Sinéad Gleeson – författare

THE INSTANT TOP 5 IRISH BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN McGAHERN BOOK PRIZE 2025 ‘Wild, singular…gripped me from the start’ DOUGLAS STUART'Passionate, wild, hugely atmospheric' DAVID NICHOLLS‘Intelligent, probing’ MAGGIE O'FARRELL‘A gorgeous, mysterious read’ AISLING BEA‘I adored it’ LOUISE KENNEDY LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD *A most anticipated 2024 debut in BBC, Daily Mail, Stylist, New Statesman, Sunday Independent, Irish Times and Irish Examiner* The haunting debut novel from acclaimed, Irish no. 1 bestselling author, Sinéad Gleeson. The sea is steady for now. The land readies itself. What can be done with the women on the cliff? On a wild and rugged island cut off and isolated to some, artist Nell feels the island is her home. It is the source of inspiration for her art, rooted in landscape, folklore and the feminine. The mysterious Iníons, a commune of women who have travelled there from all over the world, consider it a place of refuge and safety, of solace in nature.All the islanders live alongside the strange murmurings that seem to emanate from within the depths of the island, a sound that is almost supernatural – a Summoning as the Iníons call it. One day, a letter arrives at Nell’s door from the reclusive Iníons who invite Nell into the commune for a commission to produce a magnificent art piece to celebrate their long history. In its creation, Nell will discover things about the community and about herself that will challenge everything she thought she knew.Beautifully written and gripping, Sinéad Gleeson’s debut novel takes in the darker side of human nature and the mysteries of faith and the natural world. Perfect for readers of Margaret Atwood and Sarah Moss. 'Sublime'OBSERVER ‘Original and captivating’BBC 'A gripping punch to the gut' SUNDAY INDEPENDENT ‘Startling, engrossing, darkly playful’ RODDY DOYLE‘Magnificent…a literary page-turner’ JENNIFER HIGGIE 'Constellations: Reflections from Life' by Sinéad Gleeson won Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 Irish Book Awards.

THE INSTANT TOP 5 IRISH BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN McGAHERN BOOK PRIZE 2025 ‘Wild, singular…gripped me from the start’ DOUGLAS STUART'Passionate, wild, hugely atmospheric' DAVID NICHOLLS‘Intelligent, probing’ MAGGIE O'FARRELL‘A gorgeous, mysterious read’ AISLING BEA‘I adored it’ LOUISE KENNEDY LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD *A most anticipated 2024 debut in BBC, Daily Mail, Stylist, New Statesman, Sunday Independent, Irish Times and Irish Examiner* The haunting debut novel from acclaimed, Irish no. 1 bestselling author, Sinéad Gleeson. The sea is steady for now. The land readies itself. What can be done with the women on the cliff? On a wild and rugged island cut off and isolated to some, artist Nell feels the island is her home. It is the source of inspiration for her art, rooted in landscape, folklore and the feminine. The mysterious Iníons, a commune of women who have travelled there from all over the world, consider it a place of refuge and safety, of solace in nature.All the islanders live alongside the strange murmurings that seem to emanate from within the depths of the island, a sound that is almost supernatural – a Summoning as the Iníons call it. One day, a letter arrives at Nell’s door from the reclusive Iníons who invite Nell into the commune for a commission to produce a magnificent art piece to celebrate their long history. In its creation, Nell will discover things about the community and about herself that will challenge everything she thought she knew.Beautifully written and gripping, Sinéad Gleeson’s debut novel takes in the darker side of human nature and the mysteries of faith and the natural world. Perfect for readers of Margaret Atwood and Sarah Moss. 'Sublime'OBSERVER ‘Original and captivating’BBC 'A gripping punch to the gut' SUNDAY INDEPENDENT ‘Startling, engrossing, darkly playful’ RODDY DOYLE‘Magnificent…a literary page-turner’ JENNIFER HIGGIE 'Constellations: Reflections from Life' by Sinéad Gleeson won Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 Irish Book Awards.

