TOThe hand has not read at least an Irish author in the last 12 months. Starting from Sally Rooneywho acted as a forerunner to a new generation of writers capable of conquering the public and criticism. Impossible and useless to resist this sort of “Irish wave” that is overwhelming us. Because instead do not ride it Looking for the next reading?
Irish fiction has conquered readers all over the world but is not a recent phenomenon. Just think of the literary tradition of this country that gave birth to giants like Joyce, Beckett and Heaneyand that today shines with a new generation of writers capable of giving voice to a very powerful imagination. In contemporary novels we find the traits of that ancient root – orality, musicality of the language, the taste for metaphor – But intertwined with a modern and sometimes unsettling look.
It will be for the ability to tell small communities, villages of the province or peripheral neighborhoods, transforming them into universal stages, many contemporary Irish authors such as Paul Murray with The day of the beeColin Walsh with KalaClaire Keegan with Little things from nothing, share the ability to tell microcosms that become a mirror of our daily fragility: friendships that break, secrets kept silent for too long, social and family tensions that are transformed into collective wounds. They are stories set in precise places, but who speak to anyone who has known the weight of silence or the difficulty of choosing.
The numbers confirm this: in 2022 over 13 million books were sold in Ireland, for a value close to 170 million euros, with narrative as a driving engine. In Italy, Little things from nothing (which has also become a film with Cillian Murphy) remained in the top of the rankings for a long time and Claire Keegan is now a worship name, while Kala He marked a debut welcomed with enthusiasm by critics and literary festivals.
Not to mention Sally Rooney, who with Normal people (who launched Paul Mescal with the television transposition) and Talk about friends has opened the market to young authors, showing how much The story of intimate and imperfect relationships can speak to a global audience.
And also The day ofthethe bee by Paul Murray, published by Einaud, with translation by Tommaso Pincio, this year the victory of the XII edition of the European witch.
Starting from these successes, here are 10 authors to keep an eye on the hunt for the next reading, rigorously Irish.
Set over twenty years, The boy who came from the sea Di Garrett Carr tells the story of a restless boy who tries to find his place in the world and of a city trapped in the storm of a future that is quickly approaching.
«The poetic portrait of a family in a difficult land. The boy who came from the sea resonates painfully true ». Emma Donoghue
The boy who came from the sea by Garrett Carr, Neri Pozza
Garrett Carr is originally from Killybegs, a citizen of Donegal fishing, on the northwestern coast of Ireland. He currently lives in Belfast, writes for the Guardian and Irish Times and teaches creative writing at the Seamus Heaney Center of Queen’s University Belfast.
Long Island by Colm Tóibín
A sequel to “Brooklyn”: we find Eilis Lacey, now with a established life, but with shadows that push her to look again towards Ireland. Tóibín continues to investigate the inner exile, belonging.
Long Island by Colm Tóibín, Einaudi
All the books of Colm Tóibín published by Einaudi.
Colm Tóibín born in Enniscorthy in 1955, lives in Dublin. In addition to two collections of stories and numerous essays, he is the author of ten other novels, including The Blackwater lighthouse (Fazi, 2002) e The will of Mary (Bompiani, 2014), finalists at the Booker Prize, The Master (Fazi, 2004), winner of the Impac Award, and for Einaudi The house of names (2018), Brooklyn (2019), winner of the Costa Book Award for Novel 2010 and in 2015 transposed into the award -winning film of the same name, The magician (2023) e Long Island (2025).
Nesting by Roisín O’donnell
Powerful debut, which deals with the theme of domestic abuse, of housing precariousness, of emancipation. A strong female voice that does not pull back.
Nesting by Roisín O’donnell, Scuber Uk/Algonquin Books
Roisín O’donnell won the prize like Short Story of the Year At the post Irish Book Awards in 2018 and was again nominated for the same recognition in 2022. She is the author of the collection of stories Wild Quietinserted in the Longlist of the Adge Hill Short Story Prize and finalist at Kate O’Brien Award. His debut novel, Nestingwas published in January 2025 by Scuber Uk and Algonquin Us, immediately becoming a bestseller.
Let me go mad in My Own Way by Elaine Feney
Defined by many as one of the best books of 2025: introspection, return to the place of origin, family conflicts, sense of time that changes.
Claire O’Connor’s life has been pending since she broke with Tom Morton and moved from cosmopolitan London to the wild western Ireland to take care of the dying father. But fragments of his old life follow her, when Tom is unexpectedly transferred nearby for work. While Claire finds himself catapulted into a love he thought he had left behind, he wonders if Tom came for her or for himself.
