Local history: Tales of rescue, tragedy and some curious snippetsNew books from Brendan Power, Ken Boyle and Tim Desmond, and Maurice CurtisSat Mar 21 2020 - 06:00
Local history: Reflections on Derry and Donegal’s turbulent pastBook review: Several new releases capture a diversity of viewpointsSat Jan 25 2020 - 06:00
Ingenious Ireland: A cornucopia of a book that should be savoured slowlyMary Mulvihill’s odyssey around the country reveals Irish trailblazers and neglected subjectsFri Jan 17 2020 - 06:00
The art of reduplication: a willy-nilly helter-skelter through dictionariesIf the Japanese declutterer Marie Kondo has her way, you would have only 30 booksSun Dec 15 2019 - 19:00
Local history round-up: Architectural archive of central LeinsterPlus histories of buildings of south Down and gate lodges in ConnachtSat Nov 30 2019 - 06:00
The Troubles through an Iranian lens: Kaveh Kazemi’s Northern Ireland imagesThe images cover the whole gamut of conflict, juxtaposed with day-to-day street lifeTue Oct 29 2019 - 17:51
Local history round-up: Exploring the stories of the Gap of DunloeDrumlish & Ballinamuck history, Aghowle, Kerry Folk TalesSat Oct 05 2019 - 06:00
Now we’re sucking diesel – An Irishman’s Diary on colloquialisms and old sayingsTue Sept 24 2019 - 17:46
Benedict Kiely memorably portrays travelling across the US in the 1960sHe captured the changing face of the country, through Irish eyesMon Aug 12 2019 - 18:00
Piano keys, strings and vocal cords: books about Irish musicOverlooked musicians, organists, choirmasters, dancers and harpistsSat Aug 10 2019 - 06:00
Local history round-up: Watershed Irish moments remembered in Armagh villageGothic fairy stories, Yola in Wexford and the dialect in WestportSat Jun 15 2019 - 06:00
Finding the source of the binge – and other hidden delightsAn Irishman’s Diary on the joys of a paper travel guidebookSun Apr 21 2019 - 18:01
From the Rising to the Civil War: the local history books capturing the era’s unheard storiesLimerick’s soviet; Kilkenny’s ‘gentle revolutionaries’ and the burning of CorkSat Apr 20 2019 - 06:00
Local history reviews: Charting a changing landscape in staggering detailA banned account of Co Kerry parishes and a look at life at the Tuam sugar factorySat Mar 02 2019 - 06:00
Haunted houses and mysterious gate lodges: Ireland’s hidden historyFour books tell stories of rural regions’ often overlooked buildings and landscapesSat Jan 05 2019 - 06:00
On the trail of Robert Louis Stevenson: An Irishman’s Diary on the novelist’s journey through southern FranceMon Dec 10 2018 - 00:01
Love, island royalty and local historical colour18th-century Donegal, the late King of Tory and travel diaries all make good readingSat Nov 10 2018 - 06:00
Local history round-up: playing games at wakes and women piratesQuirky Mayo anthology, soaring eagles, ‘Grania mania’ and Anne BonnySat Sept 15 2018 - 06:00
In My Mind’s Eye review: Still prolific, 17 years after retirementJan Morris, now in her 90s, has written colourful stories about everything from her Welsh neighbours to a mouse infestationSat Sept 08 2018 - 06:00
How the building of Ardnacrusha turned from scepticism to triumphLocal history roundup: A portrait of the colourful characters of Portumna and the brutal lives of 19th century IrelandTue Jul 24 2018 - 06:00
From the front line to the home frontLocal history round-up: Wings over Wexford: USN Air Station Wexford 1918-19 by Liam Gaul; Messines to Carrick Hill, Writing home from the Great War by Tom Burke; Making It Home edited by Marion Maxwell and Fiona WrightSat May 26 2018 - 06:00
Local history round-up: From Michael Flatley’s Castle Hyde to the ShawliesLocal governance in Fingal, Strabally Hall and Kerry in the 17th century also featureSat Apr 07 2018 - 06:00
To have and to hold – An Irishman’s Diary on collector and philanthropist Sir Richard WallaceMon Mar 12 2018 - 00:01
The Famine, an extraordinary church and a boy’s own Tipperary storyLocal history: Rich and varied tapestry of local lives brought vividly to lifeSat Feb 10 2018 - 06:00
An Irishman’s Diary on James McGregor, ‘the Moses of the Scotch-Irish in America’Wed Jan 03 2018 - 00:01
Local history review: Have you eaten a donkey’s gudge?Jimmy Crowley’s folklore collection, history of Sion Mills, private libraries and poet Lizzie TwigSat Dec 23 2017 - 06:00
Small towns in Ireland with big stories to tellNew books about Wexford, Tramore, Dingle, Killaloe, Sligo and Enniskillen are rich with period detailSat Nov 04 2017 - 06:00
Local History round-up: How fields get their names, and other Co Meath nuggetsIreland’s smallest county – the Boyne Valley in particular – brims with historySat Sept 09 2017 - 06:00
From Custer’s Last Stand to ethnic cleansing in LaoisLocal history: writers and researchers delve into the distant and recent pastSat Jul 15 2017 - 06:00
From Tyrone to New York – An Irishman’s Diary about Archbishop John Joseph HughesMon Jun 19 2017 - 00:01
Local history: Ireland’s Post Office, Belfast’s architectural heritage and an ancient graveyard in BirrBooks focus on unique elements of Irish historySat May 20 2017 - 06:00
Local History: From Lough Derg to Omey, books inspired by the Irish landscapePaul Clements rounds up a selection of books about Ireland’s islands, lakes and townlandsSat Apr 01 2017 - 06:00
Dublin’s hidden history: Five volumes of facts and storiesAway from the main sites, the city’s by-ways reveal some fascinating tales and triviaSat Dec 03 2016 - 06:00
Local history reviews: from 1800s Dún Laoghaire to the BurrenPaul Clements looks at a number of books documenting both urban and rural IrelandSat Oct 15 2016 - 05:00
Three’s Company – An Irishman’s Diary on 70 years of the Third Programme and BBC Radio 3Wed Oct 05 2016 - 01:01
Local History: History and art merge in life and works of Percy FrenchRound-up review: Tones That Are Tender by Berrie O’Neill, Ring of Kerry: The Postcard Collection by Kieran McCarthy, and Well, Here I Am in Ballycotton by Peter O’SheaSat Aug 20 2016 - 05:00
Bookmarks: A phobia about homophonesThese nasty words cause misunderstanding and sometimes hilarity for the readerWed Aug 03 2016 - 15:38
Local history book reviews: old ways and byways revisitedHistorians are finding troves of information as parish records become more accessibleSat Jun 25 2016 - 01:38
Revisiting Ireland’s west coast: what has changed in 25 years?In 1991 Paul Clements hitchhiked the Irish coastline for his first travel book – 25 years on, he retraced his steps for a new book based on a journey along the Wild Atlantic WayFri May 27 2016 - 11:57
Local history reviews: Spotlights on small-town life, from Doolin to ClogherDoolin: People, Place & Culture; The Clogher Story; Walking the Munster Blackwater; A Fly Never Lit; Thon Ulster Scots BookFri Apr 29 2016 - 14:08
Old school ties – An Irishman’s Diary on the 1916 Rising and St Malachy’s College in BelfastTue Mar 22 2016 - 01:01