Aiséirí - Alex Hijmans (2011)

San fhíseán gairid seo a taifeadadh sa Bhrasaíl, labhraíonn Alex Hijmans faoin gcéad úrscéal atá scríofa aige, Aiséirí (Cois Life, 2011) a chuireann síos ar bhean óg as an Ísiltír a fhaigheann post i siopa caifé i nGaillimh. D'fhiafraíomar d'Alex, tharla gur bhunaigh sé féin siopa caifé Gaelach i nGaillimh fad a bhí sé ann, cé gaol a bhí idir an taithí sin agus an scéal seo.
Foilsithe ag Cois Life (Baile Átha Cliath 2010) agus le ceannach ó www.coislife.ie
Is féidir Aiséirí a cheannach do do kindle ach brú anseo.


In this short video recorded in Brasil, Alex Hijmans talks about his first novel, Aiséirí (Cois Life, 2011), about a young woman from the Netherlands who gets a job in a coffee shop in Galway city. As Alex himself opened just such an Irish-speaking coffee shop in Galway during the time he spent there, we asked him how closely Aiséirí was based on his own experiences.
Published by Cois Life (Dublin 2010) and available from www.coislife.ie
You can buy Aiséirí for your kindle here.

Duaiseanna - The Irish Book Awards

Ábhar machnaimh...

Fógraíodh na buaiteoirí sna Irish Book Awards le déanaí agus bhí sé suntasach arís nach raibh aon leabhar Gaeilge san iomaíocht ná aon chatagoir ar leith le haghaidh leabhar as Gaeilge. Gan amhras is sna na duaiseanna liteartha san Oireachtas is mó a mbíonn spéis ag 'lucht leabhar' na Gaeilge, idir fhoilsitheoirí agus léitheoirí araon - Gradam Uí Shúilleabháin agus Gradam Réics Carló. Ar an gcéad amharc, ba dhóigh le duine nár leor na duaiseanna seo mar go mbíonn siad teoranta do shaol na Gaeilge agus b'fhéidir gurbh fhearr aird an phobail mhóir a tharraingt ar a bhfuil á fhoilsiú sa Ghaeilge.

Ar an taobh eile, is gnó ann féin é na Irish Book Awards, gnó atá á riaradh ag comhlacht a bunaíodh d'aon ghnó le hairgead a thuilleamh dó féin. Tá a rian sin ar na 'duaisanna'; ní bhronntar seic ar bith ar bhuaiteoir ar bith - ní fhaigeann siad ach an gradam. Ní leor é sin ach an oiread...

Some food for thought...

The winners of The Irish Book Awards were announced recently and it was notable again that no Irish-language titles were on any of the shortlists. Nor was there a special Irish-language category. Now, for the Irish language literati - both publishers and readers - the literary competitions at Oireachtas na Gaeilge have long been paramount - Gradam Uí Shúilleabháin (adult) and Gradam Réics Carló (children). One's first reaction might be that these aren't enough, that we should ideally be striving to use some other major competitions to tell more people than just Irish speakers about what's being published in Irish at the moment. On the other hand, The Irish Book Awards is a business in itself, established by a 'for-profit' company - and the awards have every sign of it; the winners of the awards receive no cheque at all, just the honour of winning. While the Irish language folk talking to ourselves might not be enough, the approach of the Irish Book Awards is hardly enough either...

Ríomhleabhair Ghaeilge / Irish-Language eBooks

Tá a lán daoine tar éis ceisteanna a chur orainn faoi na ríomhleabhair atá déanta againn agus faoi na cinn eile atá beartaithe. Dá réir sin shocraíomar píosa gairid a scríobh faoi seo. Táimid tar éis súil a choinneáil ar fhorbairt mhargadh na ríomhleabhar le cúpla bliain anuas agus is é an chúis is mó ar bheartaíomar tabhairt faoi ríomhleabhair anois ná gur tharla eachtra suntasach i lár na bliana: den chéad uair riamh - i lár na bliana seo - dhíol Amazon níos mó ríomhleabhar ná mar a dhíol siad cóipeanna crua de leabhair. Is dócha gur tharla se seo de thoradh ar roinnt tarlúintí: seoladh an iPad; na hathruithe feabhais a cuireadh ar an leagan is déanaí de kindle (an léitheoir láimhe a úsáideann Amazon); agus ar ndóigh an chuid eile den mhargadh atá faoin Sony Reader agus na "gutháin ghlice". Agus sin ráite, tá saol na leabhar trí chéile ag dul sa tseans leis seo, faoi mar a tharlaíonn go tráthrialte le teicneolaíochtaí nua - ar aghaidh linn! Is foilsitheoirí sinn ach is léitheoirí sinn freisin agus aithnímid gur buntáiste iontach atá ann gur féidir le duine dul ar líne agus leabhar a cheannach agus a bheith á léamh laistigh de chúpla nóiméad. Chífimid ar fad .......

