"Writers in Search of a Market": An Interview with Micheál Ó Conghaile, Founder and Director of Cló Iar-Chonnacht

Cló Iar-Chonnacht (CIC) was founded by writer Micheál Ó Conghaile in 1985 and since then has published over six hundred titles. Based in the Connemara Gaeltacht, the company has as its central focus the publication of original works of literature across all major genres as well as the promotion and publication of traditional music and song. While Connemara authors with a dedicated local readership, such as Joe Steve Ó Neachtain, feature regularly on CIC publication lists, the company is not limited by geography or the linguistic background of its writers. Among the authors whose debut collections of short stories were published by the company in recent years are Belfast-born, Dublin-based Réaltán Ní Leannáin, author of Dílis (2015), and Melbourne poet and second-language speaker of Irish Colin Ryan, author of Teachtaireacht (2015).

Promotion of the work of Irish-language authors through translation is an important objective for CIC. The company has published popular titles in English translation and has engaged in successful collaborations with Yale University Press, O'Brien Press, and Bloodaxe to produce important dual-language poetry collections such as Louis de Paor's edited volume of twentieth-century poetry, Leabhar na hAthghabhála/Poems of Repossession (2016), as well as two highly acclaimed recent English translations of Máirtín Ó Cadhain's Cré na Cille, The Dirty Dust (2015), translated by Alan Titley, and Graveyard Clay (2016), translated by Liam Mac Con Iomaire and Tim Robinson.

While CIC's output has expanded and diversified, the company faces the ongoing challenge of expanding a small core Irish-language readership and successfully promoting its titles nationally and internationally. The company has embraced digital publication and marketing technologies, and Ó Conghaile has engaged enthusiastically with the business opportunities afforded by international book fairs. As the Irish-language publication sector in general has expanded since the mid-1980s, CIC has constantly sought new ways of extending its own core market and creating a greater interest in Irish- language literature within international translation networks. Micheál Ó Conghaile met Máirín Nic Eoin in Dublin in November 2016 to discuss CIC's mission, its success to date and the challenges it faces in the years ahead.

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Agallamh le Micheál Ó Conghaile, bunaitheoir agus stiúrthóir an chomhlachta Cló Iar-Chonnacht. Campas na Naomh Uile, Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath, 24 Samhain 2016.

MÁIRÍN NIC EOIN:

Cad iad cuspóirí Cló Iar-Chonnacht, agus ar athraigh cuspóirí an chomhlachta mórán thar na blianta?

MICHEÁL Ó CONGHAILE:

Bhuel, níl aon athrú mór ar na cuspóirí thar na blianta, is dóigh an príomhrud ná leabhair Ghaeilge ar chaighdeán ard a chur ar fáil. Thosaigh muid tríocha éigin bliain ó shin agus is dócha go bhfuil sé chéad leabhar ar a laghad foilsithe againn faoi seo. Níl muid chomh táirgiúil le foilsitheoirí eile. Cuirimid amach, b'fhéidir, sé déag leabhar nua sa mbliain agus b'fhéidir a cúig nó a sé de leabhair eile do dhéagóirí gur aistriúcháin iad den chuid is mó. Bheadh athchló i gceist i gcás a ceathair nó a cúig de leabhair, agus táimid ag cur amach níos mó stuif do dhaoine óga, do dhéagóirí, ná mar a bhíodh. Tá margadh, b'fhéidir, níos mó ansin, ach táimid ag leanacht ar aghaidh leis an ngnáthmheascán, úrscéalta, gearrscéalta, beagán filíochta, amhráin, leabhair áitiúla agus leabhair thaighde ó thráth go chéile.

MNE:

Agus cad iad na dúshláin is mó atá romhaibh sa ghnó?

MÓC:

Na dúshláin is mó i ndáiríre—agus is iad na dúshláin chéanna iad a bhí ann ag an tús—ná margaíocht agus díolaíocht. Tá leabhair ann nach ndíolann ach 200 c...