Contacts: Publicity: Deirdre Roberts deirdre.roberts@mercierpress.ie +353 (0) 87 929 9313 Sales: Niamh Hatton sales@mercierpress.ie +353 (0) 87 237 7311 Distribution: Gill Distribution Phone: +353 (0) 1 500 9500 sales@gill.ie Mercier Press: Phone: +353 (0) 21 461 4700 info@mercierpress.ie www.mercierpress.ie Connect with us on Facebook or Twitter: www.facebook.com/mercierpress @IrishPublisher Mercier Press, Unit 3b, Oak House, Bessboro Road, Blackrock, Cork.
MERCIER PRESS SP RIN
G/S
UMMER TITL
018 2 ES
My Life in the IRA: The Border Campaign A no-holds-barred insider account of the IRA’s border campaign. • An eye-witness account of the border campaign 1956–62. • Details the desperate poverty of ordinary people on both sides of the border in mid20th-century Ireland. • Edited by renowned author Pádraig Yeates. Former IRA Director of Operations Mick Ryan’s memoir of growing up in Dublin’s East Wall in the 1940s and 1950s and his subsequent involvement in the border campaign. My Life in the IRA is a story of suffering, hardship, frustration and constant disappointment that will leave readers wondering why anyone would become involved in such a patently hopeless cause and, even more so, why these volunteers persisted when defeat loomed large from an early stage.
MEMOIR JANUARY 2018
Mick and his comrades regarded the objectives of 1916 not as pious aspirations but as a bequest from previous generations of revolutionaries which provided them with the opportunity to give meaning to their own lives. Mick had a ‘deep sense of regret’ that he had not been born early enough to participate in the Easter Rising and the subsequent struggle for independence. For him and his comrades to give up would have been a form of self-betrayal akin to the loss of a vocation among his more religiously inclined contemporaries.
352 PP 215 x 135 mm PAPERBACK 978 1 78117 518 7 €19.99 / £16.99
Mick Ryan grew up in Dublin’s East Wall. From an early age he was entranced by stories of Ireland’s fight for freedom and he joined the IRA as a teenager. On 12 December 1956 he participated in the launch of the border campaign and, with the exception of two brief periods in prison, was active throughout the campaign.
CAN’T MISS BACKLIST One Day in My Life is a human document of suffering, determination, anguish, courage and faith. It also provides frightening examples of man’s inhumanity to man. Written with economy and a dry humour, it charts, almost minute by minute, a brave man’s struggle to preserve his identity against cold, dirt and boredom. It is the record of a single day and conjures up vividly the enclosed hell of Long Kesh: the poor food, the harassment and the humiliating mirror searches. Bobby Sands and his comrades were often gripped by terror in the face of the iron system that held them and yet their courage never faltered.
B O BB Y S A NDS
Bobby Sands was twenty-seven years old when he died, on the sixty-sixth day of his hunger strike, on 5 May 1981. He had spent almost the last nine years of his short life in prison because of his Irish republican activities. By the time of his death he was world-famous for having embarrassed the British establishment by being elected MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone and having defiantly withstood political and moral pressure to abandon his hunger strike.
I NTR O D UC TIO N B Y G E RRY A DA MS M P
Written on toilet paper with a biro refill and hidden inside Bobby Sands’ own body, this is a book about human bravery and endurance.
Cover design by Penhouse Design
www.mercierpress.ie
ISBN: 978 1 85635 349 6
MERCIER BIOGRAPHY
Irish Publisher – Irish story
B O B B Y SANDS
I NTRODUCTI ON BY GE RRY ADAM S M P
9781781174586 9781781175125 9781856353496
Pádraig Yeates is an editor, journalist, trade unionist and author. He has worked for many years for The Irish Times and is the author of the Dublin quartet: Lockout: Dublin 1913, A City in Wartime: Dublin 1914–18, A City in Turmoil: Dublin 1919–21 and A City in Civil War: Dublin 1921–24.
The Book of Revenge: Nine Lives Trilogy 3
The final installment of the acclaimed Nine Lives trilogy, sequel to The Book of Learning and The Book of Shadows. • Popular author with a high social media profile and active event schedule. • Fantasy adventure set in Ireland. • First book was 2016 Dublin Citywide Read for Kids. Second book in the series was shortlisted for Bord Gáis Energy Children’s Book of the Year 2016.
