A New Chapter

Irish writing is enjoying renewed attention and appreciation, and while the writing talent has always been there, a collaborative spirit and supporting initiatives and organisations are helping to bring Irish authors to a wider audience.

WORDS BY Tara Corristine

To the casual observer, Irish writing is officially having a moment. The Booker Prize, the Costa Novel Award, the European Science Fiction Society Award and The Carnegie Medal are amongst the trophies added to Irish mantels in recent years. Nicola Sturgeon cited Sally Rooney’s Normal People among her best books of 2018, while Sarah Jessica Parker added Kevin Barry’s latest book, The Night Boat to Tangier, to her holiday reading list.

Brave, bold publishers and a strong stable of literary magazines, combined with strategic support from industry bodies and a calendar filled with literary festivals are delivering Irish authors to new audiences. The talent has always been there, says Lisa Coen, co-founder of Irish publisher, Tramp Press, but the platform has not. “We saw in publishing companies that very good work was being turned down. People have been writing ambitiously but hitting a wall in terms of where they can send it.” Coen, together with Sarah Davis-Goff, launched the independent publishing house in 2014 with a mission to offer books of outstanding literary quality and merit.

“We’d heard so many cases of brilliant books being turned down when they get to the marketing team because they don’t know how to pitch them, they’re too cross genre,” says Davis-Goff. “Lisa and I wanted to experiment with just putting out a brilliant novel on the expectation that readers want brilliant work.”

One such book was Mike McCormack’s Solar Bones, a novel written without full stops. “We found that in the past when people marketed Mike’s work, they tended to emphasise things like, ‘he’s a writer’s writer, his work is difficult but worth it,’” says Coen. “When we published Mike, we said, ‘this is accessible, brilliant and it’s a joy. It’s ambitious and formally inventive but don’t get bogged down in that. It’s just a story about a man. It’s often funny and touching.’ A lot of the reviews focused on the formal innovation in the book, but people reacted with, ‘it’s a lovely story, it’s relatable and easy to read.’” Critics agreed and the book won the 2016 Goldsmiths Prize and the 2018 International Dublin Literary Award.

Their strategy of picking fewer but better has delivered in spades. Their authors have gone on to win Irish Book Awards, the Rooney Prize, a Lannan Fellowship, nominations for the Guardian First Book Award and the First Book Award at the Edinburgh Book Festival. It’s about publishers being able to take risks, says Davis-Goff. “There has been a boom in good small publishing over the last decade. The infrastructure is there now, particularly in Ireland, where we have the likes of The Stinging Fly: what they have accomplished is outstanding. Seeing other small publishers like Banshee Press come up is really exciting and writers pay attention to this and they know who to send their work to.”

She points out that the wealth of literary magazines in the country offers something of a training ground for authors setting out. “The Moth, Banshee, Tangerine, Sonder. Dublin Review is a great journal, there are lots of them. Success for writers is about having literary journals for writers to try out their work.”

Lucy Sweeney Byrne’s short stories have appeared in Banshee, The Dublin Review and Stinging Fly, and now her debut collection of work, The Paris Syndrome, is the first title to be published by the newly-founded Banshee Press.

Sweeney Byrne is just one of a new generation of writers, among them Sally Rooney, Nicole Flattery and Kevin Barry, coming to the fore, according to book publicist Cormac Kinsella, in part due to the wealth of new platforms available to them. “The Dublin Review has been going for nearly 20 years. Winter Papers, Kevin Barry’s annual is coming up on its fifth year. There’s steadfast people like Poetry Ireland, Stinging Fly who have been quietly publishing new voices all the time. There’s much more of an outlet.”

Davis-Goff can also add her name to this group. Her debut novel, Last Ones Left Alive was released in 2019 in Ireland, the UK and the US and to date, it has won the ESFS Chrysalis Award, been nominated for an Edinburgh First Book Award and the Not the Booker Prize, shortlisted for an An Post Irish Book Award, and Treasure Entertainment have optioned the film rights. “It’s definitely exciting being part of the Irish writing scene right now. There’s a special place in Ireland for writers, and a special place in the world for Irish writers. It’s hard to be surrounded by so much talent without getting inspired, to be honest.”

Other outlets introducing authors to readers are the vast array of literary festivals taking place around the country. “In the last ten years, there has been a huge rise in festivals,” says Kinsella. “The literary years starts in January with the Doolin Writers’ Weekend and finishes at the end of October with the International Literary Festival Dublin. The attraction of festivals are, if you read a book, you can go and meet the writer and ask them a question and have a few minutes with them. Prior to this, authors were seen as much more aloof whereas now they’re much more approachable. It has all changed in the last 30 years.”

Booksellers are championing our homegrown talent too, and as a publisher, that direct line to readers is vital, says Coen. “Bob Johnston of The Gutter Bookshop has events all the time, he’ll have signed first editions and as a publisher, there is already a group of people who will come because they trust what he will do. John Connolly is in The Gutter every time he has a book coming out. A massive success, John Connolly is loyal to this great bookseller because he see’s there is something special going on there.”

A cohesive strategy amongst industry bodies is also helping to spread the word at home and abroad, says Elaina Ryan, CEO of Children’s Books Ireland (CBI). CBI is part of Words Ireland, a group of seven literature organisations who have worked together since 2015 to strengthen the sector. “The idea of Words Ireland is that everyone is working together for the greater good of promoting the literature sector and trying to get a bigger share of the pie for funding. Literature Ireland is tasked with representing Irish literature internationally; The Irish Writers’ Centre runs individual mentoring; Publishing Ireland runs courses where people can share skills and expertise; and we work on professional development both for early stage authors looking to get published and also to upskill writers.”

Tramp Press are quick to credit the The Arts Council, the Irish government agency for developing the arts, for exploring new ways of bringing Irish books to market. “Around the time we were setting up, they were introducing new programmes for funding, they were looking at ways that would allow new players to enter the market, where there weren’t core costs or as much expense. They were very willing to talk, and we couldn’t do what we do without them,” explains Coen. “They do a really good job with limited resources,” Davis-Goff adds. “Other countries might have more funds, I’m not sure their councils are as approachable or as willing to take a punt on someone new in a small stakes way, and we’re very grateful for that.”

And that faith is beingrewarded across the bottom line, she points out. “We show value for money: we sign incredible writers, they have become successful, we sell rights abroad. We have more money coming into the country because of these rights sales, which are at a very high level sometimes. The economy more than sees that money back, but having that initial investment so you can make these things happen is so important.”

This spirit of collaboration is seen at every level of the publishing ladder, explains Ryan. “I worked at Little Island Books and O’Brien Press were really influential in sharing their knowledge of what works. They continue to support other publishers, because it’s a small industry. People do tend to give each other a leg up.” Davis-Goff agrees, saying, “There is a sense of camaraderie, we are all in it because we love books and are trying to make something happen. We don’t feel we are competing.”

But truly, it’s the readers enjoying Irish writing that is driving this wave of appreciation. “Reading is a regular part of cultural life here and I don’t think that’s always true in other countries,” says Davis-Goff. “Here, people read almost competitively, everyone reads the new Liz Nugent as soon as it comes out because there is a conversation happening and you don’t want to be excluded from it. Here, almost every radio show is interviewing writers or talking about the great new book. It’s not relegated to the arts show. You’ll see Mike McCormack quoted in the sports section of The Irish Times. Writers are rockstars here.”