Somerville Press is a book publisher based near Bantry , West Cork , Ireland. Our publishing programme incorporates both fiction and non-fiction, mainly of Irish interest. We also distribute various titles for other publishers.
As an undergraduate at Oxford University, John Betjeman first visited Ireland in 1925 and was entranced by the country. He was to pay frequent visits over the next five decades, staying in stately homes, and making enduring friendships, these decades included nearly three years as Press Attaché to the British mission to Dublin during the Second World War. Several of his best known poems, written long before he became a knighted Poet Laureate, are set in Ireland. Betjeman in Ireland describes his fascination with Ireland through a series of often inter-linked themes: his love of the Irish countryside, particularly the overlooked Midland Counties, the mansions and the ruined mansions, the eccentricities of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy, life among writers in Dublin, his poetry, and, of course, his many love affairs. The book brings to life this charming and complex man and his relationship with Ireland, with the same light-hearted touch which characterises his poetry.
About the author
We are based in Dromore, Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland. We can be contacted by telephone on 00353 (0) 28 32873 or 00353 (0) 87 233 1970, and by email at somervillepress@gmail.com
Our books are distributed in the UK by Central Books, 50 Freshwater Rd, London RM8 1RX, and in the US by Casemate, 1950 Lawrence Road, Haverton PA 19083.
Somerville Press also incorporates RUSSELL BOOK REPRESENTATION, a publishers' sales agency covering the whole of Ireland. The publishers we represent include Hurst Publishers (www.hurstpublishers.com), W.W. Norton & Company Ltd. (www.wwnorton co.uk) and Reaktion Books Ltd. (www.reaktionbooks.co.uk).