PROLIFIC AUTHOR

Turtle Bunbury is an award‑winning Irish author, historian, broadcaster and podcaster with a keen focus on documenting and preserving Irish history and heritage. Described as ‘one of the most versatile authors of his generation,’ he has published 22 books, as well as numerous corporate, private and family histories.

His forte is bringing lesser‑known historical stories and characters to light, with an engaging storytelling style, wry humour and meticulous research. In addition to his books, he is an active podcaster and a frequent contributor to Irish television and radio. In recent years, he has circumnavigated Ireland three times by boat.

Turtle has also been shortlisted four times at the Irish Book Awards. His book The Irish Diaspora was hailed by BBC History Magazine as ‘impeccably researched.’ Reviewing Turtle’s book 1847, the Oscar-nominated film director Lenny Abrahamson wrote that he has ‘always loved Turtle’s writing, the wit and heartbeat in his history.’ Sebastian Barry praised Turtle’s bestseller Ireland’s Forgotten Past as ‘a stirring atlas of Irishness’ and observed: ‘Turtle goes back with his historian’s eye, but also his humanitarian heart, and gathers together a host of tiny epics.’

His award-winning Vanishing Ireland series, created with James Fennell, was widely acclaimed, with the Irish Independent describing it as ‘an invaluable record of times past’.

Over the past 25 years, he has also researched and written hundreds of family, house and corporate histories, including recent books on Adare Manor (“The Renaissance of an Irish Country House” and “An Epicurean Journey”), Naas Racecourse, Maxol and Weir & Sons (Jewellers).

PUBLIC HISTORIAN

In 2026, Turtle installed his 100th Past Tracks history panel at an Irish Rail / Iarnród Éireann station, a nationwide project in collaboration with illustrator Derry Dillon.

Turtle is an accredited lecturer with The Arts Society (London) and was awarded the Gilmartin Medal in 2021. He circumnavigated Ireland twice in 2023, and once in 2022, as guest lecturer on board Noble Caledonia’s Island Sky, and has undertaken multiple lecture tours to the USA over the past 15 years.

As a public historian, he has a substantial following on social media through his Vanishing Ireland Facebook group and Turtle Bunbury Histories Facebook (formerly Wistorical) page.  A co‑founder of the Vanishing Ireland project, Turtle also hosted a podcast series chronicling the life and times of Ireland’s oldest generation through their stories and distinctive voices.

Turtle co-founded the History Festival of Ireland in 2011. The event was later incorporated into the annual Festival of Writing and Ideas at Borris House, County Carlow, at which Turtle is a regular guest.

As an award-winning travel writer, his work has appeared in magazines and newspapers such as National Geographic Traveler, The World of Interiors, The  Financial Times, The  Daily Beast, Playboy, The Australian, The Guardian and The Irish Times. 

Turtle is married to the novelist Ally Bunbury. They live in County Carlow, Ireland, with their two daughters.

PODCAST SERIES

• Waterways Through Time – In collaboration with Waterways Ireland, Turtle explores the rich and often quirky history of Ireland’s waterways from the end of the last Ice Age through to the present day. Listen here.
• Behind the Guinness Gates – An eight-part series featuring interviews with a rapper, a chef, a Guinness family stalwart and two historians, as well as three episodes about the formative years of St James’s Gate and the brewery. Listen here.
• Turtle Bunbury’s History Podcast – The first episodes zero in on five extraordinary characters from Ireland who made their mark around the world – Ernest Shackleton, Lola Montez, Hercules Mulligan, Nellie Cashman and the Incredible Mr Kavanagh. Listen here.
• The Corkagh History Podcast –Turtle traces the remarkable story of a south Dublin estate, with its links to the Tudor conquest, the gunpowder trade, Titanic, Macbeth and Voldemort. Listen here.
• The Maxol Story– Turtle charts a story of ingenuity, adversity and fortitude from the founding of Maxol by the McMullan family in 1920 through to the present-day challenges of climate change, Covid 19 and technological advance. Listen here.
• Vanishing Ireland– Turtle discusses life and its learnings with fifteen fascinating and inspiring men and women of senior vintage from across the four provinces of Ireland. Listen here.