Books Are My Business: Deirdre Nolan

Deirdre Nolan is publishing director with Eriu, the Irish imprint of Bonnier Books. She lives in Ashbourne, Co Meath.

Deirdre Nolan, Eriu Books

How did you get into publishing?

I was in Australia working for a magazine, and I realised the part of it I enjoyed most was the book reviews. 

I have always loved books, since I was a kid, reading The Famous Five, the Nancy Drew mysteries, wishing I was editing them. 

I decided to get into publishing seriously when I left Australia and came back to Ireland. 

I did the master's in publishing and literature in Galway and from there, got a job in Gill as an editorial assistant, then I moved to New Island as managing editor.

Then I job-hopped a bit and ended up back in Gill. I was there as a commissioning editor for eight years, which I absolutely loved. 

Then I was asked would I consider taking up this job with Bonnier. 

It was a fantastic opportunity, to start something from the ground up. 

It was really exciting and I decided to go for it. 

I have been with Bonnier for about 18 months, we have two books out so far and another eight coming this autumn. 

I have a full list for next year, which will be about 10 to 12 books. It has been brilliant, I am absolutely loving it.

What does your role involve?

I approach authors with ideas for books, or I would evaluate book submissions and see if we are the right publisher.

I am always looking for books of Irish interest, by Irish authors, anything that has a strong connection to Ireland. 

I don’t mind what genre it is, could be children’s, political non-fiction, sport. 

My list of titles this year is very broad, it goes from poetry to a cookbook. 

I’ve got the biography of [former chief medical officer] Dr Tony Holohan, a book by the comedian Tadhg Hickey, and we also have Liam Brady’s autobiography, which is absolutely brilliant. 

I also get to do really strong literary work as well, such as Molly Hennigan’s The Celestial Realm, which is coming out later this month, and Miriam Mulcahy’s This is my Sea. 

Both of them are beautifully written literary memoirs.

What do you like most about your job?

The authors. I’m very lucky that because I’m the person commissioning, I get to meet the authors and work with them before we start a project. 

I also love that amazing feeling when the book comes back from the printer, and I’m holding it knowing I had a small role to play in it. 

I really appreciate that feeling of creative satisfaction that you get, it’s really special. 

Obviously, there is a strong commercial aspect to publishing but it is also creative.

What do you like least about it?

I hate rejecting authors because I know how much they care about their books and how much they put into them. A book is always personal. 

No matter how professional you are trying to be, you are ultimately saying ‘no’ to something that somebody else has invested a huge amount in emotionally and that is difficult.

Any memorable books you have worked on?

Aoibhín Garrihy’s poetry collection, Every Day is a Fresh Beginning: Meaningful Poems for Life was special because it was my first book with Eriu and it got to number one, which is unusual for a poetry book. 

The other book I have worked on this year is  The Polite Act of Drowning by Charleen Hurtubise, which is such a beautiful book.

What three books would you bring to a desert island?

The Bone People by Keri Hulme, which was published in 1984 but I read it in the 1990s when I was a teenager and I have read it countless times since. 

Every time I read it, I get something new from it. Kerewin Holmes, Keri Hulme’s alter ego in the book, is my favourite character ever.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, which I can constantly reread — she has such an understanding of what it is like to be a woman.

Even though in modern life we don’t have anything like the level of frustrations Jane Eyre would have had, I can still very much
relate to her. 

My third one would probably be a book of Yeats poetry — between Yeats and Shakespeare, every possible human emotion is covered.