Mayo Books

19/05/2025

This week sees the release of this stunning book by Lisa Clancy.
All are welcome to the launch of ‘Insect Portraits’ this Thursday May 22nd, 8pm at The Mick Lally Theatre.

The book is available to order online at mayobooks.ie and will be for sale in all good bookshops this week.

12/05/2025

Our author Kevin McDonald discusses his military career and his extensive services overseas in this fantastic in-depth interview with The Team House Podcast on YouTube.

Read more about Kevin’s extraordinary life in his book ‘A Life Less Ordinary’ available online at mayobooks.ie and in bookshops mayobooks.ie/A-Life-Less-Ordinary-Kevin-McDonald

Commandant Kevin McDonald served 7 years with Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil (FCA) and 33 years with the Permanent Defence Forces. He discusses his military career, f...

18/04/2025

Coming soon from Mayo Books Press.

Insect Portraits is a captivating collection of portrait-style photographs that reveals the remarkable ‘personalities’ of (mostly) Irish insects and offers a glimpse into the fascinating world of scientific research using these extraordinary creatures.
Now available for pre-order at
https://www.mayobooks.ie/Insects-Ireland-Lisa-Clancy-Photography-9781914596391

About the author
Lisa Clancy is an insect photographer and nature enthusiast based in Galway City.

15/03/2025

11/03/2025

Nominated for the Cathaoirleach's Awards 2024, 'Our Finest Hour – Mayo GAA clubs reflect on their glory days' by Edwin McGreal, has been a top seller and it has earned praise far and wide since its release last October.

Available in all good bookshops and online via https://www.mayobooks.ie/Our-Finest-Hour-Edwin-McGreal-9781914596315

31/01/2025

Sea Tamagotchi and Dána Gránna are two stunning books by Manchán Magan which are handmade on Achill Island by Red Fox Press.
Despite them still being without power from Storm Eowyn each book was hand bound by candle light by an open fire. These are very special books. 📚

27/01/2025

With more than 250,000 followers on social media, Mayo man Alan Clarke is quickly becoming one of the best-known and popular content creators in Ireland. His hilarious sketches, social media fame and insightful podcasts have catapulted him towards hugely successful ‘Big News Coming Soon’ live shows at packed-out venues. But in this candid account of his life to date, Clarke lifts the lid on many of his struggles from a young age and challenges which follow him to this very day.
This is a story of his difficulties and resilience, and has lots of laugh-out loud moments. It is a compelling insight into his life and the world of the often-maligned social media influencers.

Available in bookshops and online at www.mayobooks.ie

20/12/2024

🎁 Looking for a perfect book for someone who loves history and literature? Look no further than 'Wake of the Whale' by Alice Kinsella and Daniel Wade, which has earned rave reviews in the national media.

📗📕We are very proud of this book. We think it is a defining piece of work and are thrilled to see the Irish Times and The Sunday Independent in full agreement!

✍️ ‘It just may be that an Irish non-fiction classic has been unearthed, one that will always have things to say in whatever future we make for ourselves,’ wrote reviewer Hilary White in The Sunday Independent

✍️ ‘Wake of the Whale is a strangely beautiful book, a ghost body to the skeletons we keep, immersed in a dream world of Mayo that is its own awakening. Tender, direct and courageous, it is an ocean song in strange tongues, siren, seaward, salt-worn,’ wrote reviewer Nicholas Allen in the Irish Times

📚 Wake of the Whale is a genre-bending book that blends history, poetry, and documentary. It is a stunning production in hardback with a linen bind.

⚓️ It explores the history of the two whaling stations at Inishkea South and Ardelly Point near Blacksod and asks if the attitudes that brought whales to the brink of extinction are now threatening our own?

✍️ Together the authors weave a conversation that challenges our deeply ingrained assumptions about human, and animal, nature.

📍 It is on sale in all good bookshops and online via mayobooks.ie/Wake-Whale-Alice-Kinsella-Daniel-Wade-9781914596261

19/12/2024

See below for a great festive prize from Gnó Mhaigh Eo ⬇️

🎉GIVEAWAY🎉 – win a €50 voucher for Castle Book Shop and a €25 voucher for Phillips Menswear. Castle Bookshop is in Castlebar and you can shop online at https://www.mayobooks.ie (Mayo Books) Phillips Menwear have shops in Claremorris and Ballyhaunis and you can shop online at https://www.phillipsmenswear.ie/

Follow the steps below to be in with a chance to win this fantastic prize:
1. Like/Follow Gnó Mhaigh Eo on Facebook
2. Tag someone to spread the word about this fantastic competition.

