Local Interest

  • Memory

    Memory

    The Sligo Rape Crisis Centre deals with some of the most
    difficult things that can happen to anyone. The trauma of
    intimate violence can shake a person’s experience of being
    to the core. The work of exploring this experience with a
    view to living in a more comfortable way is a deeply healing
    process. The therapist is there, present, as an authentic
    witness. They can offer reflections on thoughts, feeling and
    sensations, observed behaviours, expressions, and help
    access the journey towards recovery.

  • A Dedication to Drowning

    A Dedication to Drowning

    9.50

    36 pages 9781913211738

     

    In this raw and moving debut chapbook, Maeve McKenna dives into the multitudes of womanhood: a mother, unmothered; a lover, alone; a child, now aged. She flings the cover off pain that would otherwise remain hidden and unspoken, exposing the most intimate parts of herself. In doing so, she invites the reader to embrace their own vulnerabilities, calling, “Let’s assemble our bodies, limb to limb against/the walls of unoccupied margins, hope pointed/like the scope of a firing squad…I am writing it for you. For me.”

  • LISTOGHIL A SEASONAL ALIGNMENT

    LISTOGHIL A SEASONAL ALIGNMENT

    10.00

    Does the modern festival of Halloween, with its traditions of flying witches, games of chance and haunted by ghosts, have its roots in the Stone Age?

    Researcher Padraig Meehan explores the possibility that the turning points marking seasonal change were intentionally marked in the central monument at the Carrowmore passage tomb complex in County Sligo.

  • LISTOGHIL A SEASONAL ALIGNMENT? (Revised 2023)

    LISTOGHIL A SEASONAL ALIGNMENT? (Revised 2023)

    10.00

    Listoghil, the central monument and focal point of the Carrowmore passage tomb complex close to Sligo in north-west Ireland, has been ruined, excavated and eventually partially restored. However, the chamber is preserved in its original position. The author examines the hypothesis that Listoghil was deliberately aligned to mark seasonal transitions equivalent to astronomical cross-quarter days. The methods include a horizon survey, the isolation of directional features in the monument, and computer modelling of the monument and skyscape. Folklore and legends around seasonal transits, locally, in Ireland, and in many and varied (and independently arising) contexts at temperate latitudes of the world, are seen as information sources complementary to data gathering and observation.

  • The Benbulbin Barytes Miners

    The Benbulbin Barytes Miners

    12.00

    This book is a collection of stories of some of the men who worked in the Benbulbin mines from 1905 until all operations finally ceased in 1979. The stories were collected by the author, via audio recordings, podcasts, interviews, newspaper reports and personal documents belonging to some of the Barytes men. These stories are an important part of our heritage, in particular our industrial heritage and are worthy of recording for the education of future generations.

  • Hidden People

    Hidden People

    12.00

    Set against the dramatic landscape of Ireland’s Wild Atlantic coast Joe Mc Gowan’s stories in The Hidden People examine and illuminate the complexities and passions of family life, communities and the human heart. Ranging from the intricacies of village life in Cold War in Killawaddy to the thrilling climax of the story of an Irish emigrant in Vietnam, these tales reveal a sometimes whimsical, sometimes tragic, and always unequalled, insight into village life and the Irish character.

    Joe McGowan is already renowned for his brilliantly researched books on folk history in the West of Ireland. In this collection he brings another dimension to his historical writing with a powerful and engaging perspective on life in rural Ireland.

  • BITTER WIND

    BITTER WIND

    12.00

    A Bitter Wind is a ramble through an Ireland of the heart that no longer exists. It takes us on a journey into the secret heart of Irish country life in the 20th century. It depicts too the universal battle of man against the elements.

    Unfolded here are the beliefs of ordinary people, their superstitions, customs, fears and joys, their struggle to extract a living from the ruthless extremes of nature on land, sea and shore. In these pages we re-live the adventures of ordinary individuals who, in snatching a livelihood from the forces of nature, lived extraordinary lives.

