Founder of Brandon Books dies

Author and founder of independent publisher Brandon Books Steve MacDonogh has died after a short illness at the age of 61.

Author and founder of independent publisher Brandon Books Steve MacDonogh has died after a short illness at the age of 61.

Originally from Dublin, MacDonogh lived for many years in Dingle, Co Kerry where he founded Brandon Books in 1982.

The imprint published several leading authors, including Gerry Adams, Alice Taylor and Neil Jordan.

Taylor's memoir To School Through The Fields, a nostalgic look back at rural life in Cork in the 1940s, published in 1988, remains one of the biggest selling books ever published in Ireland.

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In 2003, Brandon Books published the Sinn Féin president's personal account of the peace process, entitled Hope and History: Making Peace in Ireland.

Mr Adams today expressed his condolences to MacDonogh's family, saying the author's contribution to Ireland, the arts, and to the world of publishing and free speech was immense and he will be sadly missed.

"Steve was deeply committed to free speech and against censorship as well as a fine writer himself and a very good poet," he said.

MacDonogh penned a number of books himself, including several volumes on the Dingle peninsula.

In 1999 he wrote, Open Book: One Publisher's War, which explored cut and thrust world of Irish publishing.

His last book, Barack Obama: The Road from Moneygall, published earlier this year, traced the story of Obama's Irish lineage.

The Irish Publishing News website said the industry would be "much the poorer without this talented publisher".