Success at last! For five or six years, I have been trying to convince my local book shop that there is a market for Irish language books in our town. There is a thriving naíonra, Gaelscoil agus Gaelcholáiste in the town. I generally approach them shortly before Seachtain na Gaeilge each year. I have always received the response that there is no interest in Irish language books.

Books are always provided on a sale or return basis so there is no risk to a shop, but they do not necessarily want to dedicate the shelf space. This year, they agreed to stock more than the token few they had and currently have about fifty titles in stock ranging from books suited to very young children, right up to teenagers. I am thrilled. The next challenge is to ensure that the word spreads to the potential market - Gaelscoil parents etc. If there is no interest shown, they won't stock them for long. I'll keep you posted

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You know, with summer coming soon, you'll want to make sure that tourists know about it as well. You might want to point out to the shop the interest many foreign visitors have in Irish and suggest that they do something to lure that market during the summer months. I know that when I was in Ireland with friends in 2008, we popped into every bookshop and searched for books in Irish (we really hit a gold mine in a used bookshop -- I think it was in Galway, but it might have been Sligo. My backpack was significantly heavier by the time I left that place!).

Redwolf

Congratulations, a Shaoirse. Spreading the word at the local schools and community groups will certainly help - anyone in your community who you know is interested in Irish. Maybe you can make some mini-flyers, credit-card size with the address of the book shop.

Also do you have community notice boards outside local shops or supermarkets in Ireland? A little notice saying "Irish books now available at: ~~" could catch people outside your own circle.

You could put the address up here but it might be an idea to get the shop's permission first?


Haha, the memories ... I once bought a load of Irish books at Kenny's in Galway, and took them to the post office to post them, only to find the Irish Post Office didn't sell boxes for posting parcels. By the time I had made the rounds of a few fruit and grocery shops to find boxes I had missed the last bus to Glencolmcille and had to hitchhike all the way there ... met some lovely people along the way, though, including one fellow from across the border who drove around to four or five B&Bs trying to find me a place to stay the night in Donegal ... only in Ireland.

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Múinteoir Gaeilge - Irish Teacher
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect, but I can also speak Ulster and Munster Irish with native-level pronunciation.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), Gaeilic Uladh (GU), Gaelainn na Mumhan (GM), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

I'm not sure how many tourists we get in our neck of the woods; we wouldn't exactly be on any tourist trails!

I have suggested that the shop contacts all the local Gaelscoileanna etc so hopefully they have the sense to do it. I have actually made contact with my local one too, but better to hear from the shop itself.

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Well, you're in Ireland, which means that you can count on at least some American tourists. We have relatives EVERYWHERE in Ireland!

Well all I can say is that you're lucky. Once again this week I've been disappointed - WH Smiths in Paris were able to obtain 'Humorous Irish Tales for Children' by Eddie Lenihan for me - I tried ordering that just see if they could. So I went in thinking that if they could get that, they could get hold of other books from the Mercier Press. I asked for 'Favourite Irish Legends in Irish and English' compiled by Bairbre McCarthy - well what do they tell me? it's not available through their distributor. They can get 'Do Teachers go to the Toilet?/An dtéann Múinteoirí go Tigh an Asail?' but not that one! Is it a lottery?

I have no idea how it generally works outside of Ireland. Áis is the distributor of all (or most?) Irish language books in Ireland. It might be worth contacting them and asking if they distribute outside the country. http://www.irish.ie/ForasnaGaeilge/Ais.asp

Alternatively, you can order Irish language books online from http://www.kennys.ie and they have free delivery worldwide.

The other option is to visit Contae Chill Dara and our local shop will take care of you!

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litriocht.com too

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Is fearr Gaeilg na Gaeltaċta ná Gaeilg ar biṫ eile
Agus is í Gaeilg Ġaoṫ Doḃair is binne

www.litriocht.com claims to have every Irish language book that is in print, but they charge postage. They are very reliable though; I have used them several times, but I tend to order through our local shop to remind them that Irish language books exist!

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I don't have une carte bleue (cárta ghorm?)