CHILDREN’S FICTION FEBRUARY 2018 352 PP 198 x 129 mm PAPERBACK 978 1 78117 576 7 €9.99 / £8.50
CAN’T MISS BACKLIST
9781781173626 9781781174524 9781856358279
In The Book of Revenge, the final book in E.R. Murray’s Nine Lives trilogy, Ebony Smart faces her toughest challenge so far. Her enemies, Judge Ambrose and Zach Stone, have a powerful new ally and an army of Shadow Walkers to use against her. Without the help of The Book of Learning, Ebony, with pet rat, Winston, and the Order of the Nine Lives, must find a way to discover their plans, defeat the magical beings and rescue her parents. A story of ghosts, time-travel, battles and dark magic, this is Ebony’s greatest adventure so far – but will it also be her last?
Elizabeth Rose Murray’s debut novel, The Book of Learning – Nine Lives Trilogy 1, was chosen as the 2016 Dublin UNESCO City of Literature Citywide Read for Children, and the follow-up, The Book of Shadows – Nine Lives Trilogy 2, was shortlisted for the 2016 Irish Book Awards. Based in West Cork, Elizabeth has had poetry and short stories published in journals and anthologies across the UK, Ireland, Australia and America. Her stories have been shortlisted in several competitions and broadcast on radio. Her first novel for young adults, Caramel Hearts, was published in May 2016.
The Big Fellow: Michael Collins and the Irish Revolution Popular biography of Michael Collins, written by a renowned Irish author, with a new introduction by filmmaker Neil Jordan. • The book on which Neil Jordan based the film Michael Collins. • A fresh edition of the classic account of Collins’ life. • A very accessible life story; no historical knowledge is needed to enjoy it.
HISTORY FEBRUARY 2018 320 PP 198 x 129 mm PAPERBACK 978 1 78117 558 3 €14.99 / £12.50
CAN’T MISS BACKLIST
9781856356251 9781781174913 9781781170328
Reissued with an introduction by Neil Jordan, The Big Fellow is the 1937 biography of the famed Irish leader Michael Collins by acclaimed author Frank O’Connor. It is an uncompromising but humane study of Collins, whose stature and genius O’Connor recognised. A masterly, evocative portrait of one of Ireland’s most charismatic figures, The Big Fellow covers the period of Collins’ life from the Easter Rising in 1916 to his death in 1922 during the Irish Civil War. The author, having served with the anti-Treaty IRA during the Irish Civil War, wrote The Big Fellow as a form of reparation over the guilt he felt with regards to taking up arms against his fellow Irishmen and Collins’ untimely death. Liam Neeson has said that he found the book of great assistance when preparing for the role of Collins in the 1996 film directed by Neil Jordan. Frank O’Connor (1903–66) grew up in Cork city and fought in the Irish War of Independence and in the Civil War on the anti-Treaty side. He was the author of 150 works and is best known for his short story collections and memoirs. He also worked as a teacher, lecturer and translator. The Frank O’Connor short story festival has been run in his home town since 2000. His story Guests of the Nation was the inspiration for Neil Jordan’s film The Crying Game.
What About Me?
Women and the Catholic Church One woman’s investigation of the role of women in the Roman Catholic Church since its inception, as she counters the Church’s argument for excluding them from the priesthood. • The topic of women priests is controversial in the Roman Catholic Church. • Details the gradual exclusion of women from positions of power as the Roman Catholic Church evolved. • Accessible account from the viewpoint of an ordinary woman in the Roman Catholic Church.
RELIGION MARCH 2018 224 PP 215 x 135 mm PAPERBACK 978 1 78117 540 8 €14.99 / £12.50
What About Me? Women and the Catholic Church is an exploration by an ordinary woman, born into the Catholic faith of the arguments used to exclude her from ministry. The author examines the New Testament, Christian writings and papal documents as part of her quest to shed light on the story of women in the Christian movement from its earliest days to the present. The objective of the book is to explore, inform, speculate and question, and it should appeal to a general audience. What prompted her to write the book was the 2010 move by Pope Benedict XVI to elevate the ‘crime’ of ordaining women to Catholic ministry and the subsequent censoring of religious personnel who questioned this edict. This book details a quest to find out where the strong antipathy towards women in the Roman Catholic Church’s institutional mindset comes from.
