The Irish Writers Handbook 2025 hits the shelves in partnership with Irish Book Week, the nationwide celebration of Irish bookshops, Irish books, publishers, writers, illustrators and poets, running from October 19th-26th.
The new and updated handbook features more than 60 industry experts who offer their experience and advice, as well as a comprehensive, up-to-date directory of contacts and listings for all Irish publishers, writing services, festivals, resources and competitions.
Here, some of the contributors recommend a book for Irish Book Week, along with their favourite bookshop – and give a taste of what they write about in The Irish Writers Handbook 2025.
There will be a Q&A with some of The Irish Writers Handbook contributors at Chapters Bookshop in Dublin this Saturday, October 19th, at noon. The handbook will be in all good bookshops from October 19th too.
What do Irish writers read? Donal Ryan, Mark Tighe, Nuala O’Connor, Claire Hennessy and more give recommendations
Sam Thompson: ‘I really don’t think there is a distinction to be made between writing for adults and writing for children’
A New York Times book critic spent five days in Dublin. Here’s how he got on
Donal Ryan
A book I’d recommend is Plainsong by Kent Haruf. It’s a beautiful, gentle, affirming novel, an expression of faith in human decency, and also a pure page-turner.
I have a deep attachment to a few bookshops, but the Nenagh Bookshop, run by John and Catherine Ryan, feels like a second home. They’ve launched most of my books and my mum was always treated like royalty in there. (Even though she denied any resemblance to the Queen of Dirt Island!)
My piece in the handbook: I hope that people might think more about the importance of reading, the power contained in language, and how we should always read to expand our vision, and not to have our biases confirmed.
Olivia Fitzsimons
The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa. I first came across Yoko Ogawa on the New Yorker fiction podcast after a writer friend recommended that I listen to the story, The Cafeteria in the Evening and a Pool in the Rain. I was instantly smitten and have been working through all her writing since. I was reading Ogawa’s novel, The Housekeeper and the Professor, to my mother in the days before she died. There was something soothing in that act: my quiet reading, the tender rhythm of the language, fluid with beautiful descriptions of the relationship between the housekeeper, her son Root and the maths professor. Ogawa’s writing seemed to help us transcend the space, to move beyond the clinical, and it brought me, and I hope my mother, back to evenings in childhood, the simple act of being read to, of reading to someone you love. Ogawa gave us one last story, so for me her work will always remain a gift.
My favourite adult bookshops in Dublin are Books Upstairs and Hodges Figgis. In my hometown of Greystones, there is the incredible children’s bookshop, Halfway Up The Stairs. I am a very busy aunt with a gaggle of nephews and nieces so there is no better place to indulge their love of reading. My sons adore the subscription service and I adore the fact that I can describe any child’s whims and wishes and Trish and her lovely staff always give me the perfect book I’m searching for. It’s a truly happy place with a great focus on Irish children’s and YA authors. Visit!
My piece in the handbook: When I wrote about my debut experience, I wanted to share the things that I knew, that I wish I’d known and that I learned along the way, because whether brilliant or bruising, the whole adventure of releasing a book (and yourself) into the world of publishing is daunting and makes even the most confident person vulnerable. This handbook would have been such a gift to myself and my peers and made things a lot easier if we’d had it to guide us: instead, we learned the hard way but there’s no need for that. Buy the book, for yourself or your friends/loved ones who have confided that they are writing, or thinking about getting started. It contains fantastic advice, counsel and inspiration for every stage of the journey.
Danielle McLaughlin
I’ve just finished Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey and loved it. Such a gorgeous, life-affirming novel. The characters felt so real and intimate, it was like reading about people I’d known for years.
I’m always in and out of Waterstones on Patrick Street in Cork. The booksellers are incredibly helpful and friendly and also do a brilliant job of supporting local authors. A special shout out to John Breen, who is a legend!
My piece in the handbook: Even when, or especially when, the rejections are arriving thick and fast, keep going. Also, if you haven’t read Jean Rhys, you don’t know what you’re missing.
