Charlie Byrne's is a

bookshop Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The foundi ...

located in the Cornstore Mall on Middle Street in

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

, close to Shop Street and the Augustinian Church. As of 2019, it reportedly contained more than 100,000 new and used books. Writers often launch their books here. An article on '' RTÉ.ie'' described it as a "cultural reference point in the city", and ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' has described it as "the destination bookshop in Galway city".

History

Charlie Byrne's was founded in 1989, operating initially from a market stall in Munster Avenue and then moving to its first premises in Dominick Street later that year. Three years later it moved to its second premises and its first of two on Middle Street. In 1996, it moved across the road to its third premises overall and second on Middle Street, the same one from which it operates today. It continued to expand and by the early 2000s it had a 2000 square foot premises; it has by now largely taken over the Cornstore Mall.

Style

Charlie Byrne's is spread across multiple floors of the Cornstore. It avails of publisher's

overstock Overstock, excessive stock, or excess inventory arise when there is more than the "right quantity" of goods available for sale,Crandall, R. E. and Crandall, W. R.Managing Excess Inventories: A Life-Cycle Approach in ''The Academy of Management Exe ...

to provide new books at a reduced price. It also sources books from

university press A university press is an academic publishing house specializing in monographs and scholarly journals. They are often an integral component of a large research university. They publish work that has been reviewed by scholars in the field. They pro ...

es and foreign publishers to provide titles not otherwise often found in Irish bookshops. It typically only sells new full-priced books if the writer is local, or if the topic relates to Ireland. It has a warehouse in which it stores tens of thousands of additional books. Its annual pop-up bookshop at the Town Hall Theatre during the

Cúirt International Festival of Literature The Cúirt International Festival of Literature is an annual literary festival held since 1985 in Galway in Ireland. The Irish language word ''cúirt'' (pronounced ) means "court". The festival consists of a variety of events taking place over t ...

is another feature; visiting writers such as

Edna O'Brien Josephine Edna O'Brien (15 December 1930 – 27 July 2024) was an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short-story writer. O'Brien's works often revolve around the inner feelings of women and their problems relating to men and soc ...

John Banville William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, Literary adaptation, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Marcel Proust, Proust, via Vladimir Nabokov, Nabokov", ...

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

Michael Longley Michael George Longley (27 July 1939 – 22 January 2025) was a Northern Irish poet. In his later years Longley observed: "It's a mystery where poems come from. If I knew where poems came from I would go there ... When I write a poem I am movi ...

Ruth Padel Ruth Sophia Padel FRSL FZS (born 8 May 1946) is a British poet, novelist and non-fiction author. Life She studied Greek at Oxford, where she sang in Schola Cantorum of Oxford, wrote a PhD on ancient Greek poetry, and was a Research Fellow at W ...

Manuel Rivas Manuel Rivas Barrós (born 24 October 1957 in A Coruña, Spain) is a Spanish writer, poet and journalist. Biography Manuel Rivas Barrós began his writing career at the age of 15. He has written articles and literary essays for Spanish newspap ...

and

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

are among those to have spent hours signing books at the Cúirt shop's antique desk.

Awards

Charlie Byrne's was named "Best Bookshop in Ireland 2013/2014" in ''

s Best Shops in Ireland Competition. It was also named Ireland's Best Independent Bookshop as part of the British and Irish Book Awards in 2019.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne's, Charlie Irish companies established in 1989 Bookstores established in the 20th century Byrne, Charlie Buildings and structures in Galway (city) Retail companies established in 1989 Independent bookstores