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Roddy Doyle was our Guest Editor in October 2011. Click here to see his book selection.
Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. His first novel, The Commitments, was published to great acclaim in 1987 and was made into a globally successful film by Alan Parker. The Snapper was published in 1990 and has also been made into a film, directed by Stephen Frears. The Van was shortlisted for the 1991 Booker Prize and made into a film also by Stephen Frears. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, which won the Booker Prize in 1993, has been published in over twenty languages.
In 1994 he wrote the screenplay for the television drama series, Family. His plays include Brownbread (1987), War (1989) and, most recently, an updated version of The Playboy of the Western World (2007), which he co-wrote with Bisi Adigun. He has also written a collection of stories, The Deportees (2007) and a memoir of his parents, Rory and Ita (2002). His most recent novel is The Dead Republic (2010), which is the final part of the trilogy, following on from Oh, Play That Thing (2004) and A Star Called Henry (1999).
Roddy’s first children’s book The Giggler Treatment was shortlisted for the WH Smith Children’s Book Award.
Roddy Doyle has won many prizes for his writing. These include the Booker Prize and a BAFTA screenplay. He has also won the Irish Children's Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the prestigious 2013 CILIP Carnegie Medal. His novel The Commitments was turned into a blockbuster film directed by Alan Parket and is now a successful musical in Dublin and in London, directed by Jamie Lloyd.
Rover, star of The Giggler Treatment and others, is back for a new and equally hilarious dog-poo centred adventure. As ever, Rover needs to collect dog poo to keep the Gigglers well-supplied. Assisted by his favourite nephew Messi, whose name does not capture his nature as he is actually a very tidy and organised dog – except when his own tail knocks him over, Rover knows he can deliver all the supplies the Giggler’s need. But can he also find the Big Fat Baby or BFB who has gone missing? It’s a wonderfully fast-paced, harum scarum adventure adventure of dastardly doggy goings on.
A Julia Eccleshare Pick of the Month November 2016 Rover, star of The Giggler Treatment and others, is back for a new and equally hilarious dog-poo centred adventure. As ever, Rover needs to collect dog poo to keep the Gigglers well-supplied. Assisted by his favourite nephew Messi, whose name does not capture his nature as he is actually a very tidy and organised dog – except when his own tail knocks him over, Rover knows he can deliver all the supplies the Giggler’s need. But can he also find the Big Fat Baby or BFB who has gone missing? It’s a wonderfully fast-paced, harum scarum adventure adventure of dastardly doggy goings on. ~ Julia Eccleshare Julia Eccleshare's Picks of the Month for November 2016 The Song from Somewhere Else by A. F. Harrold and Levi Pinfold Murder in Midwinter by Fleur Hitchcock Winnie and Wilbur Meet Santa by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul Rover and the Big Fat Baby by Roddy Doyle and Chris Judge Penguin Problems by Jory John and Lane Smith The Giant's Necklace by Michael Morpurgo and Briony May Smith
One of our Books of the Year 2014 A profound story about the effect of despair on society is touched with magic and humour by best-selling Roddy Doyle. When a black dog comes out of the clouds and settles itself in Dublin everyone’s family is affected in one way or another. For Gloria and her brother Raymond it brings their Uncle Ben to stay when his business goes bust. What can the children - and all the other children in Dublin – do to chase the black dog away? After a wonderful night-time adventure through Dublin the children enlist the help of the animals in the zoo to chase is black dog away forever.
One of our Books of the Year 2014 - May 2014 Book of the Month A profound story about the effect of despair on society is touched with magic and humour by best-selling Roddy Doyle. When a black dog comes out of the clouds and settles itself in Dublin everyone’s family is affected in one way or another. For Gloria and her brother Raymond it brings their Uncle Ben to stay when his business goes bust. What can the children - and all the other children in Dublin – do to chase the black dog away? After a wonderful night-time adventure through Dublin the children enlist the help of the animals in the zoo to chase is black dog away forever.
