Society of Young Publishers – Society of Publishers in Ireland: I SPI a connection…

Posted on October 25, 2005 in Uncategorized

The Society of Publishers in Ireland, or SPI, was born when three publishers (Susan Rossney, Rachel Pierce and Emma Byrne) came together in 2002 with the idea of establishing a networking organisation for the Irish publishing industry. Its aim was to bring together employees, owners and managers of some of the many publishing houses, and publishing-related organisations, operating independently of each other in Ireland. This would include larger publishing firms like Gill & Macmillan, smaller publishing houses such as Lilliput and Mercier, and organisations such as Children’s Books Ireland, the Ireland Literature Exchange and also the Publishers’ Association – Clé.

After a year of planning, the SPI successfully launched on September 30 2003, with 200 publishers coming along on the night. Almost three years on, SPI has fulfilled its objectives and even surpassed them. It regularly holds successful publishing-related events in locations across the capital and recently the five-person committee swelled to nine when five new members joined the ranks in March.

SPI will be three years old this autumn. Plans to celebrate the occasion in conjunction with the Society of Young Publishers are currently afoot. It is hoped that committee members and members of the SYP will join us when we host a party in Dublin this coming October. But before divulging any more details on the upcoming felicitations, here’s an update of what SPI has been doing so far this year…

In February 2005, members of the SPI committee returned to NUI Galway to repeat their previous year’s talk to the students of the MA in Literature and Publishing. This is the only programme offering a third-level publishing qualification in Ireland, combining literature and publishing in a year-long programme. The talk went very well, with students delighted to hear that the Irish publishing industry is booming and that the prospects for jobs in the industry are good.

SPI’s most publicised event of 2005 (pictured here) was the fabulously enjoyable ‘An Evening with Marian Keyes’. Marian, prolific author of Rachel’s Holiday, Sushi for Beginners and Watermelon, discussed her latest book The Other Side of the Story, which is set within the publishing industry. In the Oak Room of the Mansion House (the Dublin Lord Mayor’s residence), broadcaster and author Michael Scott chaired a lively discussion in which Marian answered questions about her life, work, and writing methods, as well as her penchant for designer handbags! She took questions from the floor and entertained guests with witty anecdotes on what was a delightful evening. The discussion addressed many issues relating to contemporary women’s fiction in Ireland, and at one stage Marian defended the genre known popularly as ‘chick-lit’, stating that it is a literary trend that emanated as a response to post-feminism. Poolbeg Press supplied gift bags containing Marian’s books, and these were raffled with the proceeds going to SPI. It was announced that a film adaptation of Rachel’s Holiday is in pre-production at the moment and Catherine Zeta Jones will play the lead role.

On April 27 in the Temple Bar Hotel, SPI hosted the latest in the ‘Lives in Publishing’ series. Sean O’Keeffe of the Liberties Press took the stand. The Liberties Press – although not long in existence – has published well known titles such as: Around Ireland with a Pan, Three Days in September: When the Pope came to Ireland and Con Houlihan’s book More Than A Game: Selected Sporting Essays. Sean spoke about setting up the company with business partner Peter O’Connell (who was also present on the night) and of their future plans to expand into poetry and fiction, although this would be largely dependent on the availability of Arts Council funding. Future Liberties Press titles include a book on setting up your own business (authored by Brody Sweeney), a social history of St James’ Gate Brewery and a book on autism written by Professor Michael Fitzgerald, which claims that among the many famous Irish personalities who suffered from the condition were the authors WB Yeats and James Joyce.

The SPI Film Club has been to two films in 2005: Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, which was shown during Italian Film Week in the Irish Film Centre, and Woody Allen’s latest film Melinda and Melinda. The film buffs were also treated to complimentary tickets to see The Chorus, an Academy-Award nominated French film, courtesy of Pathé Distributors. In 2004, Pathé supplied tickets to SPI for a special screening of ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ in a private cinema in Dublin’s Denzelle Lane Cinema, which was very well received by the members (naturally enough – Gael García Bernal was in it!)

SPI does not confine itself to speaker meetings and film clubs; in February 2005, the committee used its talents to organise the launch of Documenting Irish Feminisms: The Second Wave for Dublin’s Woodfield Press. The venue for this high-profile launch was the Bank of Ireland Arts Centre, and the attendees ranged from eminent feminist scholars and academics to well-known personalities from the Irish media, such as journalist Nell McCafferty. The SPI committee also manned the bookselling stand and earned us a percentage of the profits on the night. 

As for upcoming events, a SPI book club guest night is on the cards for May 18. Following our successful night with novelist Anne Enright in November 2004, SPI has invited Christine Dwyer Hickey, author of Tatty, to discuss her novel in Neary’s pub off Grafton Street in Dublin. We anticipate a great turn-out for this ever-popular event. Plans are ongoing to have a Bloomsday Limerick competition and on July 21, SPI members will attend a wine-tasting evening, details tbc. We are also planning a book auction in aid of the Irish Red Cross, for which we have gathered a great list of titles, including signed first editions and plates.

Finally, we are planning a get-together for members of SPI and the SYP for the first weekend of October. It is to be held on the Saturday night (October 1st) and will be a valuable opportunity to meet and exchange knowledge with our counterparts! It will most likely be held in Café en Seine on Dawson Street, and any SYP members interested in attending should ask the SYP committee for more details on booking places. All are welcome!

SPI is: Emma Byrne, Maria Dickenson, Ciara Doorley, Eibhlin Egan, Suzanna Henry, Rachel Pierce, Susan Rossney, Jenny Sharif, and Emma Walsh. See www.the-spi.com or e-mail spionline@eircom.net for more information.