Sharon Tighe-Mooney is originally from Co. Roscommon and now lives Co. Meath. She has a PhD in English and an interdisciplinary MA in Theology, Sociology and English from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, where she has held a number of teaching roles. She is a published author and has contributed to several books and journals on a range of topics. In the past, she worked in various positions in the corporate sector.
Colourful Irish Phrases An intriguing collection of Irish-language expressions with their literal and figurative meanings, some familiar and some more obscure.Will be of interest to tourists, Irish-language novices and even fluent Gaeilgeoirs. • Quirky subject matter at an impulse-purchase price point. • Author is a native Irish speaker, author and publisher of literature in Irish. • Will appeal to tourists and locals alike.
LANGUAGE MARCH 2018 128 PP 139 x 108 mm HARDBACK 978 1 78117 555 2 €4.99 / £4.99
CAN’T MISS BACKLIST
9781781174920 9781781174944 9781781174937
The Irish language has made a huge contribution to the English language as it’s spoken in Ireland and beyond. Micheál Ó Conghaile’s Colourful Irish Phrases is a small compendium of characteristic phrases that will alert the reader to the unmistakable difference between our native language and English. Even the most basic words are expressed so differently. Please in Irish is más é do thoil é (if it is your will), and thanks becomes go raibh maith agat (may you receive good). There are many phrases that when translated, word for word, sound different, unusual and sometimes funny. But above all, they are rich and lyrical. Visitors to Ireland who want to get some notion of our native identity will find these phrases both instructive and revealing. Topics covered range across subjects as diverse as insults and put-downs, being human and the gift of the gab. Micheál Ó Conghaile is a writer and publisher from Connemara. He established the publishing company Cló Iar-Chonnacht (CIC) in 1985. He has written many books in Irish and won the Hennessy Literary Award in 1997, and the Hennessy Young Irish Writer of the Year Award. In 1998 he was elected to Aosdána. His works have been translated into various languages, including Romanian, Croatian, Slovenian, German, Polish, Macedonian and Arabic, and three of his books are available in English: The Connemara Five (Arlen Press) The Colours of Man (CIC) and Rambling Jack (Dalkey Archive Press). He was writer in residence at Queen’s University, Belfast and at the University of Ulster Coleraine between 1999 and 2002.
Irish Leprechaun Stories An attractive new edition containing ten stories that feature the mischievous figure known as the leprechaun. • Eye-catching title at an impulse-purchase price point. • Perfect for the tourist market. • Author is a genuine full-time storyteller. This collection contains ten stories which convey the sense of wonder of the world of fairies, where the marvellous and unexpected can always happen.
CHILDREN MARCH 2018 160 PP 139 x 108 mm HARDBACK 978 1 78117 428 9 €4.99 / £4.99
CAN’T MISS BACKLIST
9781781173596 9781781173589 9781781173572
The leprechaun is the shoemaker of the Irish fairy kingdom. He is a solitary, fun-loving and very crafty fairy. Often he is seen sitting cross-legged with a tiny hammer in his hand, working on a fairy shoe. Those who have been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of him have described his appearance. He is no bigger than three feet tall and sometimes as small as twelve inches. Usually, he wears a suit of green and has fine leather shoes adorned with silver buckles. Sometimes he wears a cap with a feather. The leprechaun is the keeper of the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow and he knows where all the wealth of the world is buried. If you are lucky enough to catch him, you must keep your eyes on him at all times and not allow him to distract your attention or he will disappear. If he does not outsmart you he can make you very wealthy and make your wishes come true! Bairbre McCarthy was born in Ennis in County Clare but now lives in New York state. She has been writing and collecting stories for many years. She conducts storytelling workshops as part of an arts-in-education programme and gives performances based on her writing to musical accompaniment. Bairbre is also the author of An Introduction to Irish Grammar and Favourite Irish Legends (Mercier Press).
The Illustrated Favourite Poems We Learned at School A beautiful anthology of some of the best loved poems from childhood, with evocative photography to accompany the memorable lines.
NOSTALGIA
Favourite Poems We Learned at School and its companion volumes More Favourite Poems We Learned at School and Favourite Poems We Learned at School as Gaeilge are enduring bestsellers in Ireland. This illustrated edition takes forty of the most popular poems from the three volumes and juxtaposes them with classic photographs of times past – some humorous, some quirky, some poignant. The anthology contains such gems as The Village Blacksmith, Daffodils, Sea Fever and All Things Bright and Beautiful, which readers will remember with affection from their own schooldays. It is truly a collection to treasure.
