Publishing house Cló Iar-Chonnacht will have a special celebration at this year’s Cúirt Festival of Literature to mark its achievements over four decades. Founder Micheál Ó Conghaile and General Manager Deirdre Ní Thuathail tell JUDY MURPHY about its successes, challenges and the need to move with the times.

Micheál Ó Conghaile never intended to set up a publishing house when his writing career was in its infancy, way back in 1985.

But he ended up doing just that, to ensure that he and other writers from Conamara who were working in Irish could get their work out there.

In 2019, this man who “is happiest when writing and translating”, handed over the reins of Cló Iar-Chonnacht (CIC) to Deirdre Ní Thuathail, who has, she says, “been with the company for more years than I care to remember”.

She’s now General Manager, but Micheál – a highly regarded novelist, short story writer, dramatist and translator – remains deeply involved. As they share memories and discuss plans in the Cló Iar-Chonnacht HQ at An Cheardlann in An Spidéal, it’s clear how well they work together.

They recall how CIC has published hundreds of books in the Irish language, as well as producing 200 musical recordings, featuring musicians and singers from Conamara and further afield.

It was CIC that published the first book by the late Joe Steve Ó Neachtain from An Spidéal, who became such an important voice in Irish literature, a man rooted in and passionate about his own place.

That was important, says Deirdre, given how difficult it can be for Irish language writers to be published at all, because most publishers focus on English.

Poet, children’s author, novelist and short-story writer Jackie Mac Donncha from Cill Chiaráin, had his early poetry published in CIC’s 1997 anthology, An Chéad Chló.

His writing career has also gone from strength to strength, and he regularly gives creative writing workshops in schools, sharing his enthusiasm and talent with younger people.

That’s how writers develop, says Micheál of the process.

“If you don’t publish the first book, which might not be great, they won’t go on to write the second and third.”

In the beginning, Cló Iar-Chonnacht was “a hobby” for Micheál who was subbing as a lecturer in Dublin and doing a parttime MA at UCG, having already followed his undergraduate BA degree there with a H Dip in Education.

“Micheál is a writer who became a publisher and it was a labour of love,” says Deirdre, who joined the company on work experience after graduating from university.

She’s a more conventional publisher, happy focusing on tasks from typesetting to administration, including grant applications.

“This kind of industry is very dependent on grant aid,” she says, adding that the situation is similar for all specialist publisher, even companies producing work in English. If the genre is poetry or drama, funding is required.

CIC has a broader remit, publishing fact, fiction and poetry, and books for children too. But being an Irish-language publishing house presents unique challenges.

“Your market is small and the chance of expanding it is so small. We are a niche within a niche,” says Deirdre.

Nonetheless, the one-man operation that was Cló Iar-Chonnacht began to grow and thrive early on, despite Micheál’s concerns.

“I worried if we would have enough work for people and if we could afford them,” he recalls.

Pictured: The general manager of Cló Iar-Chonnacht Deirdre Ní Thuathail in the bookshop at An Cheardlann in An Spidéal. PHOTO: JOE O’SHAUGHNESSY.