Books are my business: President of Publishing Ireland Peter McKay

Peter McKay: 'When it comes to copyright, the governments of Britain and Ireland are sitting there going, “oh no, well, we’ve got to look after big tech, that’s what’s important”.'

Peter McKay is president of Publishing Ireland, a membership organisation representing book publishers. Originally from Yorkshire, England, he now lives in Ballyferriter, Co Kerry.

How did you get into publishing and your current role?

After a brief spell as a schoolteacher in Yorkshire, I joined an educational publisher as a field salesperson. Over the years, I moved from sales and marketing into general management.

I took on my first managing director role around 1998 and I spent most of my time with either Thomson companies, it’s now Thomson Reuters, or a company called Harcourt Brace, which exists no longer.

In my last seven years, I ran the Publishing Training Centre in London. 

I was in the industry for about 40 years before retiring and moving to Ireland.

Early last year, Publishing Ireland placed an advert looking for a volunteer to take on the role of president/chair on a part-time basis, so I submitted my CV, and I was offered the post.

I had spent a lot of time with the UK Publishers Association, including representing them at the Federation of European Publishers, which is one of the things that the president of Publishing Ireland also does. 

It is fantastic to contribute something to the industry here in my adopted homeland. 

It is an industry I have loved being in. It’s one of those areas where you feel that what you’re doing is intrinsically valuable.

What does your role involve?

Publishing Ireland is a trade association, we have about 60 members. 

As a representative body across the whole island, we’re here to support all of our members, to help them create great publications and act as ambassadors to the wider world. 

The president serves as the chair of the board, convening its meetings and overseeing the progress of the projects that we undertake.

Advocacy is a huge area, where things need to be fought for. Obviously, one of the things that’s in the news now is US tariffs. 

We’ve been delving into that to find out what the impacts on publishing might be.

There’s also the AI Act that’s having a massive impact on all copyright holders. That’s only some of it.

We offer guidance to our members rather than advice, because they are all independent businesses that have to make up their own minds.

The other big thing that we do is professional development. We generally know what’s needed by hearing from members. 

More broadly, we promote Irish literature and Irish culture and so we liaise with organisations such as Children’s Books Ireland, Poetry Ireland, Literature Ireland, and the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency.

What do you like most about it?

Publishing is the quintessential people business. 

Authors, illustrators, agents, people working in the companies, just about everybody is focused on the creative process and finding ways of connecting the creator to the reader. 

It’s fantastic — all these people aggregating themselves around a common drive.

What do you like least about it?

It seems to me that for 30 years, one way or another, I have been involved in a fight to defend copyright. 

And that is so dispiriting, because that right is critical to making sure that creators are properly rewarded for their endeavours.

Generation after generation, there’s a new battle to be fought, and each time, there seems to be fewer people outside the industry that want to get up and fight for it.

This AI Act, it just makes me weep. When it comes to copyright, the governments of Britain and Ireland are sitting there going, “oh no, well, we’ve got to look after big tech, that’s what’s important”.

Three desert island books

There’s a Monster Behind the Door, by Gaelle Bélem, translated by Karen Fleetwood and Laetitia Saint-Loubert. I love this book, which was recently longlisted for the International Booker prize. 

It’s a fantastic read and you really get a sense of what Réunion in the 1980s was like. It’s so well told, and it’s full of humour.

A History of Ireland in 100 Objects, by Fintan O’Toole, which is an absolutely fantastic way of learning something about my adopted homeland. 

The history of Ireland isn’t featured on the UK school curriculum, or certainly wasn’t when I was a lad.

Finally, I would take the poetry collection Thin Lines, by Emer Fallon. 

I love her poems, they really evoke a sense of how people in vulnerable situations can feel. She can pack so much into these often very precise and very short poems.

I could have a poem a day on the desert island and they would bring me some joy and give me something to meditate on.

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