THE INSTANT TOP 5 IRISH BESTSELLERSHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN McGAHERN BOOK PRIZE 2025‘Wild, singular…gripped me from the start’ DOUGLAS STUART''Passionate, wild, hugely atmospheric'' DAVID NICHOLLS‘Intelligent, probing’ MAGGIE O''FARRELL‘A gorgeous, mysterious read’ AISLING BEA‘I adored it’ LOUISE KENNEDYLONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD*A most anticipated 2024 debut in BBC, Daily Mail, Stylist, New Statesman, Sunday Independent, Irish Times and Irish Examiner*The haunting debut novel from acclaimed, Irish no. 1 bestselling author, Sinéad Gleeson.The sea is steady for now. The land readies itself. What can be done with the women on the cliff?On a wild and rugged island cut off and isolated to some, artist Nell feels the island is her home. It is the source of inspiration for her art, rooted in landscape, folklore and the feminine. The mysterious Iníons, a commune of women who have travelled there from all over the world, consider it a place of refuge and safety, of solace in nature.All the islanders live alongside the strange murmurings that seem to emanate from within the depths of the island, a sound that is almost supernatural – a Summoning as the Iníons call it. One day, a letter arrives at Nell’s door from the reclusive Iníons who invite Nell into the commune for a commission to produce a magnificent art piece to celebrate their long history. In its creation, Nell will discover things about the community and about herself that will challenge everything she thought she knew.Beautifully written and gripping, Sinéad Gleeson’s debut novel takes in the darker side of human nature and the mysteries of faith and the natural world. Perfect for readers of Margaret Atwood and Sarah Moss.''Sublime''OBSERVER‘Original and captivating’BBC''A gripping punch to the gut'' SUNDAY INDEPENDENT‘Startling, engrossing, darkly playful’ RODDY DOYLE‘Magnificent…a literary page-turner’ JENNIFER HIGGIE''Constellations: Reflections from Life'' by Sinéad Gleeson won Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 Irish Book Awards.

THE INSTANT TOP 5 IRISH BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN McGAHERN BOOK PRIZE 2025 ‘Wild, singular…gripped me from the start’ DOUGLAS STUART'Passionate, wild, hugely atmospheric' DAVID NICHOLLS‘Intelligent, probing’ MAGGIE O'FARRELL‘A gorgeous, mysterious read’ AISLING BEA‘I adored it’ LOUISE KENNEDY LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD *A most anticipated 2024 debut in BBC, Daily Mail, Stylist, New Statesman, Sunday Independent, Irish Times and Irish Examiner* The haunting debut novel from acclaimed, Irish no. 1 bestselling author, Sinéad Gleeson. For artist Nell, the island is her home and the source of inspiration for her art. The Iníons, a reclusive community of women, consider it a place of refuge and solace in nature. All the islanders live there alongside strange murmurings that seem to emanate from the depths of the landscape, a sound that is almost supernatural – a Summoning, as the Iníons call it.One day, a letter from the Iníons arrives at Nell’s door. They invite her to produce an artwork celebrating their Samhain anniversary and Nell cannot resist accepting. But as the fateful day approaches, Nell senses tensions building beneath the placid surface of the commune. Will she be able to unearth the truth behind the events unfolding around her? And how far will someone go to protect what they hold most dear?Beautifully written and gripping, Sinéad Gleeson’s debut novel takes in the darker side of human nature and the mysteries of faith and the natural world. Perfect for readers of Margaret Atwood and Sarah Moss. 'Sublime'OBSERVER ‘Original and captivating’BBC 'A gripping punch to the gut' SUNDAY INDEPENDENT ‘Startling, engrossing, darkly playful’ RODDY DOYLE‘Magnificent…a literary page-turner’ JENNIFER HIGGIE 'Constellations: Reflections from Life' by Sinéad Gleeson won Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 Irish Book Awards.

