bits’.
Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House Bessboro Road Blackrock Cork Ireland Tel +353 21 461 4700 Fax +353 21 461 4802 deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie
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Mercier Press Advance Information Unbowed
A Soldier's Journey Back from Paralysis Billy Hedderman November 2018 Unbowed: A Solider's Journey Back from Paralysis is the story of a dramatic recovery from diagnosed quadriplegia to a level of functionality rarely seen. Billy Hedderman was body boarding on the Sunshine Coast, Australia on New Year's Eve 2014, when a wave dumped him into the sand. He broke his neck, back and suffered immediate spinal cord damage, paralysing him from the neck down. Lucky not to drown, Billy was rushed to Queensland's premier spinal injuries unit where he began the difficult road to recovery. Yet incredibly within seven months of his injury, the incomplete quadriplegic ran a 10 km race in Brisbane in under Product format: Paperback one hour. Price: €16.99; £14.49 Billy details how his previous life experience – such as service in the elite Special Forces unit Army Ranger Wing, and the death of his two close friends – have assisted in his mental toughness to prevail against all expectations. The book provides insight into Irish Special Forces from a recent serving tactical commander. Billy is currently a serving Captain in the Australian Infantry.
Born and raised in Cork, Billy attended officer cadet school training in Curragh camp, Kildare (2001 – 2003). Honours Physical Education degree from University of Limerick (2004 – 2008). Special Forces selection course (2004) & service (2010–2013). Military qualifications include but aren't limited to: military freefall parachuting, survival instructor, Recon Soldier qualified, live fire ranges instructor, advanced mountaineering (Switzerland), many small arms weapons (rifles, machine guns, pistols, grenades, anti-tank, etc). Civilian skydiving coach qualifications. Drummer in a successful band (2004–2009). Summited Mt Kilimanjaro (2006). Currently serving in the Australian Army at the rank of Captain in the Infantry.
ISBN: 978 1 78117 593 4 Extent: 288 pp Format: 234 x156mm Imprint: Mercier Press Distribution: Gill
Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House Bessboro Road Blackrock Cork Ireland Tel +353 21 461 4700 Fax +353 21 461 4802 deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie
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Mercier Press Advance Information On the Seventh Day
Thirty Years of Great Sports Writing from the Sunday Independent Edited by John Greene November 2018 In this first of its kind collection, Sunday Independent sports editor John Greene presents a diverse range of articles from the sports desk over the last thirty years which will resonate in the minds of any Irish sports fan. Paul Kimmage's unparalleled coverage of the 2002 World Cup campaign, including his interview with Roy Keane, David Walsh's superb 1995 interview with Aidan O'Brien, a fitting tribute to Jack Nicklaus' final Major appearance by Dermot Gilleece and Marie Crowe's poignant article on the impact of Ryan McBride's death are just some of the remarkable pieces which the reader will find in On the Seventh Day – a book where any article could be regarded as a highlight in its own right. Featured writers include Eamon Dunphy, Joe Brolly, Brendan Fanning, Anthony Cronin, Cliona Foley, Eamonn Sweeney and Mick Doyle, covering GAA, football, rugby, golf, athletics, horse racing and boxing. Together the pieces provide a potted history of some of Ireland's greatest sporting achievements and show how truly great sports writing will never have any difficulty standing the test of time.
Product format: Hardback Price: €19.99; £16.99 ISBN: 978 1 78117 652 8 Extent: 384 pp Format: 234 x156mm Imprint: Mercier Press Distribution: Gill
John Greene is the sports editor of the Sunday Independent. He was previously deputy sports editor for the Irish Independent, having begun his career with The Longford Leader. John was educated at St Mel's College, Longford, and has a BA from Trinity College Dublin and an Mercier Press Unit 3B, Oak House MA from DCU.
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