Since announcing the fact that we've produced our first eBooks many people have asked us why we decided the time was right for this, so we've written this short piece by way of explanation. Basically we've been watching the emerging market for eBooks over the past few years and the main reason we decided the time was right to adopt the technology was the fact that Amazon for the first time - in the middle of this year - sold more eBooks than copies of hardbacks. This is probably a result of a number of other developments: the launch of the iPad; that the new kindle (Amazon's hand-held eBook reading device) was much improved; and also that the Sony Reader and Smartphones had also created a certain level of market share. The entire world of publishing has embarked on this journey and while none of us knows where exactly we'll find ourselves, we all feel we need to be on board. Certainly, for those of us associated with Cois Life, we, as readers, see the huge advantage of being able to go online, buy a book and begin reading it just moments later. We shall all see.....

An Chéad Úrscéal Gaeilge i bhFoirm Ríomhleabhair? - The First Irish Novel Published as an eBook?

Tá an chead cheithre ríomhleabhar díreach foilsithe ag Cois Life agus beidh siad á ndáileadh trí ghréasáin éagsúla díoltóirí ar-líne timpeall na cruinne trí na príomhfhormáidí éagsúla. Is iad na leabhair ná:

Sceon na Mara, scéal bleachtaireachta agus an t-úrscéal is déanaí ó Liam Ó Muirthile, Dún an Airgid le hÉilís Ní Dhuibhne, ar clasaic í cheana, nach mór, agus í ag cur síos ar nirvana na hÉireann sa nua-aois, Dialann Sár-Rúnda Amy Ní Chonchúir le Siobhán Parkinson faoi dhéagóirí agus a gcuid rún agus Ar Muir is Ar Sliabh le Dermot Somers faoi shraith nua teilifíse eachtraíochta faoin aer le Brian agus Lise.

Mar thús leis an tionscamh seo tá fáil ar na leabhair cheana i bfoirm atá cóirothe don kindle. Ceannaigh ó Amazon iad agus beidh tú á léamh laistigh de nóiméad!


Cois Life have just published their first four eBooks which will be distributed through various on-line sellers worldwide in the main formats.

The books are Sceon na Mara, Liam Ó Muirthile's new crime novel, Dún an Airgid, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne's modern classic about a Utopian modern Ireland Dialann Sár-Rúnda Amy Ní Chonchúir, Siobhán Parkinson's brilliant diary for teenagers and Ar Muir is Ar Sliabh, Dermot Somers story about athletic, adventurous twenty-somethings on a TV shoot.

For starters, these four books are available for kindle, so if you buy them on Amazon NOW you could literally be reading them within a minute!

Sceon na Mara - Liam Ó Muirthile (2010)

Labhraíonn Liam Ó Muirthile faoina leabhar, ‘Sceon na Mara’ (Cois Life, 2010), úrscéal agus scéal bleachtaireachta.
Foilsithe ag Cois Life (Baile Átha Cliath 2010) agus le ceannach ó www.coislife.ie

Liam Ó Muirthile speaks about ‘Sceon an Mara’ (Cois Life, 2010) a novel and detective story in the Irish language.
Published by Cois Life (Dublin 2010) and available from www.coislife.ie

Sanas - Liam Ó Muirthile (2007)

Léann Liam Ó Muirthile dánta as a chnuasach 'Sanas' (Cois Life, 2007) agus labhraíonn sé faoin tionscadal foilsitheoireachta neamhghnách seo ar ghlac Iarla Ó Lionaird páirt ann. Tá dlúthdhiosca a théann leis an gcnuasach ar a bhfuil reacaireacht agus ceol a chum an bheirt ealaíontóirí.
Foilsithe ag Cois Life (Baile Átha Cliath 2010) agus le ceannach ó www.coislife.ie

Liam Ó Muirthile reads from his collection of poetry in the Irish language 'Sanas' (Cois Life, 2007) and speaks about this unusual publishing project on which the singer Iarla Ó Lionaird collaborated. The book is accompanied by a CD of performance and music created by the two artists.
Published by Cois Life (Dublin 2010) and available from www.coislife.ie

Seanfhocla Chonnacht - Donla uí Bhraonáin (2010)

Seanfhocla Chonnacht - Donla uí Bhraonáin ag labhairt faoina hatheagrán den chlasaic seo a thiomsaigh Tomás S. Ó Máille an chéad lá. Tráchtann sí ar chúlra an leabhair, ar an ábhar agus ar na gnéithe breise a bhaineann leis an eagrán seo - go háirithe an dlúthiosca a chuireann ar chumas an léitheora an t-ábhar a churadach ar bhealaí éagsúla.
Foilsithe ag Cois Life (Baile Átha Cliath 2010) agus le ceannach ó www.coislife.ie

Seanfhocla Chonnacht - Donla uí Bhraonáin speaks about her new edition of the classic collection of proverbs originally compiled by Tomás S. Ó Máille. Donla describes the background to the work, the material itself and discusses the added features which this new edition supplies, in particular the CD-ROM which allows the reader search the material under various headings.
Published by Cois Life (Dublin 2010) and available from www.coislife.ie