Ireland in Iceland: Gaelic Remnants in a Nordic Land

by Manchán Magan, Aodh Ó Riagáin/ Oreganillo (Illustrator)

In this richly illustrated journey, Manchán Magan traces the forgotten presence of the Irish in Iceland; monks and migrants, storytellers and shapeshifters who helped shape a land we’ve long imagined as purely Norse.

Through language, lore, place names, DNA, and landscape, Magan uncovers the traces of Gaelic life woven through Iceland’s sagas and stones. With curiosity and care, this book reveals how two island nations, once deeply connected, share more than we’ve been taught to remember. Ireland in Iceland offers a new perspective on ancestry, belonging, and the lasting traces of culture carried across oceans.

Ireland in Iceland is the second in a series of illustrated books Manchán is publishing with Mayo Books Press, exploring cultural similarities and resonances between Ireland, India, Iceland, and the Aboriginal cultures of Australia. Ireland in Iceland is illustrated by Aodh Ó Riagáin/ Oreganillo.

128 pages, Hardcover

Published June 11, 2025

About the author

Manchán Magan was a writer, traveller and television presenter. He grew up in Donnybrook, Dublin 4 and was the great-grandnephew of Mícheál Seosamh Ó Rathaille (aka: The O'Rahilly) He has made over 30 travel documentaries focusing on issues of world culture and globalization, 12 of them packaged under the Global Nomad series with his brother Ruán Magan. He presented No Béarla, a documentary series about traveling around Ireland speaking only Irish. He wrote a travel column for the Irish Times and his show The Big Adventure, on RTÉ Radio One explored adventure holidays. He has written two books in Irish, 'Baba-ji agus TnaG' (Coiscéim 2005) and 'Manchán ar Seachrán' (Coiscéím 1998), and his English travel books include ‘Angels & Rabies: a journey through the Americas’ (Brandon, 2006), ‘Manchán’s Travels: a journey through India’ (Brandon, 2007) and ‘Truck Fever: a journey through Africa’ (Brandon, 2008).



http://irishmedia.blogspot.com/2007/1...

Irish Times profile, 2007 by Róisín Ingle.

Reviews

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where ‘Brehons and Brahmins’ explores and connects the loose threads of the distant but related cultures of Ireland and India, ‘Ireland in Iceland’ takes a look at one of our closest neighbours where our cultural connections are less clear.

It is apparent early on in the book that there is less to chew on than it’s predecessor, where B&B had mind blowing revelations, ‘Ireland in Iceland’ builds new theories from the ground up with little pre-existing knowledge. The magic of this book comes from how Manchán scans the palimpsest of Icelandic folklore for traces of Ireland and finds many curious pieces of potential evidence, e.g. in place name, myths and fairy tales, and in particular kennings, and considers a narrative where paganism was simply absorbed by Norse mythology or simply went out of fashion without any horrific violence or cultural oppression.

I have a lot of complicated feelings around this book beyond the wonderful writing and illustrations. Firstly, this was a birthday present to me from my partner (along with Women’s Words), Manchán died just a few weeks after I finished this, which was just over a month before I was supposed to see his final run of Arán agus im shows, and since then I lent this book to my friend’s girlfriend for her trip to Iceland and they broke up and (despite me asking) I never got it back (at the time of writing at least). But more than all of that, it’s a bittersweet book, as I know the next in the series was supposed to look at the Irish connection with Aboriginal Australia, and there were plans to look at Native America and Hawaii as well. I am not sure how or if the series will continue without him, but regardless, Manchán has left an absolutely seminal treasure of literature behind him and the influence will continue to be felt as time goes on.

[Shaun Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book would be three stars, but the art is outstanding and takes it to four