Let me go mad in My Own Way by Elaine Feney, Penguin Books
Published by Einaudi in ItalyElaine Feney lives and works in Western Ireland. His first novel, As you werehe won the Kate O’Brien Award and the Dalkey Festival prize for emerging writers. How to build a boat He was nominated for the Booker Prize 2023 and finalist for the Irish Novel of the Year.
Heart, Be at Peace by Donal Ryan
A choral novel that returns to Nemagh, in the County of Tipperative, telling the life of the community after the great economic crisis. Multiple voices that intertwine old and new tensions, pain but also hope.
Heart, be at peace by Donal Ryan, Penguin Books
Published in Italy by Minimun Fax, Donal Ryan with The swivel heart (2012) won the Guardian First Book Award and the Irish Book Award for best book of the year, and in 2013 he was selected at the Man Booker Prize. Always in 2013 Ryan published The Thing About Decemberthis also awarded with the Irish Book Award in 2013.
Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey
The story alternates Milly’s life from the 80s until recent times, with the story of Pip in 2017, when it has just come out of a recovery clinic and tries to reconstruct himself. London changes: its roads, pubs, gentrification, hopes and disillusions are background and integral part of the story. The novel explores the missed love, the second possibilities, the weight of memory and the way people build themselves in the middle of urban chaos.
Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey, Atlantic Books
Published in Italy from PageChristine Dwyer Hickey with Farley (The Cold Eye of Heaven) won The Irish Novel of the Year 2012. Tatty (2017) is considered one of the most important Irish novels of the 2000s and was chosen as Dublin: One City, One Book for 2020; Hopper’s wife (2024), won the Walter Scott Prize 2020.
Twist by Colum McCann
Published in 2025, Twist by Colum McCann is a novel that transports the reader to a world made of sea, underwater cables, isolation and personal memory. McCann intertwines global issues with intimate stories.
Twist by Colum McCann, Bloombsbury
Published in Italy by Feltinelli, Colum McCann (1965) is the author of seven novels and three collections of stories. Born and raised in Dublin, he received numerous prizes, including the National Book Award and the International Impac Dublin Literary Award. All his works, among which we remember Aperogon (2021), are being published for Feltrinelli.
The Language of Remembering by Patrick Holloway
Back from Brazil with his wife and daughter, Oisín wishes to reconstruct a life in Ireland and reunite with his mother, Brigid, suffering from early Alzheimer. As his condition worsens, Irish speaks, the language of his youth, and reflects on his childhood dreams and aspirations.
The Language of Remembering by Patrick Holloway, Epoque Press
The literary debut of this Irish author won the Bath Short Story Award, the Molly Keane Creative Writing Prize, the Flash 500 Prize, the Alingham Fiction Contest and received the Paul Mcveigh Residency in 2023.
The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor
Last work by Joseph O’Connor, The Ghosts of Romeis set in February 1944. Six months after the Nazi occupation of Rome. In the besieged city, Countess Giovanna Landini is a member of the group of activists of the escape lineknown as “the choir”. Their mission is to clandestinely bringing refugees and helping allied soldiers, all under the nose of the head of the gestapo Paul Hauptmann.
Part of the Shortlist of the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year 2025, is a title with a powerful writing to which the lives of the characters intertwine with history.
The Ghosts of Rome by Joseph O’Connor, Penguin Books
Published in Italy by GloveJoseph O’Connor was born in Dublin in 1963 and his books, are translated into forty languages. Available in Italian: The representative, the end of the road, Desperados, Cowboys & Indians, the general wife, a song that tears your heart, the comedian, where have you been?, The group and theater of love. In 2012 the author received the Irish Pen Award for literature.
Time of the Child of Niall Williams
Released in March of this year Time of the child By Niall Williams won the Kerry Group Irish Novel 2025 and was bestseller in the top ten of the Irish Times.
Williams knows how to merge rural setting, amazement, and introspection: a book that talks about children but with a large breath.
Time of the child by Niall Williams, Bloombsbury
Published in Italy by Neri PozzaNiall Williams is an Irish writer graduated in English and French literature at the University College in Dublin and PhD in Modern American Literature. He worked as a copywriter for Avon Books, in New York. With Neri Pozza he published History of the rain (Neri Pozza, 2015; Beat, 2017) e Four love letters (Neri Pozza, 2017).