The Carousel Aware Prize for the best independently published books in Ireland will be announced tonight, at a gala event in Dublin.
I'm honored that Her Secret Rose is shortlisted in the Best Novel category and sad that, for personal reasons, I can't travel to Ireland to be there. It's going to be a great evening.
It very fitting, because Ireland's most famous poet, WB Yeats, one of the protagonists of the novel, was a self-publisher, through the printing press his sisters ran, Cuala Press.
From long before Yeats's time up to the contemporary Booker prizewinner Roddy Doyle, self-publishing has been important to Irish writers.
With new technology, this pathway to publication has never been easier. Irish writers are using it well, as the shortlist makes clear.
Short Lists for The Carousel Aware Prize for Independent Authors
(The CAP Awards 2016)