Gráinne Hurley speaks at the Dublin launch in June 2025 of her book Gratefully & Affectionately: Mary Lavin & The New Yorker, which uncovers the rich, transatlantic friendship and creative partnership between Mary Lavin and her New Yorker editor, Rachel MacKenzie. The event took place at Ireland's oldest book shop, Books Upstairs with a full house - congratulations! Published by New Island Books and reviewed by Colm Tóibín “A complete portrait of a most complex and brilliant personality”. Gráinne was a former Writer-in-Residence at the Princess Grace Irish Library (The Ireland Funds Monaco bursary) in spring 2023 when she worked on this book.
Gatsby: Death of an Irishman by Patrick O’Sullivan Greene. Launched in April 2025 in St. Paul, MN in the United States, the birthplace of F.Scott Fitzgerald, the Irish American author of Gatsby. The Irish launch followed at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. Patrick is a distinguished Irish author and historian, with celebrated publications on Irish American history and cultural identity. Patrick presented at the Princess Grace Irish Library in Monaco last year.
Artist Kim Gaffney, whose book and paintings are inspired by the ruins of Crover Castle on the island on Lough Sheelin and the local legend of Orwin and Sebana (a staple of Irish folklore set in the 1650s in her home county Cavan). Funded by Creative Cavan, the art book, which comprises the poem by local poet Phil O’Connell written in the 1800s, beautifully recalls the doomed love story. Kim invited Paula Farquharson, Director of the Princess Grace Irish Library to view her paintings at Crover House in county Cavan on a visit there.
Hegarty’s Boatyard by Kevin O'Farrell, Documentary Photographer (A Photographic Essay: Last Surviving Traditional Wooden Boatyard in Ireland). ‘It is both culturally important and life-affirming’ - Irish Arts Review, Spring 2020.
Hegarty’s Boatyard: Building Conor O’Brien’s Saoirse. Also produced by Kevin O'Farrell.
See video of exhibition of photos taken for his books.
Books by Cónal Creedon: Spagetti Bowl, Passion Play, Begotten Not Made. Cónal was The Ireland Funds Monaco Writer-in-Residence (spring 2025) and is an award-winning novelist, short-story writer, playwright, documentary filmmaker and collaborative artist. Cónal kindly donated over 30 copies of his books to the library and for the Lycée Albert Ier school in Monaco. He was invited in July 2025 to a tribute and celebration of the tenure of President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins at his official residence in Dublin, Áras an Uachtaráin.
We are grateful to authors from Ireland who donate their books, their music performances and even screenings of their films. We are also thankful for the patronage of many people and organisations, including The Ireland Funds Monaco who financially support the bursary for writers, Sir Stelios who gives us use of his philanthropic foundation's hall to host events for us and Mr Wil Byrne who is sponsoring the 2025 cultural programme at the library.
One Summer in Provence (Atlantic July 2025) by Carol Drinkwater, a story of betrayal and belonging, and of discovering love in unexpected places. Listen HERE to the podcast with Carol when she visited the Princess Grace Irish Library for her new book launch in July 2025 and we enjoyed a literary lunch with the international community in Monaco.
Beating Time – The Story of the Irish Bodhrán. By Dr Fintan Vallely. Cork University Press February, 2025. A unique, newly-researched, full history of the tambourine and bodhrán in Ireland. The bodhrán drum has become a symbol of Ireland, as well known by now as the classic harp.
*****
After the Train: Irish Women United and a Network of Change (UCD Press April 2025). Edited by Evelyn Conlon and Rebecca Pelan. Foreword by Mary McAleese. A collection of 20 essays offers first-hand, historical accounts of the vast accomplishments and efforts of Irishwomen United activists (IWU) in the years following the ‘Contraceptive Train’. In this book, writer and IWU member Evelyn Conlon, together with academic Rebecca Pelan, ensure the impact of the organisation will no longer be forgotten.
*****
Germaine McCormack-Kos, the Irish film producer of Walk on the Wild Side. Germaine donated the Monaco screening at the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation hall to benefit the Fondation Princess Grace de Monaco.
*****
This page features a non-comprehensive selection of books (in no particular order) which were gifted to us recently by their authors and are available to borrow from the library:
‘Graham Greene, Ireland and the Honorary Consul – A view from the South of France’ (2024)’ and ‘Michel Déon de l’Académie française, Pierre Joannon, Correspondance 1973-2016’ (January 2025) written by & donated by Pierre Joannon, the Emeritus Consul General of Ireland, a former trustee of the Princess Grace Irish Library and a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
A History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century by William Edward Hartpole Lecky (5 volumes), 1912. (Rare editions of this renowned publication) donated by Pierre Joannon.
Harp Studies II: World Harp Traditions (2024) by editors Dr Helen Lawlor (TU Dublin) and Sandra Joyce, Director of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (UL) with various academic contributors. This book situates harping activity as a vital aspect of music making in traditions around the world.
The Complete Guide to Achill Hill and the Corraun peninsula by Neal Doherty back to the library. By Neal Doherty, a lecturer, guidebook author and qualified tourist guide, living in county Mayo.
Sing in the Quiet Places of My Heart: The Life and Works of W.M. Letts (1882-1972) by Bairbre O’Hogan.
Tales from the Tower: A personal History of the James Joyce Tower and Museum by its curators – by Vivien Igoe & Robert Nicholson
A Little Circle of Kindred Minds: Joyce in Paris – Conor Fennell
Mendicants on the margins. Geographical, social and historiographical margins in the study of medieval and early modern mendicant orders (Cork University Press, 2024, with Anne-Julie Lafaye) by Dr Małgorzata Krasnodębska-D’Aughton, Senior Lecturer in the School of History, University College Cork.
Books by Dr. Darragh Gannon, Associate Director of Global Irish Studies at Georgetown University and - The Ireland Funds Monaco Academic-in-Residence (2024): Proclaiming a Republic: Ireland, 1916 and the National Collection (Irish Academic Press, 2016), Ireland 1922: independence, partition, civil war, edited with Fearghal McGarry (Royal Irish Academy, 2021), and Conflict, Diaspora, and Empire: Irish nationalism in Britain, 1912-1922 (Cambridge University Press, 2023).