Updates from the past year: launch, publicity and signings

It’s hard to believe that almost 11 months have passed since I submitted the manuscript to Mercier Press. In the time since I began the project the memoir shrank from 250,000 words to 130,000, then to 83,000, the final printed version. Katherine Zappone kindly wrote a lovely foreword, giving me far too much credit!

The launch took place in the Gutter Bookshop, Cow’s Lane in Dublin on the 27th October 2021. I was thrilled that our daughter Jenny could come across to join the 50 attendees including, of course, Helen, Declan, my publisher Mary from Mercier, many from the LGBTQ+ field, my workplace and other friends. My speech was emotional and featured a couple of passages from the book, all well received. One of the highlights of my life without doubt which we celebrated with drinks in Street 66, an LGBTQ+ pub nearby.

There were good reviews in the Irish Examiner, Books Ireland (of the cover design), Waterford News and Star (Book of the Year!) and others. I had quite a few local radio and newspaper interviews and Ryan Tubridy (radio presenter on RTE) mentioned the book on his show on publication day, a nice touch as I had announced the contract with Mercier on his Late Late Show the previous year. Before publication I was incredibly stressed, worrying about the reaction of friends and family, work colleagues and relations but my fears were unjustified and I was thrilled with (most of!) the comments. If you’ve read the book I would be very grateful if you could leave a review on the book website Goodreads (www.goodreads.com) – thanks to everyone who already has!

Following publication I was delighted to see it prominently displayed in many bookshops throughout Dublin and friends told me of buying it in small towns throughout the country. But the real joy for me was knowing it was helping people – many, many messages and emails from trans people and relatives about how my story touched them and gave them hope.

The photos below are of just a few of the signings throughout mainly Dublin but also Cork. Top middle photo is the launch in The Gutter Bookshop and my thanks to Bob, bookshop owner extraordinaire for allowing me to officially send the book on its voyage around the world from his shop!

Copies are available from bookshops throughout Ireland (The Gutter Bookshop, Eason’s, Dubray, Waterstone’s and Hodges Figgis, others) but stock is quite limited in some as there is always pressure on bookshelves from new books. So if you want a copy you can order it from http://www.mercierpress.ie or, of course, Amazon.

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