Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop on Middle Street is welcoming all its customers for the festive season, with six rooms of more than 150,000 books of all shapes, sizes, and varieties that will surely satisfy your every Christmas book-shopping need.
Books of local history and Galway interest are a great Christmas present, and as ever, there are some wonderful options this year. Chief among them is Druid, Fifty Years by Patrick Lonergan, the lavishly illustrated and beautifully published history of our own marvellous Druid Theatre, founded in 1975.
Also, coming shortly is The Shantalla Story, edited by Tom Nally, a much-anticipated local history of the beloved city neighbourhood that has just given us our new president.
Other Galway books include The Kai Cookbook, a History of the RTC/GMIT/ATU since 1972, Fergus Farrell’s inspiring and astonishing story, Rebuilding a Man, Being the One by local Goalkeeping hero, David Forde, The Puddler Poet, by Jim Fahy and Count me out: The Writings of Filmmaker Bob Quinn.
Irish publishers have once again provided a wonderfully varied array of important, must-have books of Irish Biography, History, Poetry and Sport.
Highlights among these are the late Manchan Magan’s new book Ninety Nine Words for Rain (And One For Sun ), the sumptuous Ireland: Mapping the Island, and the magisterial and complete Poems of Seamus Heaney.
The important Our Homes: Other Ways to Solve the Housing Crisis, For and Against a United Ireland, and the beautifully photographic The Irish Farm in Colour are all great gift options.
The GAA Covered, a history in match programmes and Eamonn Sweeny’s wonderful sporting memoir, The Last Ditch, will tick a box for sports fans.
2025 has been a great year for fiction readers too, with a raft of great new titles from the many very talented writers based in Galway, with strong new work from Elaine Feeney, J.P. McHugh, Geraldine Mills, Jim Ward and Claire Louise Bennett that have lit up the critic’s book review pages and novels from other firm favourites include those by Kiran Desai, Thomas Pynchon, Salman Rushdie and Andrew Miller.
In terms of children’s books, this year there is a wealth of offerings by some of Ireland’s best writers. Younger Readers can delight in the picture book wonders offered by books such as Oscar Wilde’s Stories For Children, Tir Na nOg, Yeats’ The Stolen Child, Enchanted Ireland, all illustrated by Irish artists, and not forgetting Robert MacFarlane’s beautiful Firefly.
These are all great examples of art and artistry, as well as the unforgettable reading experience that picture books offer. Lucy Kennedy’s very popular series continues with The Friendship Fairies Save the Circus.
The Friendship Fairies’ sisters, Emme, Holly, and Jess, are excited to visit the travelling circus. But when they arrive, everything’s shut up because one of the clowns has lost his smile.
For the slightly older reader, we have Swanfall, a thrilling new adventure story inspired by Irish folklore, and The Waters and the Wild, a beautiful novel in verse about loss, family, and the power of hope.
For the young adult reader, we have “Any Way You Slice It” by our own Children’s section manager, Meabh McDonnell, a romantic comedy set in the world of teenage competitive baking.
The story pits an antagonistic couple together who must learn to bake together and maybe find love, or remain mortal enemies. The book has been shortlisted for the Teen /Young Adult Book of the Year at this year’s An Post Irish Book Awards, so best of luck to Meabh with that!
We are always happy to help with specific enquiries in the shop, and we would like to wish our loyal and year-round customers a very happy and book-filled Christmas.
