From Westport, with heart: Kirstyn Lewis finds a home for her story in Mayo
From New York to New Zealand, Turkey to the West of Ireland, Kirstyn Lewis’s life has spanned continents, careers and reinventions.
AS author Kirstyn Lewis travels through the West of Ireland following the launch of 'The Past Still Breathes', she has found an unexpected connection in Westport where Duffy's Bookshop has become the first store in the world to stock her memoir.
From New York to New Zealand, Turkey to the West of Ireland, Kirstyn Lewis’s life has spanned continents, careers and reinventions. Yet this week, it is in Westport that the author has found a particularly meaningful stop on the global journey of her debut memoir, 'The Past Still Breathes'.
Fresh from the Galway International Literature Festival, Lewis is spending time in the West in search not of tourist landmarks, but of people and their stories.
In Mayo, she found both. “I didn’t want to follow tourist buses around,” she says. “I wanted to be with the people.” That desire for genuine connection is at the heart of both her travels and her writing.
She says the warmth of the people, the landscape and the sense of community have left a lasting impression. “I couldn’t think of a better place to start the conversation,” she says.
Her memoir is a deeply personal exploration of adoption, identity, mental health, women’s resilience and reinvention. Opening in New York at a moment of fracture, it moves across continents and decades, tracing a life shaped by trauma, survival and self-discovery.
At its heart lies a universal question: how do we live alongside our past rather than trying to outrun it?
For Lewis, that question resonates strongly in Ireland, and particularly in Mayo, where history, place and personal story are so deeply intertwined.
“The past still breathes in all of us,” she says. “Through our families, our towns, our heritage, our countries, our faith and our memories.”
Landscape and people
SHE has been struck not only by Mayo’s landscape, but by its people. A seasoned solo traveller, Lewis describes Ireland as one of the most welcoming countries she has visited.
“There is such a connection here between people, place and history,” she says. “People stop, they talk, they listen. That matters. Ireland really does give you hope for a better world.”
Nowhere has that sense of welcome been more evident than in Westport, where her book has found an unexpected and significant home. The Bookshop, owned by Seamus Duffy, has become the first retail bookshop in the world to stock 'The Past Still Breathes'.
For a debut author who chose to self-publish after facing multiple rejections, that first “yes” carries enormous weight.
“In a world of publishing no’s, all I needed was one yes,” Lewis says. “And Seamus Duffy gave me that.”
The connection came about almost by chance. Lewis’ book designer, Laura Duffy, shares the same surname, prompting Lewis to step through the doors of the Bridge Street bookshop during her stay. What followed was exactly the kind of encounter she believes can change the course of a journey.
“He was the very first person to say, ‘I’ll stock your book.’ My heart is in Westport now.”
That warmth, she says, reflects something special about Mayo itself. From impromptu conversations with locals to evenings spent in Westport’s pubs and streets, she has found a place where stories are shared freely.
Extraordinary stories
“I THINK we forget the extraordinary stories of ordinary people,” she says. “That’s why places like Mayo matter. They remind us that every person has a story worth telling.”
It is perhaps no surprise that Westport, with its literary spirit and strong sense of community, has become such a memorable chapter in her own story. What began as a brief visit has already been extended.
“I don’t want to leave,” she admits.
For Mayo readers, 'The Past Still Breathes' offers more than a memoir. It is an invitation to reflect on resilience, reinvention and the extraordinary stories carried by ordinary lives.
As for what she hopes readers will take from it, her answer is simple: connection.
“If one person reads it and feels seen, or feels brave enough to start a new conversation, then it has done its job.”
And for Lewis, there is something fitting and especially poignant about beginning her bookselling journey here.