Mark Tighe
At the moment I’m reading the excellent She Said by Meghan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, the New York Times journalists that broke the Harvey Weinstein scandal story. Really looking forward to reading Catherine Sanz’s new book Drama Drives Interest on the Web Summit and Paddy Cosgrave.
I’m lucky to have two super bookshops nearby: The Rathfarnham Bookshop and The Village Bookshop in Terenure. Both have passionate owners and helpful staff. My kids and I always like popping in for a gander.
My piece in the handbook: My piece is to help those writers and publishers preparing non-fiction works who haven’t considered defamation risks to be aware of the pitfalls. I hope it doesn’t put anybody off publishing challenging work as there’s a huge appetite for good, hard-hitting books.
Cristín Leach
Cork-based poet Lucy Holme’s nonfiction debut Blue Diagonals is a stunning blend of essay and memoir, published by Brokensleep Books.
I’m torn between The Kilkenny Bookcentre, where I spent so many happy days of my childhood browsing, and Waterstones in Cork, which won my heart in my late teens and twenties.
My piece in the handbook: Hybrid texts are all about play and experimentation. When you get it right, hopefully the reader feels as excited by the results as you are.
Jessica Traynor
I’d recommend All the Good Things You Deserve, the latest poetry collection by Elaine Feeney. Elaine’s novels are deservedly garnering lots of awards and praise, but her poetry is just as rich and vital and rewarding, and this is a collection with real bite.
I would be absolutely lost without the sustaining presence of Books Upstairs. A true haven for poetry lovers, and a marvellously supportive venue for readings and launches of all kinds of writing. I’m in and out of here on a weekly basis for events, meetings and catch-ups.
My piece in the handbook: My piece is about those tentative and anxious moments after a first collection comes out into the world, and how we build a writing community that sustains us. I hope it’ll demystify some aspects of the poetry world, and give people a sense of the long view.
Milena Williamson
Elaine Feeney’s How to Build a Boat. It’s a brilliant story of unexpected friendships and intergenerational trauma. The characters are original and surprising, and by the end of the book, you too want to be sailing down the river in a currach.
No Alibis in Belfast is my favourite bookshop. I will always remember the generous deliveries during the pandemic, the personalised book recommendations, and of course, the launch of my debut poetry collection. No Alibis is my home away from home. It keeps me grounded in Belfast.
My piece in the handbook: I hope my piece will encourage emerging poets to keep writing and dream big about their debut collections. It may feel like a daunting task, but if I can do it, so can you.
Eoghan Smith
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch is the last Irish book that made a significant impression on me and is a book everyone should read for both its timeliness and universality. The most entertaining and provocative book I’ve read this year is Mary and the Rabbit Dream by Noémi Kiss-Deáki. Outside of fiction, I strongly recommend collections by two brilliant Irish essayists: Affinities: On Art and Fascination by Brian Dillon and What is it Like to Be Alive? by Chris Arthur.
I love browsing without any real aim in bookshops. My local bookshop, The Maynooth Bookshop, is a little piece of gold where I have discovered books I didn’t even know I wanted to read. I try to order through the shop rather than through online sellers; without bookshops our towns would be much less interesting and imaginatively adventurous places.
In all the welter of very good advice and information about how to learn your craft and get published, it can be easy to forget why a writer writes at all. Hopefully my piece in the handbook, which is about finding, developing and remaining faithful to an artistic vision, will encourage people to think of that fundamental starting point: what it is a writer is trying to say about the world.
Paul Carroll
Given its proximity to Halloween, and my own involvement as the comics guy in The Irish Writer’s Handbook, I’m going to suggest Scarenthood by Nick Roche and Chris O’Halloran – a folk horror graphic novel set in Wexford.
