Who's Who
Patricia Deevy Editorial Director Penguin Ireland
In the next of our Who's Who in Irish publishing, Bernice Barrington speaks with Editorial Director of Penguin Ireland, Patricia Deevy
There’s a Marian Keyes novel set in the publishing world called The Other Side of the Story. And somehow I am reminded of it when I step into the offices of Penguin Ireland on St Stephen’s Green, and begin talking to commissioning editor Patricia Deevy.
“Just deciding what to publish, that’s kind of frightening if you’ve never done it before,” she explains, as we talk about her early days in Penguin's Irish wing – nearly ten years ago now.
“The weight you feel on your shoulders, committing a company’s resources to publishing a book that may or may not work out. That’s scary when you do it initially.”
It's funny, but as an aspiring writer one tends not to think much about how the editor is feeling – they have all the power, surely they must feel great? – but it is interesting to hear about life from the other side of the desk.
"The thing is that publishing is a business,” she explains. “For instance, I’d have a soft spot for things that are quite quirky, and I have taken on a few quirky projects over the years. But there’s a risk there – particularly in a market as small as Ireland – and I’ve learned the hard way that it’s wiser to stay a little more mainstream if you actually want the books to sell.”
Read more: Patricia Deevy Editorial Director Penguin Ireland
Ciara Doorley, Hachette Ireland
Bernice Barrington speaks to Ciara Doorley, Editorial Director at Hachette Ireland for writing.ie
For anybody trying to write, the idea of a big scary editor scoring their manuscript with red lines and writing the word ‘rejection’ at the top of the page is often what puts them off submitting; however, when I meet Ciara Doorley, commissioning editor at Hachette, she is about as far away from the scary stereotype as you can imagine.
“I have nothing but admiration for people who write and put themselves out there. It’s such a scary thing,” she says with the tiniest hint of a Cork lilt.
“Oh yes, that,” she laughs, when I comment on it. “Well I went to college in Cork and studied English, although originally I’m from Co. Offaly.”
Ciara always knew she wanted to work with words and books “in some way”, so after college she completed a master’s degree in publishing at Napier University, Edinburgh. Upon return home, she was offered a position at Columba Press, a small specialist press in Dublin, and stayed there for two years.
Dublin UNESCO City of Literature: Jane Alger
Writing.ie spoke to the director of Dublin UNESCO City of Literature Jane Alger about Dublin's stellar literary tradition, what the prestigious UNESCO City of Literature designation means for the city and learned all about the exciting literary events they have planned for bookworms.
Literature is at the heart of Dublin with a flourishing industry of publishers, book stores, book clubs and a host of libraries dotted around the city. Writers from every genre call Dublin their home and this has been the case for centuries. It's no surprise then that Dublin was named as a UNESCO City of Literature in 2010, joining Edinburgh, Melbourne and Iowa (Reykjavik achieved the designation this year).
The Creative Cities Network is a UNESCO project that aims to promote cultural diversity and excellence. There are seven designations that cities can apply for: Literature, Film, Music, Craft and Folk Art, Design, Media Arts, and Gastronomy. Within each of these categories are various conditions that a city must meet in order to be awarded a title.
Children's Writers Agents; Who's Who
Who Represents the Most Successful Irish Children’s Writers? A Who’s Who of Exceptional Children’s Agent
Who represents Eoin Colfer? Who is Darren Shan’s agent? Who helped Derek Landy climb to the top?
A Who’s Who of Children’s Agents with Contact Details by Sarah Webb, Author of the Ask Amy Green series for young readers and nine bestselling adult novels.
For more see www.sarahwebb.ie or www.askamygreen.com
You’ve written a book for children (or teenagers) and you’d like to get it published, so what’s next?
If you are interested in reaching the widest readership possible and giving your work the best possible chance to be successful, you’ll need to find a good agent.
Why do you need an agent? Can’t you just go it alone?
60 years of the Arts Council – the Role of Literature
Later this year the Arts Council celebrates its 60th anniversary. I met with Sarah Bannan to discuss her role as Head of Literature and the aims, challenges and opportunities for the Arts Council in promoting Literature in the future.
I asked Sarah how she came to the role of Head of Literature - Sarah revealed that she hails originally from the U.S; she came to Ireland through an internship with Lilliput Press, and originally joined the Arts Council ten years ago. After an interval where she worked at the Film Institute she returned to take up her current position in 2007.
So what does being the Head of Literature involve? Bannan's role has several strands, one of which is the assessment and granting of Individual Bursary Awards, and Travel and Training Grants. Another element is that of identifying gaps in the literary landscape and developing appropriate policies and strategies to address them. The Writing.ie website was born from one of these strategies - the development of online technologies to promote literature. Another gap identified in recent years was in the area of Children's Literature. The Arts Council's policies resulted in initiatives such as Laureute na Nóg, supporting the founding of Little Island (the children's imprint of New Island) and awarding bursaries to Children's authors. Literature is designated €2.5 million from the Arts Council's budget of €65 million, but benefits from ancillary funding from the wider activities promoted by the Arts Council.
Read more: 60 years of the Arts Council – the Role of Literature
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