Editing Pete McCarthy (section)

===Travel writing: 1998–2004===
[[File:PETE MCARTHY BRIGHTON BUS.jpg|thumb|upright|A Brighton and Hove Bus named in honour of Pete McCarthy.]]
In March 1998 [[Hodder and Stoughton]] published McCarthy's first travel book, ''McCarthy's Bar: A Journey Of Discovery In Ireland'', in which he described his travels and adventures in the west of the country, from Cork to Donegal, and the people he encountered during a quest to find pubs and bars called McCarthy's.<ref name="McCB"/> ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' described the book as an "affectionate, revealing and well-lubricated look at the changing face of a country".<ref name="Telegraph 2004"/>  

McCarthy won "Newcomer of the Year" at the [[British Book Awards]] in 2002,<ref name="Indo-obit-1"/> and ''McCarthy's Bar'' was a great success, selling over a million copies. McCarthy admitted to a childlike pleasure in seeing his book take its place on the shelves among writers he had admired for years, and joked "If the literary life gets a little dull, there's always the thrill of going into [[W H Smith]] and moving ''McCarthy's Bar'' in front of [[Bill Bryson]]."<ref name="Telegraph 2004"/> 

His follow-up travel book, ''The Road to McCarthy'', an account of further Irish-themed travels in [[Gibraltar]], [[Morocco]], New York City, [[Montana]], [[Tasmania]], [[Montserrat]] and [[Alaska]] in search of a McCarthy clan chieftain, was published in 2002.<ref name="Indo-obit-1">{{cite news|url=http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/awardwinning-mccarthys-bar-author-dies-after-long-cancer-battle-25892222.html|title=Award-winning 'McCarthy's Bar' author dies after long cancer battle|last=Kearns|first=Martha|date=9 October 2004|publisher=[[Irish Independent]]|accessdate=5 June 2017}}</ref>

Peter McCarthy wrote his books with pen and paper. Asked if he was a technophobe, he said: "Yes big time. I've got a kettle and a fridge, but I don't own a computer, a [[word processor]] or even a [[typewriter]]."<ref name="Telegraph 2004"/>

He said in ''McCarthy's Bar'' that his grandfather's surname had been spelled 'MacCarthy'. "It's a translation from the Irish, the 'a' is optional." An uncle in County Cork told him that names of his ancestors in the 1700s had been recorded as "MacCartai".<ref name="McCB"/>