High Shelves and Long Counters Stories of Irish Shops

For more than three years, photographer Heike Thiele and writer Winifred McNulty have captured images and stories from the last traditional shops in the North West of Ireland. Their journey across Donegal, Leitrim, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Sligo, and Cavan has taken them through an Aladdin’s Cave of drapery and hardware, to abandoned creameries and shops where empty shelves are filled only with the stories of different times. Based on a series of highly successful exhibitions across the North West, this book is a highly visual record of the stories of changing face of rural Ireland.

Winifred McNulty is a writer and poet, winner of Annie Deeny Poetry Prize, and shortlisted for the PJ O’Connor Award. She regular holds readings at literary festivals, and is a contributor to RTE’s Sunday Miscellany. Heike Thiele is a professional photographer, based in Donegal. She holds a Masters in Fine Art from the Dusseldorf Art Academy and has exhibited internationally.