MARCH 2018 118 PP 200 x 200 mm PAPERBACK ILLUSTRATIONS, BLACK & WHITE 978 1 78117 413 5 €14.99 / £12.99
CAN’T MISS BACKLIST Thomas F. Walsh was born in Headford, County Galway. He was formerly a primary school principal in Dublin and is now a writer and broadcaster.
9781856351065 9781856355506 9780853420507
THE BITESIZE BOOK OF Great Irish Heroes A small gift book aimed at the tourist and local market. • Appealing package at an impulse-purchase price point. • Features men and women up to the early 20th century. • Perfect souvenir or small gift. From Collins to Cú Chulainn and from Dev to Daniel O’Connell, this is a collection of short biographies of some of the most admirable Irishmen and women in history. The heroes range across time and offer an exceptional overview of Irish history, including well-known figures from the worlds of medicine, science, politics, the Arts and education, as well as some lesser-known but equally brave and heroic characters from our history.
HISTORY APRIL 2018
Designed to inform and entertain both the new reader and those familiar with Irish culture, it features: Michael Davitt, Constance Markievicz, Charles Stewart Parnell, Mary Aikenhead, Éamon de Valera, Patrick Pearse, Brian Boru, George Boole, James Gandon, Henry Joy McCracken, Patrick Sarsfield, Betsy Gray, St Brendan, Henry Grattan, Nano Nagle, Michael Collins, Douglas Hyde, Daniel O’Connell, James Connolly, Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, Jonathan Swift, Cú Chulainn, Liam Lynch and Theobald Wolfe Tone, among others.
256 PP 139 x 108 mm HARDBACK 978 1 78117 579 8 €4.99 / £4.99
CAN’T MISS BACKLIST of the Irish Revolution
Liz Gillis
Liz Gillis is from the Liberties in Dublin city. She has a degree in Irish history and has previously worked as a local history researcher. She has written three other books about the Irish revolution – Ireland Over All, The Fall of Dublin and
WOMEN
Women of the Irish Revolution tells the story of the vital role that women played both directly and indirectly in the fight for Irish freedom from 1900–23. These women were part of a generation who made a conscious decision to stand up not only for their rights, but also for the rights of future generations, at a time when society viewed the role of women as that of mother and wife. The independence movement could not have succeeded without their contribution, which saw them put themselves in great danger in order to help free their country. The book also tells the story of those who, though not directly involved, lost so much as a result of that conflict. They were the wives, mothers, sisters and girlfriends of the men who fought and died for Irish freedom, and their story is one that needs to be told. History, they say, is written by the victors, and more often than not the victors are men. The women from this period are the forgotten generation and it is now time to remember them.
Revolution in Dublin 1913–23 – and has worked as a researcher on a number of publications covering the period. She has taken part in numerous conferences and lectures about the Irish revolution and has also developed a walking tour of the Liberties, focusing on the revolutionary history of the area. She is also coorganiser of the annual conference on the burning of the Custom House in 1921.
www.mercierpress.ie
MERCIER HISTORY
Irish Publisher - Irish Story
Front cover, top : members of Cumann na mBan (courtesy of the National Library of Ireland, HOG 164 ); bottom (l. to r.): Linda Kearns, Eithne Coyle and Mae Burke (courtesy of Mercier Archive) Back cover : Kathleen Clarke, Countess Markievicz and Kate O’Callaghan (courtesy of the Pearse Museum 2004.0196)
9781856354806 9781856356251 9781781174654
Sean McMahon was born in Derry and educated at St Columb’s College and Queens University Belfast. He later returned to the city of his birth to teach in St Columb’s. He has written and edited dozens of books in the areas of history, literary criticism and biography, including the bestselling A Short History of Ireland and Rebel Ireland: from Easter Rising to Civil War.
Beyond the Breakwater: Memories of Home
A charming memoir of growing up in a family transplanted from city life to the Ring Gaeltacht from the 1960s right up to the present day. • Author is a former Irish Times journalist and a regular contributor to Sunday Miscellany on RTÉ Radio 1. • Taps into nostalgia in a similar way to Alice Taylor’s writing. • A warm-hearted family story with wide appeal.