  • You, Me and Destiny

    You, Me and Destiny

    12.50

    Danny Keane was dead, but he was unable to cross over to the next world because of anxieties about the mess he was leaving behind for his young wife and others. In a disembodied state, he becomes stuck in a Limbo-like existence. He is intrigued to learn that, in a small minority of cases, and for entirely selfless reasons, it is possible to return to the earthly realm. However, that dispensation comes at a very high price. Danny is prepared to pay that price. The novel charters Danny’s adventures as returns under a different identity and is nothing more than a stranger to the widow, he loved.This life-affirming tale of love and self-discovery celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and its ability to shape our destiny. Poignant but humorous, the novel features characters, who are regular people, coping with what life throws at them. With a little help from above, the extraordinary soon becomes the ordinary as these people negotiate everyday life as well as complex romantic entanglements.

  • Irish Customs and Rituals

    Irish Customs and Rituals

    12.50

    Do you know what a Brideóg is? Why are lone hawthorns unlucky? What does it mean to ‘drown the shamrock’? From the author of The Irish Cottage comes a new book, exploring old Irish customs and beliefs. Chapters focus on the quarter-day festivities that marked the commencement of each season: ‘Spring: Imbolc’; ‘Summer: Bealtaine’; ‘Autumn: Lughnasa’ and ‘Winter: Samhain’, and also major life events — ‘Births, Marriages and Death Customs’ — and general beliefs in ‘Spirituality and Well-Being’ and ‘The Supernatural’. Focusing on the period from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries, Irish Customs and Rituals discusses a time during which many of the practices and beliefs in question went into decline. Many of these customs were rooted in residual pre-Christian beliefs that ran parallel to, and in spite of, conventional religion practised in the country. Some customs were so deep-rooted that despite continued disapproval from the Roman Catholic Church they remain with us today. It is wonderful to see so many traditions still with us, as many are worthwhile remembering, commemorating, or even reviving today. Irish Customs and Rituals will appeal to all those with an interest in Irish history, folklore, culture and social history.

  • Is It Four O'Clock Yet

    Is It Four O’Clock Yet

    12.50

    Twenty-two-year-old teacher Stephen Daly cannot wait to start dating women, drinking copious amounts of alcohol and living life to the full. He had lived at home during his college years and missed out on much of the student experience. He was usually tucked up in his bed while his classmates partied endlessly in student haunts or made out in grotty little flats. Now that he had graduated and secured his first teaching job, he is determined to start a more carefree life and escape the sadness in his background.

  • Lord Palmerston

    Lord Palmerston

    12.95

    MCKEON, JOHN

  • Mr. Attention To Detail

    Mr. Attention To Detail

    12.95

    KELLY, JOE

  • The Great Irish Bucket List

    The Great Irish Bucket List

    12.95
  • Good Mercy

    Good Mercy

    15.00

    Story of the Troubles in Boyle.

  • Havin' A Laugh

    Havin’ A Laugh

    15.00

    At Havin’ a Laugh we are delighted that ‘The Book’ is finally here.

    It all started when a group of people who met for a Havin’ A Laugh coffee morning began telling each other funny stories, a book was suggested, and now nine months later we are delighted to be able to share our first book with you!

    The Book is a collection of great stories, jokes, poems, art and imagery that will inspire and delight. It’s a wonderful book that you can easily dip in and out of and it would also make a wonderful gift.

    All of the amazing content in The Book was submitted by people from Sligo, Leitrim and beyond between the ages of 6 and 94 and proceeds from sales will go directly towards providing life-enhancing activity vouchers for those in mental health recovery.

  • Random Chance Another Intelligent Life Form Emerges on Earth

    Random Chance Another Intelligent Life Form Emerges on Earth

    15.00

    Sometime in the future a new intelligent life form, the Ungula, has evolved. They discover aliens buried in the Arctic who turn out to be Humans. After a miraculous revival following a visit to the Lours Shrine, the Ungula and Humans embark on an integration project. Barbara emerges as an Ungula spokesperson and Father Myles as the Human spokesperson.

    Can Humans and Ungula live in harmony? They live together in peace for several months, due mainly to the fact that the Ungula are a mild species and Humans are a small group of just over 100. Most of the humans are content to try and adapt. But as we all know well, there is always one.