Shortlisted for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2013 & the 2012 Guardian children's fiction prize. Best-selling Roddy Doyle has written a wonderful, funny and warm-hearted family story about the dying of a granny which weaves together the lives of four generations and a little bit of ghostly mystery too. Mary’s relationship with her granny and the feelings she has about her death will touch the heart of readers of all ages. Hilary Murray Hill, Managing Director of Scholastic Children’s Books, says, “I am delighted that Roddy has brought this wonderful novel to our list. A Greyhound of a Girl is a timeless story capturing the atmosphere and relationships of a very recognisable family; its themes will touch every kind of reader ..”
MEGA BOOK OF THE MONTH. Best-selling Roddy Doyle has written a wonderful, funny and warm-hearted family story about the dying of a granny which weaves together the lives of four generations and a little bit of ghostly mystery too. Mary’s relationship with her granny and the feelings she has about her death will touch the heart of readers of all ages. Hilary Murray Hill, Managing Director of Scholastic Children’s Books, says, “I am delighted that Roddy has brought this wonderful novel to our list. A Greyhound of a Girl is a timeless story capturing the atmosphere and relationships of a very recognisable family; its themes will touch every kind of reader ..”
MEGA BOOK OF THE MONTH. Best-selling Roddy Doyle has written a wonderful, funny and warm-hearted family story about the dying of a granny which weaves together the lives of four generations and a little bit of ghostly mystery too. Mary’s relationship with her granny and the feelings she has about her death will touch the heart of readers of all ages. Hilary Murray Hill, Managing Director of Scholastic Children’s Books, says, “I am delighted that Roddy has brought this wonderful novel to our list. A Greyhound of a Girl is a timeless story capturing the atmosphere and relationships of a very recognisable family; its themes will touch every kind of reader ..”
MEGA BOOK OF THE MONTH. Best-selling Roddy Doyle has written a wonderful, funny and warm-hearted family story about the dying of a granny which weaves together the lives of four generations and a little bit of ghostly mystery too. Mary’s relationship with her granny and the feelings she has about her death will touch the heart of readers of all ages. Hilary Murray Hill, Managing Director of Scholastic Children’s Books, says, “I am delighted that Roddy has brought this wonderful novel to our list. A Greyhound of a Girl is a timeless story capturing the atmosphere and relationships of a very recognisable family; its themes will touch every kind of reader ..”
MEGA BOOK OF THE MONTH. Best-selling Roddy Doyle has written a wonderful, funny and warm-hearted family story about the dying of a granny which weaves together the lives of four generations and a little bit of ghostly mystery too. Mary’s relationship with her granny and the feelings she has about her death will touch the heart of readers of all ages. Hilary Murray Hill, Managing Director of Scholastic Children’s Books, says, “I am delighted that Roddy has brought this wonderful novel to our list. A Greyhound of a Girl is a timeless story capturing the atmosphere and relationships of a very recognisable family; its themes will touch every kind of reader ..”
Shortlisted for the Bisto Irish Children's Book Award. The first picture book from award winner Roddy Doyle is a heart-warming and gently reassuring tale about moving on and growing up. The writing is quite sublime and the luscious illustrations by Freya Blackwood compliment the words beautifully.
Shortlisted for the Bisto Irish Children's Book Award. The first picture book from award winner Roddy Doyle is a heart-warming and gently reassuring tale about moving on and growing up. The writing is quite sublime and the luscious illustrations by Freya Blackwood compliment the words beautifully.
The first picture book from award winner Roddy Doyle is a heart-warming and gently reassuring tale about moving on and growing up. The writing is quite sublime and the luscious illustrations by Freya Blackwood compliment the words beautifully.
This is a stunning piece of writing for young teenagers. Part-action, part family drama the plot cleverly interweaves two stories. The first is of two brothers who with their mother are on a trip of a lifetime in the frozen arctic north. The second is the story of their older teenage stepsister who is coming to terms with the reappearance of her mother in her life. Doyle weaves a brilliant portrait of family life, love and loss. It’s Doyle at his exciting best.
