The O’Brien Press Blog

The trial of Eamonn Lillis for the murder of Celine Cawley was one of the most-followed in recent memory: author Abigail Rieley talks about the trial and the media circus it generated, as well as about writing her book.

Irish children’s author Siobhán Parkinson was named the first ever Laureate na nÓg in a ceremony in Dublin yesterday. A new initiative by the Arts Council, with the support of Children’s Books Ireland, the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and Poetry Ireland, the honour was awarded to Siobhán by President Mary [...]

How can you compare Skulduggery Pleasant to PS, I Love You? Or It’s A Long Way From Penny Apples to Ross O’Carroll-Kelly? The good people at the Irish Book Awards have just announced their shortlist of the top 50 Irish Books of the Decade, and there’s everything there from crime fiction to children’s books via [...]

It’s been an interesting journey: after months of discussion, development and testing, we have released our first ever electronic product: iPaddy: Irish Slang Guide. When iPhone apps became the big buzz last autumn, it became clear that finally there was a new way that people were willing to pay for content in real numbers: the [...]

The Secret of Kells animated feature film (on which the O’Brien books of the same name are based) has been nominated for an Oscar in the prestigious Best Animated Feature Film Category. Fellow nominees include ‘Coraline’, ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’, ‘The Princess and the Frog’ and ‘Up’. All five nominees will go on to compete for [...]

Last Saturday’s Sunday Times Magazine cover story, ‘Bono the shades come off’ (21 June 2009) by Chrissy Iley, mentions that Bono always has a few books on the go, we think that one of them in particular is an excellent choice: “There are books everywhere. He likes to read about three at once. Currently there’s [...]