MEMOIR APRIL 2018 192 PP 215 x 135 mm PAPERBACK 978 1 78117 546 0 €14.99 / £12.50
CAN’T MISS BACKLIST Kelly, who was as fine a writer as he was a seanchaí, published six bestselling volumes of stories based on his shows: In My Father’s Time, Bless Me Father, The Rub of a Relic, The Holy Well, According to Custom, English That for Me and Your Humble Servant.
Éamon Kelly, actor, seanchaí and writer, was born near Rathmore in County Kerry in 1914. He had a varied and successful career as an actor, performing in the plays of Brian Friel, Tom Murphy and Sebastian Barry, among others. He published two volumes of memoirs, The Apprentice (1995) and The Journeyman (1998).
Cover photograph Fergus Bourke
IRELAND’S The Collected Stories of Éamon Kelly MASTER STORYTELLER
In Ireland's Master Storyteller, Éamon Kelly’s stories are collected for the first time; stories of the real Kerry and the magical past, the heartbreak of emigration, the stations, the priests, the courting and dancing, the war between the sexes. Here is an encapsulation of an era that has passed only very recently. Kelly mines a rich seam of humour and sadness out of the resilience of a people who were rich in hospitality and generosity, in imagination, culture and tradition.
IRELAND’S MASTER STORYTELLER The Collected Stories of Éamon Kelly
www.mercierpress.ie
MERCIER FICTION
Irish Publisher - Irish Story
9781856351560 9781860230806 9780853420507
Beyond the Breakwater tells the story of Catherine Foley’s transition from childhood to adulthood. She chronicles her family’s journey from Waterford to the Gaeltacht in 1970 and monitors the shifting times of each successive decade, recalling individuals, relations, friends and communities she has known. Told in the first person, her stories are concerned with the passions, memories and experiences of a writer who is always mindful and mystified by the march of time. Although her stories are shaped and honed by the salty landscape of the Ring Peninsula, she also describes times when she was away from home, either travelling or living in Cork, Tipperary and Dublin. This is a story concerned with the complexities, mysteries and longings of the heart and mind. It celebrates a passionate engagement with the natural world and recounts a history that spans the generations, describing how the march of time continues to mark individuals and communities.
Catherine Foley is a full-time writer and broadcaster. She is a former staff journalist with The Irish Times and a regular contributor to Sunday Miscellany on RTÉ Radio 1. Catherine has had three Irish-language novellas published and has scripted, presented and co-produced a number of documentaries for TG4, including programmes about the writer Molly Keane, the singer Frank Patterson, the journalist Donal Foley and the balladeer Tom Clancy. Catherine also lectures in UCC.
The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee A dramatic life story of the boxer's sporting success combined with violence, tragedy and addiction. • Author is a renowned sports journalist and passionate boxing fan. • Magee’s life reads like the script of a Hollywood film. • Ricky Hatton was knocked down for the first time in his career by Magee when they fought in 2002.
BIOGRAPHY APRIL 2018 320 PP 234 x 156 mm PAPERBACK 978 1 78117 573 6 €16.99 / £14.50
CAN’T MISS BACKLIST
9781781175088 9781781173312
The remarkable story of Eamonn Magee’s life takes in a childhood lived during the height of the Troubles, a youth spent involved with the IRA, and the constant presence of drink, drugs, gambling and violence throughout his life. It may be hard to believe but it was against the background of all this that Eamonn won the WBU welterweight and Commonwealth light welterweight titles. The author, Paul Gibson, has managed to decipher a very dark, very troubled, very flawed individual who happened to have an exceptional gift to box at the highest world level. The Lost Soul of Eamonn Magee reads like a screenplay of the kind of gritty rags-to-riches-torags boxing story that Hollywood producers seem to love. Paul Gibson is a journalist whose work appears regularly in The Guardian, The Belfast Telegraph and Boxing Monthly, amongst other publications. His first book, an autobiography of UFC fighter Dan Hardy, was released in March 2017. Eamonn Magee grew up in the Ardoyne area of Belfast and is a former professional boxer. He held the Commonwealth light welterweight title twice, and challenged for the European light welterweight and British welterweight titles. He is a veteran of the Irish and European professional fight scenes and fought out of the Breen Gym in Belfast, where he now works as an assistant trainer to John Breen.