THE INSTANT TOP 5 IRISH BESTSELLERSHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN McGAHERN BOOK PRIZE 2025‘Wild, singular…gripped me from the start’ DOUGLAS STUART''Passionate, wild, hugely atmospheric'' DAVID NICHOLLS‘Intelligent, probing’ MAGGIE O''FARRELL‘A gorgeous, mysterious read’ AISLING BEA‘I adored it’ LOUISE KENNEDYLONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARDThe haunting debut novel from beloved, Irish no. 1 bestselling author, Sinéad Gleeson.The sea is steady for now. The land readies itself. What can be done with the woman on the cliff?On a wild and rugged island cut off and isolated to some, artist Nell feels the island is her home. It is the source of inspiration for her art, rooted in landscape, folklore and the feminine. The mysterious Inions, a commune of women who have travelled there from all over the world, consider it a place of refuge and safety, of solace in nature.All the islanders live alongside the strange murmurings that seem to emanate from within the depths of the island, a sound that is almost supernatural – a Summoning as the Inions call it. One day, a letter arrives at Nell’s door from the reclusive Inions who invite Nell into the commune for a commission to produce a magnificent art piece to celebrate their long history. In its creation, Nell will discover things about the community and about herself that will challenge everything she thought she knew.Beautifully written, prescient and eerily haunting, Sinéad Gleeson’s fiction debut takes in the darker side of human nature and the mysteries of faith and the natural world. A novel from one of our most beloved literary voices, this is perfect for fans of Margaret Atwood and Sarah Moss.‘Wonderfully surprising and totally original’ Elaine Feeney, author of How to Build a Boat''Gleeson''s magnificent debut novel is that rare thing: a literary page-turner'' Jennifer Higgie, author of The Other Side''Startling, engrossing, darkly playful'' Roddy Doyle, author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha''A brilliant, gripping novel'' Sara Baume, author of A Line Made By Walking

The #1 Irish bestseller and winner of Non-Fiction Book of the Year at the 2019 An Post Irish Book Awards, winner of the 2020 Dalkey Literary Awards, named Best Book of the Year by the Guardian, Observer, Image, Irish Times, New Statesman, and Irish Independent, Sinéad Gleeson’s essays chronicle—in crystalline, tender, powerful prose—life in a body as it goes through sickness, health, motherhood, and love of all kinds."I have come to think of all the metal in my body as artificial stars, glistening beneath the skin, a constellation of old and new metal. A map, a tracing of connections and a guide to looking at things from different angles."We treat the body as an afterthought, until it no longer can be. Until the pain or the pleasure is too great. Sinéad Gleeson’s life has been marked by terrible illness, including leukemia and debilitating arthritis. As a child, she bathed in the springs of Lourdes, ever hopeful that her body would cooperate, ever looking forward to the day when she could take her body for granted. But just as she turns inward to explore her own pain, and then the marvel of recovery, and then the arrival of her greatest joys—falling in love, becoming a mother—she turns her gaze outward. She delves into history, art, literature, and music, plotting the intimate experience of life in a women’s body across a wide-ranging map. From Nick Cave to Taylor Swift, Botticelli to Frida Kahlo, Louisa May Alcott to Lucy Grealy, Constellations is an investigation into the different ways of seeing, both uniquely personal and universal in its resonances.In the tradition of some of our finest life writers, Gleeson explores—in her own spirited, generous voice—the fierceness of being alive. She has written “a book [that] every woman should read” (Eimear McBride).

This Woman's Work: Essays on Music is edited by Kim Gordon and Sinéad Gleeson and features contributors Anne Enright, Fatima Bhutto, Jenn Pelly, Rachel Kushner, Juliana Huxtable, Leslie Jamison, Liz Pelly, Maggie Nelson, Margo Jefferson, Megan Jasper, Ottessa Moshfegh, Simone White, Yiyun Li and Zakia Sewell.Published to challenge the historic narrative of music and music writing being written by men, for men, This Woman's Work seeks to confront the male dominance and sexism that have been hard-coded in the canons of music, literature, and film and has forced women to fight pigeon-holing or being side-lined by carving out their own space. Women have to speak up, to shout louder to tell their story - like the auteurs and ground-breakers featured in this collection, including: Anne Enright on Laurie Anderson; Megan Jasper on her ground-breaking work with Sub Pop; Margo Jefferson on Bud Powell and Ella Fitzgerald; and Fatima Bhutto on music and dictatorship.This Woman's Work also features writing on the experimentalists, women who blended music and activism, the genre-breakers, the vocal auteurs; stories of lost homelands and friends; of propaganda and dictatorships, the women of folk and country, the racialised tropes of jazz, the music of Trap and Carriacou; of mixtapes and violin lessons.

*Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2020**Winner of non-fiction book of the year at the Irish Book Awards*An extraordinarily intimate book of essays that chart the experiences that have made Sinéad Gleeson the woman and the writer she is today, for readers of The Last Act of Love and I Am, I Am, I Am.'Utterly magnificent. Raw, thought-provoking and galvanising; this is a book every woman should read.' – Eimear McBride, author of A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing.I have come to think of all the metal in my body as artificial stars, glistening beneath the skin, a constellation of old and new metal. A map, a tracing of connections and a guide to looking at things from different angles.How do you tell the story of a life in a body, as it goes through sickness, health, motherhood? How do you tell that story when you are not just a woman but a woman in Ireland? In the powerful and daring essays in Constellations Sinéad Gleeson does that very thing. All of life is within these pages, from birth to first love, pregnancy to motherhood, terrifying sickness, old age and loss to death itself.Throughout this wide-ranging collection she also turns her restless eye outwards delving into work, art and our very ways of seeing. In the tradition of some of our finest life writers, and yet still in her own spirited, generous voice, Sinéad takes us on a journey that is both uniquely personal and yet universal in its resonance. Here is the fierce joy and pain of being alive.'Breathtaking and sublime.' – Nina Stibbe'Absolutely extraordinary and life-enhancing.' – Daisy Buchanan, author of How to be Grown-up.

*Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize 2020**Winner of non-fiction book of the year at the Irish Book Awards*An extraordinarily intimate book of essays that chart the experiences that have made Sinéad Gleeson the woman and the writer she is today, for readers of The Last Act of Love and I Am, I Am, I Am.'Utterly magnificent. Raw, thought-provoking and galvanising; this is a book every woman should read.' – Eimear McBride, author of A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing.I have come to think of all the metal in my body as artificial stars, glistening beneath the skin, a constellation of old and new metal. A map, a tracing of connections and a guide to looking at things from different angles.How do you tell the story of a life in a body, as it goes through sickness, health, motherhood? How do you tell that story when you are not just a woman but a woman in Ireland? In the powerful and daring essays in Constellations Sinéad Gleeson does that very thing. All of life is within these pages, from birth to first love, pregnancy to motherhood, terrifying sickness, old age and loss to death itself.Throughout this wide-ranging collection she also turns her restless eye outwards delving into work, art and our very ways of seeing. In the tradition of some of our finest life writers, and yet still in her own spirited, generous voice, Sinéad takes us on a journey that is both uniquely personal and yet universal in its resonance. Here is the fierce joy and pain of being alive.'Breathtaking and sublime.' – Nina Stibbe'Absolutely extraordinary and life-enhancing.' – Daisy Buchanan, author of How to be Grown-up.

