Home

Celebrating the Literary Voices of County Leitrim

Discover authors, their stories, and the works inspired by this beautiful county.

Meet the Authors →

☘️ Leitrim’s Literary Legacy

This site is a space to explore the lives and works of authors from County Leitrim, and those who have written about it. Together, their writings offer a rich record of Leitrim’s people, places, and past — and help keep its stories alive. You’ll find author profiles, book lists, and links to where you can read or purchase their work. I’m also working to bring hard-to-find titles back into circulation and to help contemporary authors reach new readers. Whether you’re here to rediscover a forgotten voice or find someone new, céad míle fáilte.

📰 New & Noteworthy

📖 New Release: The Wind and the Hearth

Leitrim Books is pleased to announce the publication of The Wind and the Hearth: The Collected Works of Nora J. Murray. Continuing our dedication to the voices that have shaped the literary landscape of County Leitrim, this new volume restores a vivid, long-quiet writer to the modern reader. At the center of this release is her original 1918 poetry collection, A Wind Upon the Heath, returned to print at last and gathered together with her uncollected poems, essays, short stories, and a newly researched biographical introduction.

Born in Carrick-on-Shannon, Nora J. Murray was a schoolmistress and a sharp-eyed observer who captured the reality of early twentieth-century Ireland from the hearthside and rural boreens. Her writing moves beautifully from the lyrical, blue-hazed mountains of her poetry to the sharp, knowing humour of her prose, where she had the measure of the tramping man and the strong farmer alike. More than just a literary artifact, The Wind and the Hearth is a welcome seat by the fire with a generation that has passed, offering a true window into the soul of the West.

👤 Recently Added Authors

Our author list is always growing! Here are the three most recent additions connected to the county. Discover their stories and their work:

Spotlight on Authors

John McDonald

McDonald was a Leitrim-born poet, schoolteacher, and nationalist whose poems gave voice to the hopes of rural Ireland during the Land League and Home Rule era.

Rev. Joseph McGivney

Rev. McGivney was a Leitrim-born priest and scholar whose enduring legacy includes his foundational work Place-names of the County Longford and the construction of St. Joseph’s Church in Aughavas.

Rev. James Keegan

Rev. Keegan was a priest and poet who championed Irish language, literature, and national identity and helped spark the Gaelic Revival through his writings in Ireland and America.

“I think that each of us inhabits a private world that others cannot see. The only difference between the writer and the reader is that the writer is able to dramatise that private world.”
— John McGahern

🔍 Explore Leitrim’s Literary Heritage

Start exploring the stories of Leitrim — through the voices of its writers and those who’ve written it into memory.

Browse All Authors →