Sir, – Further to Hugh McFadden's letter on the closure of Books Ireland (November 30th): it's something of a cliche to quote (or even misquote) Mark Twain in these circumstances but reports of the demise of Books Ireland are a little premature. Following Mr McFadden's suggestion, and as a business that "cares for literature", we at Wordwell (publishers of History Ireland and Archaeology Ireland) have indeed taken up the reins at Books Ireland and have agreed to continue the publication of the title.
We are proud to follow in the footsteps of Jeremy Addis, one of those people (largely invisible) who, through his long-standing commitment to Books Ireland, have contributed significantly to Irish culture for more than 30 years. We have been attempting to do this for over 25 years at History Ireland and Archaeology Ireland and now we look forward to doing it with Books Ireland. – Yours, etc,
NICK MAXWELL & UNA
MacCONVILLE,
Wordwell Ltd,
Furze Road,
Sandyford Industrial Estate,
Dublin 18.
Sir, – Hugh McFadden is putting it mildly when, regarding the sad news of the closure of Books Ireland, he says (November 30th) that there is a scarcity of serious criticism of literature in this country. But he goes a bit far when he singles out the books pages of The Irish Times as an exception to this dismal state of affairs. In the same issue which carried his letter, the Irish Times "books pages" managed "serious criticism" of a grand total of two books, neither of them Irish-published, nor of distinct Irish interest. Despite the date – the biggest shopping weekend before Christmas – the round-up of children's books mentioned a mere five works, only one of them of specific Irish interest, and even that was a reprint of Oscar Wilde's stories for children.
The two-page round-up of readers’ choice of the best books of 2013 cannot count as serious criticism, but it is perhaps worth noting that of almost 70 books mentioned, fewer than one third were Irish-published or of specific Irish interest. – Yours, etc,
DENNIS KENNEDY,
Ormeau Books,
Belfast.