I’ve been working with books in one way or another since I was 16. To this day, when I need a pick-me-up I go to a bookshop just to be surrounded by books, to look at their covers and to take in the special atmosphere that only a bookshop can provide. I’ve lost myself in Hodges Figgis more than once, found authors at The Gutter Bookshop, and hid away in Chapters looking for its secrets.
My piece in the handbook: I’ve been working in comics since 2015, and the one thing that was always missing was information on how other people got started. The community is always growing and changing, and it’s always been welcoming to new voices. It’s my hope that my piece will provide some useful insights to people who love the medium of comics and graphic novels, but find the whole scene too overwhelming to figure out how to break in.
Kevin Curran
There’s a Monster Behind the Door, by Gaelle Belem and translated into English by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint-Loubert. It is published this October by a relatively new Irish publisher which specialises in translated fiction, Bullaun Press. Set in La Reunion, it is a funny and equally disturbing look at life on the margins.
Skerries Bookshop was my favourite bookshop. I even have a framed painting of it on my wall. But alas, it closed earlier this year. My new favourite bookshop is Dubray Books in Swords Pavilions ... simply because it has only recently opened, and to see a new large bookshop open in such a big shopping centre (where there’s already an Eason) always makes me smile when I walk past and gives me hope for the written word!
My piece in the handbook is a little insight into the absolute privilege and joy I experienced working with five different actors in bringing the audiobook version of my novel Youth to life.
Christabel Scaife
I just finished The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise, Olivia Laing’s beautiful account of restoring a walled garden in Suffolk during the pandemic. The garden is the connecting thread, but she ranges widely through history and literature, and brings it all back to the big questions of our time, about our relationship to nature in the face of a global climate crisis.
I love Books at One, a friendly community bookshop in Louisburgh with a great selection of titles.
My piece in the handbook: People spend years on PhDs and it can be disheartening to find that presses aren’t interested in publishing a thesis. I hope my piece will help first-time academic authors make the all-important leap from thesis to book.
Anne Tannam
He Used to Be Me by Anne Walsh Donnelly. It’s the story of Daft Matt, a marginalised character from the west of Ireland. Writing in lyrical prose, Donnelly captures with humour and deep empathy the complex humanity of a man who has strayed beyond the comfort and safety of his community.
Books Upstairs. It’s an institution at this stage. Where better to watch Dublin go by than sitting at the bay window, a cuppa in one hand and a book in the other?
My piece in the handbook: If we’re struggling to commit to a writing practice, it can be helpful to identify our unique “why as writers. Having identified our why, we can explore ways to make writing the priority that other activities accommodate rather than the other way around.
Nuala O’Connor
I recommend Amanda Clarke’s Holy Wells of County Cork, from Wildways Press. Full of gorgeous photos and in-depth information about these important cultural sites.
Kennys in Galway is a magical place – dedicated, innovative booksellers, an art gallery, and true support of Irish writers.
My piece in the handbook: A little knowledge, a little focus. You learn to write by writing, but I hope the piece will be useful for those who love, particularly, working with historical narratives – it’s a special joy to weave fact with fiction.
Gerard Beirne
Growing up in Cavan and ending up living in Sligo, perhaps it’s no surprise that I’d recommend A Goat’s Song, by Dermot Healy (who also moved to Cavan as a child before settling in Sligo in later years). I remember well how he cornered me early on in my writing life in the bar of the Farnham Arms Hotel in Cavan and boomed out for everyone to hear, “You know your problem,” – referring to my writing, not that the other patrons knew that – “too much up there,” pointing to his head, “and not enough down here,” pointing to his heart. Best advice, life wise or writing wise, that I ever got. First published in 1994, I reread A Goat’s Song recently, and 30 years later it holds up as brilliantly as ever.
Living in Sligo, a county with a lush literary landscape, it’s always a joy to explore the shelves of Liber Bookshop, in the heart of Sligo town. Rich pickings, as they stock a wide array of local authors and books of local interest as well as those by national and international writers. They have been a great support to writers, including myself, and host launches and other literary events. Another gem in the town is Bookmart, a second-hand bookshop with a remarkable selection of poetry, drama, fiction, history, and rare books (not to mention a huge collection of vintage vinyl records). It comes with a warning, though: you could lose track of time and be missing for days.