Discovering the Boyne Valley A complete guide to the Boyne Valley written by the Director of the Meath Heritage Centre. • New, up-to-date guide to the famous Boyne Valley region. • Packed with quirky stories and striking colour images.
TRAVEL MAY 2018 128 PP 215 x 135 mm PAPERBACK ILLUSTRATIONS, COLOUR
The Boyne Valley is a place of history, myth and legend. This rich valley is home to some of Ireland's most famous heritage sites and monuments – Tara, Newgrange, Trim and the Battle of the Boyne site – but there are many others, including Loughcrew, Monasterboice and Mellifont, which are major attractions in their own right. A landscape of passage tombs, sacred hills, monastic ruins, bloody battlefields and heritage towns – no wonder the Boyne Valley is considered the birthplace of Ireland’s Ancient East. The legends, stories and history of these places have been brought together by local historian and guide Noel French who has been studying and publishing in relation to the area for the past thirty years.
978 1 78117 521 7 €12.99 / £10.99
CAN’T MISS BACKLIST
9781781171318 9781856352765 9781781170427
Noel French holds an MA in Local Studies from NUI Maynooth. He has been Director of the Meath Heritage Centre since 1987, a County Councillor with Meath County Council since 2014 and he has also been editor of Focus on Trim for 20 years. He lives in Trim, Co. Meath with his wife and three children. Discovering the Boyne Valley is his first book.
Secrets to Success:
Inspiring Stories from Leading Entrepreneurs The inside story of some of Ireland’s most successful businesses as told to the former Irish presidential candidate and Dragons' Den star. • Foreword by Jack Canfield, bestselling author and America’s No. 1 success coach. • Author's high-profile will guarantee media coverage. • Features both the highs and lows of some of the best-known Irish brands.
BUSINESS MAY 2018 320 PP 198 x 129 mm PAPERBACK 978 1 78117 525 5 €14.99 / £12.50
CAN’T MISS BACKLIST
Looking at companies as diverse as Tayto Park/Largo Foods, Teelings Whiskey, Tour America, Brite Bill, Celtic Pure, Louis Copeland and Sons, Realex Payments, Wallace Myers International and Voxpro, this is a compilation of inspiring accounts of successful Irish entrepreneurs and business leaders. Their stories are as diverse and as interesting as the businesses they lead. One thing they share is that they haven’t just dreamed about becoming successful, they have taken action.They have stepped out from the crowd, out of their comfort zone and triumphed. Woven throughout these stories are valuable lessons about the journey from start-up to success. We learn about their backgrounds and what shaped them, how they came up with their killer business idea, and the significant challenges that confronted them along the way. We learn too that while they have enjoyed the sweet taste of victory, all, without exception, have known times of bitter defeat. Above all else, we learn that it has been their incredible tenacity and resilience that has helped them turn obstacles into opportunities and adversity into success. Perhaps their greatest achievement, though, is that by their very example they inspire the rest of us to pursue our own dreams. Seán Gallagher, is an Irish entrepreneur, businessman and 2011 presidential candidate from County Cavan. He is the founder of the company Smarthomes and has featured as a panellist on RTÉ’s Dragons’ Den.
9781781174104 9781781174746 9781781172049
No Sex, No Sleep:
So You’re Going to be a Father • Funny, well-written and explains the highs and lows of modern parenting. • Author is a well-known in the media. • Ideal gift for Father’s Day or for a dad-to-be. No Sex, No Sleep tells the unvarnished truth about fatherhood. Forget about magic moments and bonding, this is about puke, wet-wipes and enjoying the sex life of a hermit. Pat Fitzpatrick wants to tell new dads what they can expect in the first four years of their child’s life, and give them a right good laugh along the way.
PARENTING JUNE 2018 224 PP 215 x 135 mm PAPERBACK 978 1 78117 532 3 €14.99 / £12.50
CAN’T MISS BACKLIST
9781781173206 9781781173176 9781781173725
The book is based on Fitzpatrick’s popular Dad’s View column and covers everything from buggy shopping, the labour ward, naming your child, bringing them home and dealing with the in-laws, to later issues such as choosing a school, time-outs, toilet training and much more. Written in short, digestible chunks, No Sex, No Sleep can be picked up and put down as the mood takes you, and will make an ideal present for a first-time dad, a dad with more than one child, or any mom out there who wants to know what the men in their lives are really thinking. Which is not much, other than can they please go and lie down for a month.
