solas nua's irish book day is the largest free public book give-away in the country. every march 17th, solas nua gives away over 5,000 copies of contemporary irish literature on the streets of dc for free.

participating publishers and sponsors included random house, picador, daedalus books, dalkey archive, kelly press, starbucks and zipcar. and special thanks to colum mccann for allowing us to reprint his short story, fishing the sloe-black river.