Independent Publishing house Tramp Press is fast gaining a reputation for publishing the freshest and most original work by Ireland’s most talented writers. You may already be familiar with the excellent Dubliners 100, a compendium of fifteen short stories inspired by James Joyce’s eponymous collection published in June last year. Made up of stories by a heady list of contributors including Eimear McBride, Elske Rahill and Donal Ryan, the book is a must-read for anyone with an interest in contemporary Irish writing. Alisande Healy Orme speaks with independent publishing house, Tramp Press.
The latest book from their galley is Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Cork’s own Sara Baume. The beautiful depiction of a friendship between outsiders has won its Davy Byrnes-award winning young writer rave reviews, a fact she ought to be all the more proud of as all the publishers she sent it to bar Tramp Press turned it down.
Sarah Davis-Goff and Lisa Coen spoke to Magpie about what they look for from their writers – “talent”, their ambitions for the company, and what it means to found a publishing house in Dublin today.
How did you form Tramp press? Why the name?
Forming a company is strangely simple. Really anybody could do it; it’s quite alarming. We met while we were both working in brilliant independent publisher Lilliput Press, and we talked about going out on our own. Really it started off with us just joking around, but we quickly became serious, and we felt there was a need for a great diversity of voices and choices within the industry. We’d great fun with the name. Sarah wanted to call it ‘Growler’, but in the end we landed on the right one: Tramp Press is named after John Millington Synge’s ‘tramp’ figure, a proxy for the artist, the bold outsider, who arrives unannounced to shake things up. The idea also refers to the authors we discover, or rediscover, and the characters they create. There’s a sense of impertinence to it.
Founding a publishing house in the current economic climate must have been akin to a labour of love – what were some of the difficulties you’ve faced?
Starting something new is always going to be a risk and will sometimes feel daunting for sure, but the arts feel sometimes more necessary and more immediate when the economy is struggling. Although we have worked in the industry for years, we haven’t ever worked in a world where publishing has been easy. For us, every sale has always been a victory, and we knew what we were getting into – we have ambitious but managed expectations. Things are most difficult when we’re trying to do something that nobody has done before: for example, no independent Irish publisher has set up a UK office (though of course UK publishers have a habit of setting up offices in Dublin. We don’t blame them, we’ve so many talented writers here). That’s something we’re working on at the moment, and it’s a wonderful and an exciting challenge.
What are the rewards of running your own business compared to working for larger businesses?
It saves time. Having to work your ideas through a system that may not appreciate them is time-consuming, and being able to make decisions, create plans and respond to opportunities without waiting for permission is why we’ve published such great books already.
What are your views on Ireland’s literary scene today? Is there support between the small independent publishing houses?
The Irish literary scene is absolutely booming: from Donal Ryan to Mary Costello to Colin Barrett, and now with our own Sara Baume, and the Stinging Fly’s Danielle McLaughlin, coming up, we’re awash with talent. There’s a wonderful camaraderie between independent publishers here, and our relationship with each other is exceptional. Last year we set up something called DIP (Dublin Independent Publishers), which allows us to come together to pool resources, showcase new writing and hold events. We’re so lucky to have such a vibrant scene of talented writers and ambitious publishers in this country.
What are your ambitions for the tramp press?
We are working to become the best independent publisher of fiction in the world.
Who do you aspire to work with?
We’re really excited about working with those brilliant writers that have not yet been discovered. We were delighted that so many major writers were excited to sign up to our Dubliners 100 project, and that was a fun process. We’d pick someone intimidatingly great and just fire off an email. People loved editor Tom Morris’s idea, so that’s how we ended up with an award-winning book. So we’re going to keep chancing our arms with more projects like that.
What makes a writer and their work stand out to you? How do you choose the people you work with?
It begins and ends with talent. We love literary fiction and it’s what we engage with most, but we’re also big fans of fantasy, sci-fi … it’d be great to find some brilliant new YA writer. We’re looking for originality, strong voices, fascinating characters, great story, and most of all, there has to be something at stake with the work. Ultimately we’re looking for obviously great writing.
For more see www.tramppress.com
