Having an Irish mother, an Irish name and being entitled to hold an Irish passport I should really celebrate St Patricks Day, but I don’t really. I’ll leave that to the good people of America who seem to be going for it in a big way (really, turning the river green? How many pints of Guiness made that seem like a good idea).
I will however share my five favourite Irish writers with you. James Joyce will not feature, so don’t hold your breath.
1) Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin I believe, but is probably better known for his amazing contributions to English Literature. My favourites? The Importance of Being Earnest and The Selfish Giant. Earnest is my favourite play and I can quote most of it, which is much cooler than most people realise.
2) C.S. Lewis because, religion aside, I loved the Chronicles of Narnia.
3) Jonathan Swift and not so much for Gulliver’s Travels more for A Modest Proposal, a satire made all the more cutting when you realise that Swift was of Irish descent.
4) Eavan Boland- it would be patronising to call her a little know poet, because she’s very successful and yet she isn’t one of the ancient white males that are still so commonly associated with “good” poetry, whatever that is. I studied her as part of a modern poetry course at university, and hers is one of the few set texts I move around with me.
5) Cecelia Ahern because anyone who says that they didn’t cry buckets when reading P.S. I Love You needs a bloody good slap. My housemate and I had to meet for hugs in the kitchen to compose ourselves enough to carry on reading.
What are your favourite books/poems by Irish writers?
The Book and Biscuit 
I love Eavan Boland. Her poem “Outside History” changed the way I look at the world. Seriously.
I have to give a shout out to James Joyce. He gets kinda crazy toward the end there, but Dubliners is great and the Molly Bloom chapter of Ulysses is insane (in a mostly good way).
I like Irish lit. Nice list!
I love both Oscar Wilder and C S Lewis, especially the latter. I wrote my dissertation on The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe…even studying it for a year solidly has not made me sick of it 🙂
I really like it too. I always loved the idea of being able to plant toffees etc like they did in The Magician’s Nephew.
I literally had to stop reading P.S. I Love You about 20 times because I couldn’t stop the tears! Great blog posts 🙂
I love Irish writers! My favourite without doubt Flann O’Brien, he at once manages to create the most absurd and the most nightmarishly ordinary situations and his use of word play is similar to that of Joyce.
Thanks for your comment. I haven’t actually read anything of his. I will keep my eyes peeled for his work.