Book description
Connemara: A Little Gaelic Kingdom
is the triumphant conclusion to Tim Robinson's extraordinary
Connemara trilogy, which Robert Macfarlane has called 'one of the
most remarkable non-fiction projects undertaken in English'.
Robinson writes about the people, places and history of south
Connemara - one of Ireland's last Gaelic-speaking enclaves - with the
encyclopaedic knowledge of a cartographer and the grace of a born
writer. From the man who has been praised in the highest terms by
Joseph O'Connor ('One of contemporary Ireland's finest literary
stylists''), John Burnside ('one of the finest of contemporary prose
stylists'), Fintan O'Toole ('Simply one of the best non-fiction prose
writers currently at work') and Giles Foden ('an indubitable
classic'), among many others, this is one of the publishing events of
2011 and the conclusion of one of the great literary projects of our time.
'He is that rarest of phenomena, a scientist and an artist, and his
method is to combine scientific rigour with artistic reverie in a
seamless blend that both informs and delights.' John Banville, Guardian
'A masterpiece of travel and topographical writing, and an
incomparable and enthralling meditation on times past ... This
perfectly pitched work opens readers up to the world around them'
Sunday Times
A native of Yorkshire, Tim Robinson studied maths at Cambridge and
then worked for many years as a visual artist in Istanbul, Vienna and
London, among other places. In 1972 he moved to the Aran Islands. In
1986 his first book,
Stones of Aran: Pilgrimage
, was published to great acclaim. The second volume of
Stones of Aran
, subtitled
Labyrinth
, appeared in 1995. He has also published collections of essays, and
maps of the Aran Islands, the Burren and Connemara.
Connemara:
Listening to the Wind
, published in 2006, won the Irish Book Award for Non-fiction.
Connemara: The Last Pool of Darkness
followed in 2008. Since 1984 Tim Robinson has lived in Roundstone,
Connemara.
