Got your copy of The Dark Rooms yet? The deadline for postage before Xmas is coming fast, and available supply is rapidly running out!
With the festive season in full swing, The Dark Rooms presents an ideal gift. Perfect for loved ones, Secret Santa exchanges, or anyone seeking a cosy winter escape of their own.
After a sensational sell-out at the Ballinrobe Christmas Market, Mick Donnellan’s The Dark Rooms is now available on the Buy the Book Irish website.
Demand is soaring, act fast and get your copy now, the perfect Christmas gift!
*Read More Below*
The Dark Rooms
A new collection of Short Stories
By Mick Donnellan
is now available
Click here to Buy The Dark Rooms now
About The Dark Rooms
The Dark Rooms is a powerful collection of short stories set mainly in Ballinrobe. Written in Mick Donnellan’s signature voice, sharp, poetic and rooted in the West of Ireland, these stories capture the essence of ordinary lives caught between hope and heartbreak.
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Across these pages, characters wrestle with guilt, love, regret and the ghosts of their own decisions. Themes of doomed romance, addiction, lost faith and quiet redemption sit alongside flashes of science fiction and explorations of modern Ireland in the years after the Celtic Tiger and Covid. Gambling debts, vulture funds and broken dreams haunt a generation still searching for meaning.
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Every story has a dark room, a place of truth, fear or memory, but not every character can find the way out.
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The Dark Rooms is raw, compassionate and unflinchingly honest, a vivid portrait of the Irish psyche and the resilience of the human spirit.
Click here to Buy The Dark Rooms now
About Mick Donnellan and Truman Town
Mick Donnellan works as a successful Playwright, Novelist and Screenwriter. Film credits include Tiger Raid adapted from Mick’s Play Radio Luxembourg. Optioned by London Film Company Dixon/Baxi/Evans, the script was developed in London and shot in Jordan. Starring Brian Gleeson, Damian Molony and Sofia Boutella, it was accepted into the Tribeca film festival (New York) and was also seen at Cannes and Edinburgh.
The Irish Premiere was screened at the Galway Film Fleadh and you can watch the Tiger Raid trailer here.
Mick is the author of five previous novels:
Recent Work:
Mick Donnellan has had two major theatre productions hit the stage in 2025.
Outlaw Pete premiered at the Town Hall Studio, Galway in April 2025, starring Laura Hutchinson, Brian Cahill, and Carl Jones. Following its debut, the production toured to the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar in May, before returning to Galway for the Galway Fringe Festival in July, where it sold out Kennedy’s Bar on Eyre Square.
Donnellan’s second new play of 2025, Class of ’57, was produced by Athlone Little Theatre and directed by Caroline Coyle, featuring standout performances from Ellen Ryan, Brian Toolan, and Nino Magilocco.
In December 2024, his most recent book Galway Blues was published to great acclaim. He received the Mayo Theatre Bursary through Mayo Arts Office in April the same year.
Prior to that, he was awarded the Agility Award through the Arts Council of Ireland and his play Nally was supported by Westmeath Arts Office.
In other theatre work, The Crucified Silence chosen as part of the Scripts Ireland Play festival. After a week of intensive workshops with Playwright Eugene O’Brien, the monologue was directed by Jim Culleton (Fishamble) and performed by Aaron Monaghan. Following this, Mick took part in the Galway Theatre Development Programme, run by Andrew Flynn in conjunction with Galway’s Town Hall Theatre, which resulted in a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre.
His other Plays include Sunday Morning Coming Down, Shortcut to Hallelujah, Gun Metal Grey, and Velvet Revolution.
He is listed on the Irish theatre institute here: http://irishplayography.com/person.aspx?personid=47564
About Truman Town:
Truman Town Theatre exploded on to the theatrical circuit with their Play – Sunday Morning Coming Down. Written and directed by the company’s Artistic Director Mick Donnellan, it immediately sold out the Galway Town Hall Studio for five nights on the first run. Following that, the crew went on tour to Mayo, selling out Lisloughrey Lodge, Cong,The Valkenburg Niteclub, Ballinrobe and the Linenhall in Castlebar. It also enjoyed large audiences on the Main Stage on Galway’s Town Hall and went on a National Tour covering – Glor Ennis, St. John’s Listowel, Cork Arts Theatre and it sold out five nights at The New Theatre, Dublin. It was also performed by DRUID as a public reading during the Galway Arts Festival.
Truman Town followed this phenomenal success with a second Play – Shortcut to Hallelujah. Again, written and directed by Mick Donnellan, it deals with the curse on the Mayo football team. It sold out the Town Hall Studio, went on tour to Ballinrobe and the Linenhall in Castlebar and then down to St. John’s Theatre, Listowel Co. Kerry where it was requested back to headline Friday night of Listowel Writer’s week.
Between this, a third drama was produced as part of the Galway Theatre Festival. It was titled Gun Metal Grey.
Shortcut to Hallelujah returned from Listowel Writer’s Week to perform on the Main Stage Galway for a wildly successful five nights after which Velvet Revolution, the fourth Truman Town production, also written by Mick Donnellan, was premiered in St. John’s Theatre, Listowel. It went on tour to Kilmallock, Kenmare and Waterville, then up to Ballinrobe, on to Galway and ran for ten days as part of the Galway Fringe. Mentioned as a Highlight of the festival by the Irish times, it was subsequently performed in Campbell’s Tavern, Cloghanover, Headford, Electric Picnic and The New Theatre, Temple Bar, Dublin.
Radio Luxembourg, Mick’s fifth Play, was bought by a London Film Company (Dixon/Baxi/Evans) and has been adapted for the screen. The title for the movie version is “Tiger Raid”. Starring Brian Gleeson, Damian Molony and Sofia Boutella, it was accepted into the Tribeca film festival (New York) and was seen at Cannes and Edinburgh. The Irish Premiere was screened at the Galway Film Fleadh.
Currently Mick is working on the exciting screen adaptation of Shortcut to Hallelujah with Florence Films. The screenplay is titled Sam and is based around the curse supposedly put on the Mayo Football team as they returned home as All Ireland Champions in 1951. Drenched in Irish lyricism and modern day dark humour, the script has been met with keen interest by film producers and actors throughout the industry.
Between writing projects, Mick has enjoyed roles as a lecturer in writing at University of Ireland and TUS Athlone.
Discover more from Mick Donnellan
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Mick Donnellan 