A savagely funny, achingly beautiful tale set in the Wild West, from the Booker-longlisted author of Night Boat to Tangier
Kevin Barry Book order
May 15, 1950 – May 21, 2012
Kevin Barry is an Irish writer whose works are celebrated for their distinctive voice and sharp observations of the Irish landscape and its inhabitants. His prose often navigates the space between the absurd and stark reality, masterfully capturing the untamed energy and melancholy of modern life. Barry's stories and novels are characterized by their inventive language, compelling characters, and an ability to draw readers into the depths of the human psyche. His literary contribution lies in his refreshing and uncompromising portrayal of contemporary society.
- 2024
- 2023
At sixty, Kevin Barry embarks on a transformative 67-day road trip across America, seeking adventure and connection after years of family and career commitments. Traveling 11,007 miles with his Subaru and a whimsical GPS, he explores stunning landscapes and meets intriguing people. The journey is filled with nostalgic reunions, unexpected challenges, and moments of beauty, such as spotting a bald eagle in Montana. Throughout, Barry revels in the freedom of the open road and reflects on the complexities of his beloved country.
- 2020
In this third collection, That Old Country Music, we encounter a ragbag of West of Ireland characters, many on the cusp between love and catastrophe, heartbreak and epiphany, resignation and hope. These stories show an Ireland in a condition of great flux but also as a place where older rhythms, and an older magic, somehow persist.
- 2019
Night Boat to Tangier
- 255 pages
- 9 hours of reading
In the dark waiting room of the ferry terminal in the sketchy Spanish port of Algeciras, two aging Irishmen-- Maurice Hearne and Charlie Redmond, longtime partners in the lucrative and dangerous enterprise of smuggling drugs-- sit at night, none too patiently. It is October 23, 2018, and they are expecting Maurice's estranged daughter, Dilly, to either arrive on a boat coming from Tangier or depart on one heading there. Their conversations cause them to excavate their shared history of violence, romance, mutual betrayals and serial exiles. -- adapted from jacket
- 2016
WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITHS PRIZESHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS"John is so many miles from love now and home. This is the story of his strangest trip."A novel of family, ghosts, love, music and the quest for truth, Beatlebone recounts a wild journey through the west of Ireland in 1978. At its helm is John, a maddened genius fleeing fame and seeking peace. With his deadpan Irish driver, Cornelius, at his side, John is hellbent on reaching the Island of Dorinish, an assignment he arranged ten years before. Lyrical, freewheeling, quixotic and fun, Beatlebone is a sad and beautiful comedy.
- 2012
Dark Lies the Island is a collection of unpredictable stories about love and cruelty, crimes, desperation, and hope from the man Irvine Welsh has described as 'the most arresting and original writer to emerge from these islands in years'.
- 2012
City of Bohane
- 288 pages
- 11 hours of reading
'City of Bohane' is a visionary novel that blends influences from film and the graphic novel, from Trojan beats and calypso rhythms, from Celtic myth and legend, from fado and the sagas, and from all the great inheritance of Irish literature.
- 2007
There Are Little Kingdoms
- 160 pages
- 6 hours of reading
The debut short story collection from the winner of the IMPAC Award, the Goldsmiths Prize and the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award: 'The most exciting Irish short story writer of his generation' Sunday Times