I’ve written an article in the handbook on the practicalities of writing and teaching writing. While it’s not a path that every writer is suited to, for those who are the rewards go far beyond the financial security it can provide. It can fuel your own writing, and there is surely no greater joy than witnessing the pleasure that writing brings to others.
Liz Quirke
As Music and Splendour by Kate O’Brien.
Though not my local bookshop any more, I will always hold Charlie Byrne’s in Galway close to my heart. I moved to Galway for a bit when I was 19 and discovered it by accident. I spent many happy afternoons in there covertly reading any queer books I could find. Later on in my life, I brought my children to the Saturday morning story time and went to book launches by writer friends. A very special bookshop for me.
My piece in the handbook: I feel like there is some misinformation out there about following an MA in creative writing, and writing qualifications in general – I’d like to bring a bit of clarity to the area.
Liz McSkeane
A Good Enough Mother by Catherine Dunne (Betimes Books). A heart-rending account of three generations of Irish women and girls who struggle to survive and heal from the wounds of misogynistic Irish society in the last 60 years. Winner of the inaugural European Rapallo Prize for Fiction 2023.
Alan Hanna’s Bookshop, Rathmines, Dublin. Always supportive of Turas Press, placing orders, connecting us with the libraries and ready with advice on how to get the books out there.
My piece in the handbook: A practical introduction to promotional strategies which can help independent and self-publishers to tackle the biggest challenge faced by small presses – how to connect their books with potential readers in a crowded marketplace.
Sarah Webb
I highly recommend The History of Information by Chris Haughton, one of the best non-fiction books I’ve ever read. It’s packed with facts about information and the sharing of information throughout history, from cave drawings to AI, and it’s accessible and beautifully written and so attractive to look at. An outstanding book by an award winning Irish author and illustrator. Age 9+ and adults.
I work as events manager in the wonderful Halfway up the Stairs so that’s my favourite bookshop of course! We are all book mad and love sharing our passion for children’s books with young readers.
In the handbook I talk about the importance of school, library and festival events to children’s authors and why they are important. Live literature events for children help build keen readers of the future. They are also an important source of income for children’s authors.
Lori Moriarty
I’ve just finished Molly Aitken’s Bright I Burn which follows and imagines the life of Alice Kyteler, the first woman in Ireland to be condemned as a witch. It’s timely as it’s just coming up on the 700th anniversary of this Kilkenny witch trial but also it captures female rage in a way which will resonate with the modern reader. A wild yet masterful book.
A bookshop you have an affinity with: Don’t make me pick! There’s a book shop in Kilkenny, Khan’s books which, I think, is a bit of an undiscovered gem. It has a large range but there’s always someone there to help (usually Khan herself) and I’ve never seen such an amazing dyslexia section. Also I’m in love with how Chapters Books has approached selling second-hand books on its website.
The aim of my piece in the handbook is to help authors of children’s and young adult books to navigate social media. I attempt to cut through a lot of the jargon and provide some practical and encouraging advice. At a time where we are seeing few to no Irish authors on the children’s bestseller lists despite the amazing authors and illustrators here, social media could play a pivotal role in the promotion of the thriving children’s and young adult book scene in Ireland.
Ruth Ennis
Fia and the Last Snow Deer by Eilish Fisher and illustrated by Dermot Flynn is an incredible debut verse novel set in ancient Ireland, where one girl and her deer are the only ones who can save her community from ruin. Breathtaking writing and illustrations alike, a must-read for ages 9+ years.
Maynooth bookshop is my lovely local shop, always good to order any titles I request and is a judgment-free space for the sheer quantity of books I get in.
My piece in the handbook: There is so much to learn about the children’s book world in Ireland when you are starting out as a writer for young people. My essay offers a snapshot of some of what I’ve learned over the last five years that will help any budding children’s literature enthusiast.
