Books by Irish authors

[Ichosetheredpill]

I’ve just finished The Hoarder by Jess Kidd and The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes. I’m Irish by descent, living in Wales and was amazed by how much their language resonated with me - so many phrases are used in my family but the accent has been flattened these days as my grandparents were the immigrants. Would love some recommendations for more Irish authors.

I read Trespasses by Louise Kennedy last year, really enjoyed it.

Reading this thread, it occurred to me that no one would ever write "can you recommend more English authors," or "I prefer reading English writers." If they did, you know the sorts of replies they'd get: "little-Englander," "bigot," "small-minded," etc.

I completely understand why the OP feels this way. It's natural to gravitate to authors from a similar culture/background to you. And that's accepted for most groups – just not the English. I'm English, and all my favourite writers are English (Jane Austen, George Eliot, the Brontes, Dickens, Hardy, D H Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, etc), yet I feel the need to apologize for that! Why?!

William Trevor
Tana French
Liz Nugent
Louise Kennedy
Bernie McGill

Marve Brennan is astonishing.

Others - Elizabeth Bowen, Dorothy Macardle, Edna O’Brien, Anne Enright, Kate O’Brien, Maura Lavin, Nicole Flattery, Louise Kennedy, Molly Keane/MJ Farrell, Julia O’Faoláin, Mary Costello, Clare Boylan, Deirdre Madden, Sara Blume, Eilís Ní Dhuibhne, Emma Donoghue, Anne Haverty, Lisa McInerney, Sally Rooney.

Have you read her short stories? Excellent collection called The End of the Workd is a Cul de Sac.

F

Swift, Sterne, Roddy Doyle, Clare Boylan, Molly Keane, Sally Rooney, Eimear McBride, Maeve Binchy.

So many to choose from! But my top three are:

Donal Ryan
Emma Donoghue
Liz Nugent

@Templebreedy No, that was the first I'd read of her! Will add that to my library reserves, thank you!

‘The Hearts Invisible Furies’ is my absolute favourite. Just so beautifully written. Will have you laughing and crying on the same page.
’The women who walked into doors’ by Roddy Doyle is also beautiful and poignant.

Not Irish- but ‘the Panopticon’ is a brilliant Scottish book written in local dialect.

JoonT But the Irish are just a little bit special aren’t they? Known for their gifts in relation to story telling and humour. The English; well not so much 😜

I love Emma donohoe and Claire keegan's writing is incredible. So brief and succinct, but so beautiful

Liz Nugent. I’m not usually a crime fan, but I inhaled all her books.

You lot have Austen, Burney, the Brontes, Dickens, Trollope, George Eliot, Hardy, Woolf, Orwell, Forster, Graham Greene, JG Ballard, Hilary Mantel — I wouldn’t exactly be feeling hard done by.

I love Jennifer Johnston novels and she's also an interesting character if you watch some of her interviews.
She's like a modern day Somerville &Ross in some ways.

You called?

You inspired my latest name change. I love The Real Charlotte, and have a certain affinity with conniving Charlotte, her chivvying of the ‘Protestant orphan’, and her hopeless passion for ghastly Roddy.

I was going to say the same. If someone started a thread asking to recommend some “classics” it would largely be English authors, and I don’t think there’d be any shame in it.

Claire allen

My research network has just announced a conference/seminar for books of our period which are based in Yorkshire. The Brontes are practically an industry in themselves, as are the Lake Poets and Beatrix Potter in Cumbria, Hardy in Wessex, and Austen in Bath (I don't know why, given only one of her novels is set there!).

The literary north is a long-established research field with associated groups, as is literary London, which has modules in a number of university literature courses.

I think, when it comes to the English novelists, there's more of a focus on the regional.

Woolf's in my list of best-loved authors, too. I've never felt the need to apologize for that.

David Park

(To the fauxpology poster introducing English shame as a talking point --- Well there was no Irish empire going around the world stamping out languages with literary traditions of their own and forcing them to learn Irish Gaelic texts as the best, the only, the classic ones. Anyone thinking English just sort of naturally spread and Shakespeare is an obvious worldclass genius has some reading to do... English was made the definition and the default by force. Time to step back a bit. It's just not a comparable situation. Start your own thread?)

More positively:
Patrick Kavanagh, Sean O'Casey, Brian Friel, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Kerri ní Dochartaigh, Doireann Ní Ghríofa.