The #1 Irish Times bestseller An anthology of the very best Irish short stories, selected by Sinéad Gleeson, author of Constellations. There have been many anthologies of the short story as it developed in Ireland, but never a collection like this.The Art of the Glimpse is a radical revision of the canon of the Irish story, uniting classic works with neglected writers and marginalised voices – women, LGBT writers, Traveller folk-tales, neglected 19th-century authors and the first wave of ''new Irish'' writers from all over the world now making a life in Ireland. Sinéad Gleeson brings together stories that range from the most sublime realism to the downright bizarre and transgressive, some from established literary figures and some that have not yet been published in book form.The collection draws on a tremendous spectrum of experience: the story of a prank come good by Bram Stoker; Sally Rooney on the love languages of the new generation; Donal Ryan on the pains of ageing; Edna O''Brien on the things we betray for love; James Joyce on a young woman torn between the familiar burdens and oppression of her home and the dangerous lure of romance and escape; and the internal monologue of a woman in a coma by Marian Keyes. Here too are vivid and less familiar stories by Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi, Oein De Bharduin, Blindboy Boatclub and Melatu Uche Okorie.Sinead Gleeson''s anthology is a marvellous representation of a rich literary tradition renewing itself in the 21st century.Contributing authors include: Samuel Beckett, Sally Rooney, Melatu Uche Okirie, William Trevor, Marian Keyes, Kevin Barry, Edna O''Brien, Claire-Louise Bennett, Sheridan Le Fanu, Danielle McLaughlin, Máirtín Ó Cathain, Frances Molloy, Blindboy Boatclub, Elizabeth Bowen, Frank O''Connor, Chiamaka Emyi-Amadi, John McGahern, Anne Enright, Mike McCormack, Maeve Brennan, Oein de Bhairduin, Eimear McBride, Seán Ó''Faoláin, Cathy Sweeney.

The #1 Irish Times bestsellerA special reissue from Head of Zeus's bestselling anthology collection of the very best Irish short stories, selected by Sinéad Gleeson, author of Constellations, winner of the Irish Book Award Non Fiction Book of the Year 2019.There have been many anthologies of the short story as it developed in Ireland, but never a collection like this.The Art of the Glimpse is a radical revision of the canon of the Irish story, uniting classic works with neglected writers and marginalised voices – women, LGBT writers, Traveller folk-tales, neglected 19th-century authors and the first wave of 'new Irish' writers from all over the world now making a life in Ireland. Sinéad Gleeson brings together stories that range from the most sublime realism to the downright bizarre and transgressive, some from established literary figures and some that have not yet been published in book form.The collection draws on a tremendous spectrum of experience: the story of a prank come good by Bram Stoker; Sally Rooney on the love languages of the new generation; Donal Ryan on the pains of ageing; Edna O'Brien on the things we betray for love; James Joyce on a young woman torn between the familiar burdens and oppression of her home and the dangerous lure of romance and escape; and the internal monologue of a woman in a coma by Marian Keyes. Here too are vivid and less familiar stories by Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi, Oein De Bharduin, Blindboy Boatclub and Melatu Uche Okorie.Sinéad Gleeson's anthology is a marvellous representation of a rich literary tradition renewing itself in the 21st century.

An instant classic, The Long Gaze Back, edited by Sinéad Gleeson, is an exhilarating anthology of thirty short stories by some of the most gifted women writers this island has ever produced. Featuring: Niamh Boyce, Elizabeth Bowen, Maeve Brennan, Mary Costello, June Caldwell, Lucy Caldwell, Evelyn Conlon, Anne Devlin, Maria Edgeworth, Anne Enright, Christine Dwyer Hickey, Norah Hoult, Mary Lavin, Eimear McBride, Molly McCloskey, Bernie McGill, Lisa McInerney, Belinda McKeon, Siobhán Mannion, Lia Mills, Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Kate O’Brien, Roisín O’Donnell, E. M. Reapy, Charlotte Riddell, Eimear Ryan, Anakana Schofield, Somerville & Ross, Susan Stairs. Taken together, the collected works of these writers reveal an enrapturing, unnerving, and piercingly beautiful mosaic of a lively literary landscape. Spanning four centuries, The Long Gaze Back features 8 rare stories from deceased luminaries and forerunners, and 22 new stories by some of the most talented Irish women writers working today. The anthology presents an inclusive and celebratory portrait of the high calibre of contemporary literature in Ireland. These stories run the gamut from heartbreaking to humorous, but each leaves a lasting impression. They chart the passions, obligations, trials and tribulations of a variety of vividly-drawn characters with unflinching honesty and relentless compassion. These are stories to savour.