Sinéad Mac Aodha
I am reading Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey. I’ve just started it, and I’m loving the voice of the main character, Milly. Her sense of complete disorientation and yet total fascination with the city of London rings very true. I read an abridged version of Great Expectations with my Dad when I was very young and I think I fell in love with London then, long before I had ever set foot in it. Christine’s evocation of place and atmosphere, of the rhythms of speech which are so alien to MiIly’s ear and of the smell and feel of the bar where she works and where she first is attracted to a young boxer, Pip, are all totally convincing – I was there from the opening sentence!
I walk past Hodges Figgis most days on my way to work. It really is Dublin’s cathedral of books, and I’ve spent so many happy hours browsing its shelves and attending excellent book launches there, most recently Martina Devlin’s Charlotte published by the Lilliput Press and that of friend and poet Katie Donovan, whose new collection May Swim I had the honour of launching there!
I’m really excited that Literature Ireland worked with the Hodges Figgis team to celebrate International Translation Day at the end of September. For the first time, a wide range of Irish writing in translation, published in languages across the world, was on display in one of those beautiful, iconic windows.
My piece in the handbook: People often talk about how collegiate the Irish literature sector is. We see examples of this all the time when we take Irish writers on tour to literature festivals abroad. It’s also true about the wider literary sector here and so I’m delighted that Literature Ireland shares space in the handbook with so many colleagues. As Literature Ireland’s work is so international in focus (promoting the best of Irish literature abroad, primarily in translation), we are sometimes forgotten about or ignored. Ruth McKee and Wordwell have provided a real service to the wider writing community by publishing this book.
Lucinda Jacob
My book recommendation is I See the Moon and the Moon Sees Me, the newest of Sarah Webb’s series of Favourite Rhymes from an Irish Childhood. It’s perfect for reading aloud to young children and is sure to be a family favourite.
My favourite bookshop has to be the one dedicated to children’s books, the fabulous Halfway Up the Stairs, in Greystones. I don’t get there half as much as I’d like!
My piece in the handbook gives some information on writing poetry for children with a bit about my own writing journey and some tips and observations that I have found useful over the years. With more and more people writing poetry for children I hope writers will find it encouraging and helpful.
Ivan O’Brien
I really enjoyed Yellowface by RF Kuang, a beautifully twisted look at jealousy in the book world.
Charlie Byrne’s in Galway, because you just never know what book you’re going to happen upon.
My piece in the handbook: Many people think that all the work is done when the book is written, or when it’s edited, but in many ways you’re really only getting started then.
Jennifer McMahon
Seaborne by Nuala O’Connor is an absolutely gorgeous and beautifully written study of the Irish pirate, Anne Bonny.
Bridge Street Books in Wicklow town; warm, welcoming and helpful staff, and it’s full of literary treasures.
My piece in the handbook: The Irish Writers Novel Fair has given me undreamed-of opportunities. If you’ve written a novel, you need to submit to it!
Claire Hennessy
Liars by Sarah Manguso is one of my favourite 2024 reads so far – a sharp, tense exploration of contemporary marriage and artistic creation.
It is impossible to leave Books Upstairs on D’Olier Street without at least one title you’re sure you’re going to love, and have not encountered elsewhere.
My piece in the handbook: Understanding that ‘no’ is the default answer in the arts – and persisting nonetheless – is, I think, the only way to stay sane while pursuing something creative.
Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.
Halfway Up the Stairs in Greystones are brilliant! They also stock my YA novel Something Terrible Happened Last Night, which is great to see.
My piece in the handbook: A good agent is absolutely worth their weight in gold, but sometimes writers aren’t sure exactly what they do or how to go about finding one. I hope to shed some light on this in my piece in the handbook.
Patrick O’Donoghue
The Grass Ceiling by Eimear Ryan. A brilliantly written addition to the Irish sports genre. It’s a gem of a book.
