The Collins Press: 82 books

Imagine no Chieftains, no Planxty or Bothy Band, no Moving Hearts or Riverdance! This biography of Seán Ó Riada, who spearheaded the revival of Irish traditional music and moved it onto the international stage, shows it might not have happened without him. One of the few significant artists to remain...

Rory Gallagher is a hero and icon of rock music. He inspired guitar players from The Edge to Johnny Marr, Slash to Gary Moore, Johnny Fean to Philip Donnelly, Declan Sinnott to Brian May. He toured incessantly and sold over 30 million albums worldwide. Acknowledged as one of the world’s leading...

Master storyteller Vincent McDonnell relates the exciting story of Ireland from the earliest times, as Stone Age settlers arrived 9,000 years ago, through to the present day. From the building of the mysterious and magnificent tombs, such as Newgrange, to the arrival of Christianity, Ireland’s history...

On St Stephen’s Day 1960 Dónal Donnelly made his dramatic escape from the prison known as ‘Europe’s Alcatraz’. Three years earlier, the teenage Dónal had been convicted of membership of the IRA in the first year of ‘Operation Harvest’. He was sentenced to ten years. Here he reflects...

On 13 November 1938, just months after his inauguration, President Douglas Hyde attended a soccer match between Ireland and Poland. In a passionate reaction, the GAA declared that by attending a ‘foreign game’, he had broken Rule 27 – the Ban – and they removed him as patron. One of the most...

The Great Famine in Ireland was a catastrophe of immense proportions. Eviction, emigration and death from starvation were widespread. Landlords, eager to dispose of ‘surplus’ tenants, engaged in ‘assisted passages’, whereby tenants were given financial incentives to emigrate. The clearances...

For 20 years Paul Clements has been tapping into the Burren’s hidden crevices, drawn to its history, mystery and peculiarities. He writes absorbingly about the rocks, hills and walls, and the range of colours, the animals he rubs shoulders with, and about subjects which excite him, such as the exotic...

First published in 1966, this acclaimed Irish classic is an account of time as an apprentice stonecarver by a craftsman who was one of Ireland’s most respected sculptors. The young Seamus Murphy, studying modelling at the Crawford School of Art in Cork in the 1920s, took the unusual step of apprenticing...

John Spillane fell in love with singing when he was a small boy and now that he has written about 200 songs and an opera, he feels he’s starting to get the hang of it. For over thirty years, his songs have provided a musical background to life in Ireland, and have been performed by such luminaries...

Bobby Beasley was a champion jockey. By 26, he had won a Cheltenham Gold Cup, a Champion Hurdle and a Grand National. But when he was 24, Bobby took his first drink and soon succumbed to alcoholism. He turned a corner after his friend, Nicky Rackard, urged him to attend Alcoholics Anonymous. Five...

Seán Lemass enjoys unrivalled acclaim as the ‘Architect of Modern Ireland’. Yet there remain great gaps in our knowledge of this mythic figure and his golden age. Up to now Lemass, a colossus of twentieth-century Irish history, was airbrushed to fit a narrative of national progress. Today, this...

‘There followed a blue flash accompanied by a ver y bright magnesium-type flare … Then came a frighteningly loud but rather flat explosion, which was followed by a blast of hot air … All this was followed by eerie silence.’ This was Cork doctor Aidan MacCarthy’s description of the...

Nowhere in Ireland is there such a rich diversity of walks as Killarney. Thousands visit every year to walk in the beautiful landscape for which Killarney is renowned, and until now there has been no guidebook for these walks. Jim Ryan has compiled eighteen of Killarney’s most interesting low level...

The Wild Atlantic Way follows the magnificent west coast of Ireland, passing golden beaches, thrusting headlands and soaring sea cliffs. Renowned walking-guide author Helen Fairbairn explores the best walking routes of the region, recommending trips to uninhabited islands, coastal mountains and much...