At Swim

Sea swimming is the great leveller; we're all the same in a pair of togs. No one minds who you are or what you've done; the question is 'are you getting in?' Popular for centuries, sea swimming has had a recent surge in interest, with a growing community now taking the plunge. Brendan Mac Evilly and Michael O'Reilly, enthusiastic members of this bathing fraternity, chart their adventures in forty-three of Ireland's most enticing places to swim. Along the way, they meet artists who come to the sea for inspiration and distance swimmers undertaking marathon sea swims. Their conversations with local dippers touch on the history and lore of these stunning locations and confirm Ireland's vibrant sea-swimming culture. Part guidebook, part travelogue, part analysis of our relationship with the sea, At Swim explores the thrills, fears and joys of sea swimming.

Brendan Mac Evilly has written for The Irish Times, The Sunday Times, The Stinging Fly, Cara Magazine and We Are Dublin. He has worked with the Irish Writers' Centre, Publishing Ireland and a number of publishing houses in Dublin and Oxford. He loves lounging in the sea for five minutes, then burning the ear off his fellow swimmers for the next hour. Michael O'Reilly is an actor and writer who has performed on stage and the big screen in Ireland and abroad. His favourite way of entering the water is fast and furious.