Roddy Doyle’s writing will be enjoyed by even the most reluctant of readers. You may have anarchy in the house once the books have been read, for these stories don’t think much of adults but rest assured you’ll get some peace in the house until they are finished! Rover the mad hound saves the day each time but not without considerable consequences, too numerous to mention here but which you as a parent will hear about. We think this is one of the best presents you can give a child aged between 6 and 11. Please note the books are also available individually and are as follows: The Giggler TreatmentThe Meanwhile AdventuresRover Saves Christmas
This is a stunning piece of writing for young teenagers. Part-action, part family drama the plot cleverly interweaves two stories. The first is of two brothers who with their mother are on a trip of a lifetime in the frozen arctic north. The second is the story of their older teenage stepsister who is coming to terms with the reappearance of her mother in her life. Doyle weaves a brilliant portrait of family life, love and loss. It’s Doyle at his exciting best.
Parents may well not enjoy Doyle’s brilliant adventures about creatures that dream up devilish punishments to get back at adults, but rest-assured kids absolutely love it. Highly amusing characters and tales that are full of mischief all add up to a story that children really identify with. Great illustrations too that really brings the story to life. Kids as young as 6 or 7 and as old as 10 or 11 will love it. Sequels to The Giggler Treatment are the madcap Rover saves Christmas and The Meanwhile Adventures. This title is also available in audio CD. Also available in a 3 books in 1 collection featuring all three Rover titles from Roddy Doyle.
Pure escapism for kids who have already picked up the reading habit as well as for children who, perhaps don’t enjoy reading but enjoy a great deal of fun, mad-cap adventure and probably have a warped sense of humour too!!!! This is third book to feature Rover, the mad hound who always delivers in more ways than one. Also available in a 3 books in 1 collection featuring all three Rover titles from Roddy Doyle.
With Rudolph on strike Rover comes to the rescue of Father Christmas but how can he possibly deliver all the presents with so little time left. You’ll laugh your socks off with Doyle’s brilliant storyline and one-liners to boot. This sequel to The Giggler Treatment also stands alone as a fantasmogorical read for everyone from 6 upwards.
A brilliantly warm, witty and moving portrait of our pandemic lives, told in ten heart-rending short stories Love and marriage. Children and family. Death and grief. Life touches everyone the same. But living under lockdown, it changes us alone. In these ten, beautifully moving short stories mostly written over the last year, Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle paints a collective portrait of our strange times. A man abroad wanders the stag-and-hen-strewn streets of Newcastle, as news of the virus at home asks him to question his next move. An exhausted nurse struggles to let go, having lost a much-loved patient in isolation. A middle-aged son, barred from his mother's funeral, wakes to an oncoming hangover of regret. Told with Doyle's signature warmth, wit and extraordinary eye for the richness that underpins the quiet of our lives, Life Without Children cuts to the heart of how we are all navigating loss, loneliness, and the shifting of history underneath our feet.
A brilliantly warm, witty and moving portrait of our pandemic lives, told in ten heart-rending short stories Love and marriage. Children and family. Death and grief. Life touches everyone the same. But living under lockdown, it changes us alone. In these ten, beautifully moving short stories mostly written over the last year, Booker Prize winner Roddy Doyle paints a collective portrait of our strange times. A man abroad wanders the stag-and-hen-strewn streets of Newcastle, as news of the virus at home asks him to question his next move. An exhausted nurse struggles to let go, having lost a much-loved patient in isolation. A middle-aged son, barred from his mother's funeral, wakes to an oncoming hangover of regret. Told with Doyle's signature warmth, wit and extraordinary eye for the richness that underpins the quiet of our lives, Life Without Children cuts to the heart of how we are all navigating loss, loneliness, and the shifting of history underneath our feet.
'A profound examination of friendship, romantic confusion and mortality' John Boyne One summer's evening, two men meet up in a Dublin restaurant. Old friends, now married and with grown-up children, their lives have taken seemingly similar paths. But Joe has a secret he has to tell Davy, and Davy a grief he wants to keep from Joe. Both are not the men they used to be. As two pints turns to three, then five, Davy and Joe set out to revisit the haunts of their youth. With the ghosts of Dublin entwining around them - the pubs, the parties, the broken hearts and bungled affairs - the men find themselves face-to-face with the realities of friendship.
