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Foireann Gaeltachta The Journal a chuir an scéal seo ar fáil. Tá leagan as Gaeilge anseo.
THE SHORTLISTING OF an Irish language book on the shortlist for the An Post Book of the Year award in the children’s category is being hailed as an historical step forward in Irish language publishing.
The nomination for ‘An Fhia Sa Choill’ by Sadhbh Devlin and illustrated by Anastasia Melnykova comes at a time when there is a huge boom in Irish language literature.
Many new books were launched at Oireachtas na Samhna, held in Belfast recently while booksellers are reporting that more people are asking for Irish language books, coming to bookshops and buying or ordering them online. There were packed attendances at events during the IMRAM Irish Language Literature Festival in the Dublin and Dún Laoghaire
Speaking to The Journal ahead of the An Post Irish Books of the Year awards presentation in Dublin, Sadhbh Devlin said it was great that an Irish language book had been recognised on the shortlist alongside other books. She realised its added importance when she visited her hairdresser while preparing for awards night.
“I told her I had a big event and what can you do? – and she said she knew because she saw the story in the local newspaper and had voted for me!”
‘An Fia Sa Choill’ is the seventh book written and published by Futa Fata ag Sadhbh since 2017, when the organisation she was working with, Comhluadar, an organisation that organised events for parents and their young children, was closed down, and she is happy to say that she can make a living from her life as an author of Irish language books but that it is a lot of work.
She explained that it took her a long time to get her books from the idea in her notebook to the finished work. It can take several months for the text to be ready but she also has to work hand in hand with the illustrator and there is a lot of back and forth in between.
“It takes up to six months to do the decorations and then it goes to the graphic designer to put all the pieces together and then the printer and so on and so on from start to finish and it takes about a year.”
She said that thousands of copies of her books were being sold but, even so, she could not live on the income from book sales alone.
“But the thing is that you can build a life around that, a lot of the work I do is events, with visits to schools, visits to libraries, visits to literary festivals, visits for Seachtain na Gaeilge, I meet children almost every week of the year,” she said.
“You have to do a lot of different things to make ends meet but I have built an income for myself based entirely on my book and my work as a writer.”
Her situation is similar to the story of English-language authors in Ireland, she explained, citing several English-language authors she knows who make a living from the sales of their books and all the other events they attend.
One of the most recogniseable authors in the Irish language literary world is Alan Titley, a columnist for the Irish Times and the author of many books, including novels, translations, poetry and more. He is also Emeritus Professor of Irish at University College Cork.
His work, Scéalta Nollag/Christmas Stories, a collection of short stories with a unique insight into the great festival and its history, has been shortlisted for Irish Language Book of the Year, sponsored by Love Leabhar Gaeilge, an online campaign to raise the profile of Irish language books. Also shortlisted for the An Post awards ceremony are Fiche by Colm Ó Ceallacháin, Bódléar by Darach Ó Scolaí and An Bhlaosc sam Bbois by Mícheál Ó Conghaile.
Titley explained that while writing his column for the Irish Times for over twenty years, he had made it a habit to write a story or two every Christmas making some connection between Christmas and contemporary life.
“There is one story that Jesus was there as a child, and if the story is true, Mary and Joseph were on their way to Egypt but were not allowed in as they were refugees and would have had to be thrown out again.”
“I wanted people to see what happened if it were true, for the Holy Family that such a thing is happening today.
“I found myself after about twenty years that there was material for a book in what I had put together.”
Titley believes that there is a particular vitality in Irish language literature at the moment. “There are books coming out and there are good books,” he said. “In fact, there are so many good books coming out – I’m very wise to remember that you could read every single Irish language book that has come out.
Now there are five or six publishing companies, all of them good, they have a great reputation, there are excellent books coming out and it’s hard to keep up with them.
“The situation is very healthy and has been for many years.”
There are many challenges for writers and publishers of Irish language books, he said.
“One of the problems with the Irish language and the books that are coming out is that they don’t get enough publicity – as we know books sell because of the publicity they get,” he said, adding that there was a significant lack of reviews of Irish language books in the mainstream media.
He referred to the book ‘Lig Sinn i Cathú/Lead Us Into Temptation’ by Breandán Ó hEithir which was published in the 1970s and was a huge seller.
It became a ‘best-seller’ because Brendan Ó hEithir was well-known, because the book was good and because it received a lot of publicity – if that happened at present, the sales of Irish books would be much greater than they are now.
Breandán Ó hEithir, like Titley, was a newspaper columnist and, in addition, a presenter on RTÉ’s current affairs programme, Féach.
Despite Titley having written for the Irish Times for over twenty years, he said that the newspaper had not reviewed any of the Irish language books he had written during that time. He said that his translation into English of Máirtín Ó Chadhain’s major work, Cré na Cille/Graveyard Clay, had been reviewed, however, in the newspaper.
A more robust infrastructure is now in place to support Irish language authors and publishers to write and make their work available to the market. Information provided to The Journal by Foras na Gaeilge said that there were “clear signs that Irish language literature is booming this year”.
“Irish language books accounted for over 6% of applications for the children’s book categories, a significant increase that demonstrates the commitment of Irish language publishers to young people as well as their efforts to promote Irish language children’s books at the national awards among English language books,” the statement said, referring to the nomination received by ‘An Fhia Sa Choill’ on the children’s book shortlist.
Love Leabhar Gaeilge is a scheme to support authors and publishers. In addition to sponsoring the award, they have a website which currently features book reviews and descriptions of 87 Irish language books from 2023. Since the new website was launched in September 2024, it has had over 21.5 thousand visits and there has also been a significant increase in the number of followers on social media.
Fóras na Gaeilge also supports publishing through the Irish Language Books Programme and this Programme has a number of schemes which provide funding for authors to work with established writers to support them in preparing their books for publication, there is also a scheme which provides support to publishers.
The ÁIS company, a company under the auspices of Fóras na Gaeilge, is primarily responsible for distributing Irish language books from the thirteen publishers who have received support under the Publishers Scheme, along with other publishers who distribute Irish language books throughout Ireland and internationally.
According to figures provided to The Journal, Áis has had sales of around €1m each year since 2021 and, so far in 2025, has sold €1.16m worth. This figure is expected to increase in the weeks up to Christmas, traditionally the boom time for book buying.
In the list of best-selling books distributed by Áis, the translation of An Prionsa Beag/The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupér by Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhríde, who founded the publishing company Ébhlóid, tops the list with sales of 1385 copies. That title is followed by How To Teach Irish To Dogs and How To Teach Irish To Cats, two titles that have sold more than 1,000 copies.
But Áis is not the only game in town. Most of the publishers, Ébhlóid, Futa Fata, Cló Iar Chonnacht, An Snathaid Mhór, Leabhair COMHAR and Folseachaían Ábháir Spioradálta, are selling books through their websites. Irish language books can also be found in places such as An Siopa Leabhar which is now on Camden Street in Dublin and An Ceathrú Póilí in the Cultúrlann in Belfast. The books are also available online at the websites of these two shops as well as sites such as Litríocht.
It seems like there has never been a better time to be an Irish language reader.
The Journal’s Gaeltacht initiative is supported by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme
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