I spent a year in college in Galway and in Charlie Byrne’s bookshop I perfected the art of idle browsing.
My piece in the handbook: A few little tips that will hopefully help a writer’s submission grab the attention of an editor or publisher.
Deirdre Nolan
The Bone People by Keri Hulme. I’ve pushed this book into so many people’s hands I’m surprised there aren’t barring orders against me
The Ennis Bookshop, it was my place of solace and library of imagination when I was growing up, and I spent many very happy hours there discovering Alice Walker, Milan Kundera, James Herriot and Bridget Jones.
It was an honour to be asked to contribute a piece about writing literary fiction which sells. I’m in awe of all of the wonderful advice and information the book contains.
Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan
Quickly, While They Still Have Horses by Jan Carson brings everything I love about her books together in this collection of short stories.
The Gutter Bookshop was the first bookshop I walked into when moving to Ireland in 2012 and it’s still my favourite – big love to Bob and Marta!
My piece in the handbook: I put my arts management training and lived experience as a neurodivergent, migrant writer to use to provide practical steps and advice for artists in Ireland.
Daragh Fleming
Illusions by Richard Back or Bodies by Christine Ann Foley.
Waterstones Cork – it’s the shop I grew up reading from. Any time we went to town I’d drag one of my parents in, so it’s had this constant place in my life.
My piece in the handbook: Writing requires a lot of time spent alone, so I believe looking after our mental health is a top priority.
David Butler
Mike McCormack’s Solar Bones. It’s a fine analysis of the intersections between the public and private, the domestic and the political.
Books Upstairs, for the support it continues to give to smaller Irish publishers and journals.
My piece in the handbook: Though focusing on writing for the stage, what I wanted to bring out was the essential economy underlying the effective dramatic presentation of character and plot, regardless of genre.
Niall McArdle
The Collected Stories of William Trevor. A brick of a book (well over 1,200 pages), filled with stories written over many decades, each a masterclass of subtlety and precision.
Greene’s. I used to shelter from the rain under the canopy and browse the stalls parked outside. Later, I lived abroad for several years. On my return, one day I turned the corner from Westland Row to discover that the shop was no more, and had been for some time. I was unprepared for the loss and had to retreat into the National Gallery to recover. Not far from there was another Dublin institution, Fred Hanna’s, where I once worked under the stern gaze of Fred himself.
My piece in the handbook: Stories were spoken for thousands of years before they were written down. Stories are told, after all, and even when we read them on the page we conjure the voices of the narrator and characters. My piece is on writing for the radio and I hope that writers will take it as a reminder how vital it is to pay attention to sound, rhythm and tone.
Jackie Lynam
Ghost Mountain by Rónán Hession. It’s an extraordinary novel about what it means to be human. It’s brilliantly written, very funny, but also heartbreaking at times, and is unlike anything else I’ve read this year.
There are so many wonderful book shops in Dublin and I have bought, browsed and attended fantastic events in so many of them over the years. I have a special place in my heart for independent bookshop Books Upstairs on D’Olier Street, because they are so passionate about championing new writers. I’ve been lucky to have had the opportunity to read my poetry there and they also stock my book Traces.
I hope my piece in the handbook encourages people to give themselves permission to pursue a creative life, and also to know how welcoming and beneficial our public libraries are to everyone.
Jamie O’Connell
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. The perfect book for those wishing to write or simply be creative. She describes the artistic impulse in ways that gave words to my own experience.
My favourite thing about bookshops has been chatting to Irish booksellers. You meet fellow lovers of books. I’m quite shy by nature, but all I have to ask is “What are you reading right now?” and a conversation flows out easily. I love this method of finding a new book, organic, human, often surprising, and much more likely to mean I find a new book I’ll love than any online channel.
I hope readers of the handbook will understand that writing the novel is only half the battle – editing is where good prose emerges. Proust said (I paraphrase) “We don’t read books, we read ourselves.” I hope potential writers see their own journey in how I describe my creative experience and feel some form of connection.