Pat is a columnist with the Sunday Independent, Irish Examiner and Eumom.ie. He also has a weekly slot on RTÉ’s Today Show with Maura Derrane and Dáithí Ó Sé, where he takes a sideways glance at modern lifestyle and his culture. His TV writing credits include The Cutting Edge, The Mario Rosenstock Show and the Saturday Night Show. Pat is also a regular on numerous radio shows including Countrywide, Ryan Tubridy, The Dave Fanning Show and Neil Prendevile.
Tuesdays Are Just As Bad • Winner of Mercier fiction competition. • Funny, diverse set of characters, a compelling premise and unique narrative voice. • Shines a light on the topic of teen suicide. When troubled teenager Adam wakes in hospital after a suicide attempt, he finds that he has company. A ghost. Or perhaps it’s something else. This ‘ghost’ is as confused as Adam about the whole situation.
YA FICTION JUNE 2018 288 PP 198 x 129 mm PAPERBACK 978 1 78117 564 4 €12.99 / £10.99
Narrated from the point of view of this ‘ghost’, Tuesdays are just as Bad follows Adam as he attempts to return to normal life – whatever that is. When Adam makes new friends via his counselling sessions, he ends up developing a relationship with one of the gang, Aoife. Surrounded by these friends, Adam starts to feel happy again. The ghost, however, becomes jealous at this turn of events. In the end, he decides that the only way he can be free of this feeling is to isolate Adam so he can have him all to himself, with catastrophic results. Tuesdays are just as Bad deals with serious issues such as depression and teenage suicide, but is filtered through author Cethan Leahy’s humane and witty writing. A mix of Louise O’Neill’s Asking for It and Nothing Tastes as Good by Claire Hennessy, Tuesdays are just as Bad is undoubtedly the debut of an exciting new talent in Irish YA fiction. Cethan Leahy is a writer, filmmaker, and editor of Irish literary magazine The Penny Dreadful. His short stories are published in The Looking Glass, Wordlegs and Five Dials and he has written two Fiction Express eBooks for Middle Grade, The Chosen One (and his mum and his dad and his sister) and Prince Charming and his Quest for a Wife. Cethan’s animation short The Beast of Bath was broadcast on national television 3e. His short film The Amazing appeared in Cork film anthology Cork, Like in 2013. His radio programmes, including children’s drama Tales from the Fairy Fort, have appeared on LifeFM and RTÉ Jnr digital radio. He has also contributed illustration work to Cork comics press Turncoat Press.
RAGE-IN High profile comedian and TV personality Tara Flynn guides us on a funny but passionate trail through the major issues facing us in our volatile modern world. • Will get lots of media coverage due to highprofile author. • Timely publication given her writing on the Repeal the Eighth movement. • Provides relief and humour for those struggling through these dark times. The world is a mess and bestselling author and comedian Tara Flynn is raging. Well, sometimes. Other times she’s shocked, bemused, irreverent or downright gob-smacked. It depends on the week, really.
CURRENT AFFAIRS & HUMOUR JUNE 2018 256 PP 213 x 135 mm PAPERBACK 978 1 78117 585 9 €14.99 / £12.50
Rage-In is a collection of essays providing a personal look at our modern world.Written in Tara’s distinctive voice – conversational, witty and easy to read – we are guided through all the major issues facing us today, whether it be Emperor Trump, Brexit, the impending apocalypse (whatever form it may take), trolls, being a Feminazi, or how pastels are actually the WORST. With humour and empathy – as well as the occasional bout of rage – Tara Flynn tackles modern life and, through it all, provides some possible insights into how best to survive it.
Tara Flynn is an Irish actress, comedian and writer. Originally from Kinsale, Co. Cork, she is the author of two previous satirical books – You’re Grand: the Irishwoman’s Secret Guide to Life and Giving Out Yards: the Art of Complaint, Irish Style (Hachette Books Ireland). TV appearances include roles in Moone Boy, Line of Duty and Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle, and she is currently the voice of ‘Our Tara’ in the Irish reboot of the show Blind Date. She is a core member of Dublin Comedy Improv and was a founding member of the comedy group The Nualas. She has also been a columnist for The Irish Tatler and HeadStuff, and is a regular contributor to The Irish Times.
notes