Laurence Sterne, author of Tristram Shandy — arguably the first experimental novel in English — was born in Clonmel in 1713. The building where he was born no longer stands, but a plaque on Sarsfield Street marks the approximate site. The town does not make a great fuss of the association, which is part of its charm.
Tristram Shandy, published in nine volumes between 1759 and 1767, is still in print and still startling: its narrative loops and digressions, its typographical experiments, its jokes about the nature of storytelling itself. If you have not read it, Clonmel is as good a place as any to start. The town library holds a small collection of editions.