Harper Collins have announced that they will be launching a new dedicated Irish imprint, Harper Collins Ireland. Conor Nagle, formerly Senior Commissioning Editor at Gill Books, will take on the role of Publisher for the new imprint.
During Nagle’s time at Gill, he worked on the hugely successful series of books that began with Oh My God What a Complete Aisling (OMGWACA), and with authors including Matt Cooper, Philly McMahon and Jim McGuinness.
Nagle will be replacing Eoin McHugh, who stepped down as Publishing Director in December. McHugh, who formerly headed up Transworld Ireland (Penguin Random House Ireland) had been in the Harper Collins role since 2017 and was the publisher of, amongst others, Andrea Corr’s award-winning Barefoot Pilgrimage.
In January of 2019, McHugh was followed to Harper Collins from PRH Ireland by Patricia McVeigh, taking the role of Publicity Director.
With this move, Harper Collins Ireland joins the ranks of Penguin Ireland, Transworld Ireland (both PRH) and Hachette Ireland, as global publishers with dedicated Irish imprints and teams, competing in what has been a steadily growing Irish book market.
Nagle’s successor at Gill Books has yet to be announced, though the role is likely to be highly sought after. This move follows on from Patrick O’Donoghue’s move from Mercier Press, who left the role of Commissioning Editor to join Conor Graham’s team at Irish Academic Press/Merrion Press.