Two men meet for a pint in a Dublin pub... In 2012, Roddy Doyle showed us the world anew: through the back-and-forth of two Dublin pub-dwellers. They chewed the fat, set the world to rights, slagged each other unmercifully. And along the way, they chased the ebb and flow and stupidity of the year right to the bottom of their pints. Today, they're still at it - even over Zoom, if needs be. Collected for the first time, here is almost a decade's worth of elections and referendums, births and deaths, football, financial crashes, pandemics and the philosophical questions of life, as told through the wit and warmth of Roddy Doyle's comic genius. Includes: Two Pints, Two More Pints, Two for the Road - and, for the first time in print, Two Pints: The Play and The Zoom Pints
'A profound examination of friendship, romantic confusion and mortality' John Boyne One summer's evening, two men meet up in a Dublin restaurant. Old friends, now married and with grown-up children, their lives have taken seemingly similar paths. But Joe has a secret he has to tell Davy, and Davy, a grief he wants to keep from Joe. Both are not the men they used to be. Neither Davy nor Joe know what the night has in store, but as two pints turns to three, then five, and the men set out to revisit the haunts of their youth, the ghosts of Dublin entwine around them. Their first buoyant forays into adulthood, the pubs, the parties, broken hearts and bungled affairs, as well as the memories of what eventually drove them apart. As the two friends try to reconcile their versions of the past over the course of one night, Love offers up a delightfully comic, yet moving portrait of the many forms love can take throughout our lives.
** AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 ** ** SHORTLISTED FOR THE DALKEY LITERARY NOVEL OF THE YEAR AWARD 2021 ** 'A profound examination of friendship, romantic confusion and mortality' John Boyne One summer's evening, two men meet up in a Dublin restaurant. Old friends, now married and with grown-up children, their lives have taken seemingly similar paths. But Joe has a secret he has to tell Davy, and Davy, a grief he wants to keep from Joe. Both are not the men they used to be. Neither Davy nor Joe know what the night has in store, but as two pints turns to three, then five, and the men set out to revisit the haunts of their youth, the ghosts of Dublin entwine around them. Their first buoyant forays into adulthood, the pubs, the parties, broken hearts and bungled affairs, as well as the memories of what eventually drove them apart. As the two friends try to reconcile their versions of the past over the course of one night, Love offers up a delightfully comic, yet moving portrait of the many forms love can take throughout our lives. 'Roddy Doyle's Love drew me in gently and moved me deeply as his old friends open up to each other over one long pub crawl' Emma Donoghue, Observer, Best Books of 2020 * A TIMES, GUARDIAN, IRISH TIMES, NEW STATESMAN AND i BEST BOOK FOR AUTUMN * * FEATURED IN THE DAILY TELEGRAPH BOOKS OF THE YEAR *
Meet Charlie Savage. Charlie is a middle-aged Dubliner with an indefatigable wife, an exasperated daughter, a drinking buddy who's realised that he's been a woman all along ... Compiled here for the first time is a whole year's worth of Roddy Doyle's hilarious series for the Irish Independent. Giving a unique voice to the everyday, he draws a portrait of a man - funny, loyal, somewhat bewildered - trying to keep pace with the modern world (if his knees don't give out first). SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE FOR COMIC WRITING 2019 'A delight from start to finish' Irish Mail on Sunday
The next round in the beloved Two Pints series from the ever-brilliant, always hilarious imagination of bestselling author of The Commitments and Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha Two men meet for a pint - or three - in a Dublin pub. They chew the fat, set the world to rights and mourn friends gone: David Bowie, Prince, Princess Leia and Young Frankenstein. Around them the world of Brexit, Trump, and referendums storm, but some things - good things - never change. Inspired by the last five years of news, Roddy Doyle's Two for the Road offers a strong brew of Roddy Doyle's comic genius - to be downed in one riotous sitting, or savoured over, laugh after laugh.
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