This Christmas, be sure to shop and support local businesses such as the above.
We will pick a winner next week and post the winner's name on this page.
Ádh mór!
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Dearbhán ar luach €50 ó shiopa Castle Bookshop agus dearbhán ar lucach €25 ó shiopa éadaí fear Phillips Menswear Tá siopaí ag Castle Bookshop i gCaisleán an Barraigh https://www.mayobooks.ie. Tá siopaí ag Phillips Menswear i gClár Chlainne Mhuiris agus I MBéal Átha hAmhnais - https://www.phillipsmenswear.ie/

Lean na céimeanna thíos le bheith san iomaíocht chun an duais iontach seo a bhuachan:
1. Lean Gnó Mhaigh Eo ar Facebook
2. Déan clibeáil ar dhuine éigin chun an scéal a scaipeadh faoin gcomórtas iontach seo.

Déan cinnte tacaigh le gnólachtaí áitiúil ar nós na cinn thuas an Nollaig seo!
Roghnóimid an buaiteoir an tseachtain seo chugainn agus luafaimid ainm an bhuaiteora ar an leathanach seo.
Go n-éirí an t-ádh leat!

18/12/2024

📰 Mayo socialite immortalised by The Beatles

‘A crowd of people stood and stared�They’d seen his face before�Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords’
– The Beatles, A Day in the Life

📅 London socialite Tara Browne of Castlemacgarrett House outside Claremorris was killed in a traffic accident in London on this day in 1966. See the below entry from Máirtín Ó Maicín’s book On This Day In Mayo for more.

✍️ On a cold December night in 1966,Tara Browne had a dinner in London with model Suki Potier, his most recent inamorata. Having left the restaurant with his date after midnight, Browne was driving a borrowed Lotus Elan, a high-performance sports car, when he failed to notice a red traffic light and drove through a junction.
In doing so he was forced to swerve violently to avoid hitting another car emerging at the junction. However, he was unable to avoid colliding with a van which was parked nearby. Although Potier survived with minor injuries, Browne suffered a fractured skull and lacerations to his brain. He was pronounced dead two hours later.
The short life of the younger son of Lord Oranmore and Browne and his second wife, Oonagh Guinness, had come to a shattering conclusion. The 21-year-old socialite had made a name for himself on the London social scene of the ’60s by befriending various celebrities including emerging musicians from the burgeoning pop music scene such as Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones. Like them he would develop a liking not only for rock ‘n’ roll but also the lifestyle that went with it.
Browne was born in 1945 and spent the early years of his life in Castlemacgarrett House outside Claremorris. After his parents’ marriage came to an end, he went to live with his mother at her own personal property, Luggala House, in Wicklow, along with his elder brother, Garech.
In the years following the separation, Tara and Garech regularly visited Castlemacgarrett, sometimes staying for weeks on end. During these visits both of them came to love traditional Irish music, experiencing it first hand from local musicians playing at Christmas parties and from listening to Ciarán Mac Mathúna’s programmes on Radio Éireann.This interest would continue into the late 1950s with Tara accompanying his older brother to various fleadhanna ceoil all over the country.
While Garech became a pivotal figure in the promotion of Irish music and culture later in life, Tara followed a rather different trajectory. As he grew older and having inherited considerable wealth, he immersed himself in the Swinging Sixties culture that had emerged in London. And with that came a lifestyle infused with multiple girlfriends, drugs and fast cars.
It was a direction doomed to end in tragedy that was immortalised in the Beatles’ song, A Day in the Life.

📖 Sources: Howard, Paul. I Read The News Today, Oh Boy. Picador, 2016.�The Beatles, ‘A Day In The Life.’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Parlophone, 1967. Macken, John. 2022.

📗📕 On This Day in Mayo is a unique book that connects every day of the year with a Mayo person or event. Published by Mayo Books Press in Castlebar, it’s a high-quality, hardback book which has proven a great Christmas gift for anyone with a grá for Mayo.

📌 It’s on sale in all good bookshops and online via: https://www.mayobooks.ie/On-This-Day-Mayo-Mairtin-O-Maicin