The Irish Writers Handbook Ruth Hegarty, Deirdre Nolan and Patrick O’Donoghue in conversation with Ronan Colgan

The Irish Writers Handbook 2025 is your essential guide to writing and getting published, with contributions from acclaimed authors and book industry professionals. To mark the launch of this year’s expanded and updated edition join the handbook’s publisher Ronan Colgan (Wordwell), Deirdre Nolan (Eriu), Ruth Hegarty (Royal Irish Academy), and Patrick O’Donoghue (Gill Books), as they share valuable insights and advice.

Ronan Colgan. Managing Director of the Wordwell Group, Chair of the Dublin Book Festival, past President of Publishing Ireland and former juror on the EU Prize for Literature for Ireland.

Deirdre Nolan is Publishing Director at Eriu, the Irish imprint of Bonnier Books, since early 2022. She was previously Senior Commissioning Editor at Gill Books, and has been in working in publishing for over twenty five years. Authors she has published with Eriu include Liam Brady, Nicola Tallant, Charleen Hurtubise, Molly Hennigan, Leeanne O’Donnell, Richy Craven and Miriam Mulcahy. She loves nothing more than discovering new voices and bringing them to the world.

Ruth Hegarty is the publisher at the Royal Irish Academy. Her publishing at the RIA has focused on making it easy for people to read great research about Ireland. The books are often about a little known topic or a reassessment and illustrated with the letters, photos, illustrations and images allowing the reader to do a deep dive into the area. This approach has led to exhibitions around the world, tv and radio documentaries and the founding of projects like Grangegorman Histories and the ARINS project. She’s a contributor to The Irish Writers Handbook which offers insight and practical advice for your writing and publishing journey.

Patrick O’Donoghue is Senior Commissioning Editor at Gill Books and has worked in the Irish publishing industry for over fifteen years.