Sisters were doing it for themselves this week when they came out in force to support writer Marisa Mackle. She has set up her own company, Dodder Books, and fellow writers praised her for the courage she showed in publishing So Long Mr Wrong!, her second book.
"I wanted the book out for the summer. I would have had to wait otherwise. I'm hoping to publish romantic comedies. They're the books that I read," she said. Her first book was Mr Right for the Night.
Writers Marita Conlon McKenna, Tina Reilly, Denise Deegan and Catherine Barry came to Hughes & Hughes at St Stephen's Green Centre, Dublin, to applaud the new book, which was launched by writer Sarah Webb. "She's incredibly brave," said writer Martina Devlin. "She deserves every success. That's why so many women writers are here tonight. We want her to sell loads of books."
Also in attendance were Claire Dowling from Johnstown, Co Kilkenny, who is author of Expecting Emily, and Oxford-based Gemma O'Connor, whose next psychological thriller, Following the Wake, is due out in November, published by Bantam.
"It's a very exciting venture for her and for popular fiction," said Webb, whose own book, Some Kind of Wonderful, is due out in September, published by Macmillan. Mackle "is going to be a very successful businesswoman. It's a very brave, courageous thing to do", she said, also commenting that Mackle was one of the founding members of the Irish Girls' Club, a women's network of writers who meet regularly for lunch or dinner to discuss their work.
