"The Grass Ceiling - On Being a Woman in Sport" by Eimear Ryan is the February 2024 selection for the IrishCentral Book Club.
Each month, we will pick a new Irish book or a great book by an Irish author and celebrate the amazing ability of the Irish to tell a good story for the IrishCentral Book Club.
"The Grass Ceiling," published on the Penguin imprint Sandycove in 2023, was named the Eason Sports Book of the Year, in association with Ireland AM, at the 2023 An Post Irish Book Awards.
Accepting the award, Ryan discussed her novel on RTÉ:
Synopsis of "The Grass Ceiling"
What is it like to be female in a male-dominated sporting world? If you play with the boys, more people pay attention - but you get treated like an alien. Playing with other girls or women means you have to accept smaller audiences, diminished status and - for professionals - lower pay.
And what if, as is the case for camogie player Eimear Ryan, your sport has a completely different name when women play it? What if you don't feel entirely comfortable in an all-female sporting environment because you're shy, bookish, not really one of the girls?
In "The Grass Ceiling," acclaimed novelist Eimear Ryan digs deep into the confluence of gender and sport, and all the questions it throws up about identity, status, competition and self-expression. At a time when women's sport is on the rise but still a long way from equality, it is a sharp, nuanced and heartfelt exploration of questions that affect everyone who loves sport.
Reviews for "The Grass Ceiling"
"A book which will very soon be acknowledged as a classic of Irish sportswriting" - Ciarán Murphy, Irish Times
"Eimear Ryan's book is an exploration of questions that affect every girl - and boy - who sets out to participate in sport." - the Irish Examiner
"Brilliant" ... "Ryan's bold and deep search into so many of those internalised questions provides a fascinating collage of emotional detail." - Christy O'Connor, the Irish Examiner
"'The Grass Ceiling' by Eimear Ryan is a gorgeous memoir about a life lived in sport, specifically a female, Irish, rural life. The writing is by turns lyrical, urgent, wise and bracing - I read it in two sittings." - Malachy Clerkin, Irish Times
"A love letter to the GAA and a diatribe against the idea sport is not for women." - Kathleen McNamee, Irish Times
"A must-read for sports fans of all genders." - Irish Times
"Possessing the deft touch of a novelist and having played inter-county camogie for Tipperary means Eimear Ryan has the ideal credentials to examine issues of gender and identity in sport in modern Ireland." - Richard Fitzpatrick, the Irish Examiner
"A remarkably candid account of the pleasures and pains of team sports. It will have a special resonance for GAA aficionados and will chime with anyone who has pulled on a jersey, no matter how lowly the level." - John Meagher, Irish Independent
"... it would be wrong to define this simply as a book about a woman's experience in sport. The themes are universal for anyone who has ever kicked a point, pucked a ball or stepped into the sporting arena. It burns with a passion that we rarely see women given the opportunity to write about." - Irish Times
About Eimear Ryan
Eimear Ryan's writing has appeared in Granta, Winter Papers, The Dublin Review and The Stinging Fly. She is a co-founder of the literary journal Banshee and its publishing imprint, Banshee Press. Her first novel, Holding Her Breath, was shortlisted for the Newcomer of the Year Award at the Irish Book Awards, for the Kate O'Brien Award, and for the John McGahern Prize. Her debut nonfiction book, "The Grass Ceiling," explores women's experiences in the sporting world. A native of Co Tipperary, Eimear now lives in Cork city.
(Synopsis, reviews, and biographical information provided by Sandycove.)
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