The Publishing Infrastructures of Contemporary Anglophone Literature
Mapping the forces that shape contemporary literary publishing
Publishing Infrastructures of Contemporary Anglophone Literature is conducting a comparative study of publishing infrastructures across three different Anglophone territories – Ireland, the US, and Britain – to identify how those infrastructures shape contemporary literature.
Publishing has been transformed during recent decades, at both local and global scales.
The digital revolution and the entry of tech giants into the publishing business have had global effects on publishing and on the development of literary forms. Ireland’s status as a small literary market close to (and in symbiotic relationship with) major centres of power in the US and Britain makes it an ideal hub for this analysis.
Using a range of methodologies including literary scholarship, interviews with authors and publishing workers, and cultural analytics, the project analyses the infrastructures mediating literary culture today. Drawing on the recent turn towards the study of literary institutions, it seeks to identify and analyse the key forces mediating and shaping contemporary literary publishing. By focusing on case studies and mapping the networks through which books are created and sold, the project expands our understanding of publishing conditions in Anglophone literature as well as contributing to improving equity of access to publication. The project is supported by the Taighde Éireann/Research Ireland Pathway scheme.
Research Aims and Timeline
The project runs for four years, from September 2023-2027. It combines fieldwork and interviews with publishing professionals, textual case studies, and analysis of data relating to contemporary publishing and literary institutions. Our research will be communicated in publications as well as in a digital exhibition and a podcast in collaboration with MoLI. We will also host public events and conferences throughout the lifetime of the project.
About us
Tim Groenland
Principal Investigator
Tim Groenland is a Taighde Éireann/Research Ireland Pathway Fellow in the School of English, Drama and Film at University College Dublin, Ireland, where he is PI on the project “The Publishing Infrastructures of Contemporary Anglophone Literature.” His book The Art of Editing: Raymond Carver and David Foster Wallace was published in 2019 by Bloomsbury Academic. He recently co-edited a special issue of Post45 with Evan Brier on “Editing American Literature” (2024), and his work is published or forthcoming in venues including Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Women’s Fiction, and The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies.
Michaela Králová
PhD Student
Michaela Králová is a Taighde Éireann/Research Ireland-funded PhD candidate at the School of English, Drama and Film in University College Dublin, working with the Publishing Infrastructures of Contemporary Anglophone Literature project. She previously completed her M.Phil. at the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation, Trinity College Dublin. Her thesis focuses on Ireland and literature in translation.
Margaret Kelleher
Mentor
Margaret Kelleher is Professor and Chair of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama at University College Dublin, Ireland. Her book The Maamtrasna Murders: Language, Life and Death in Nineteenth-Century Ireland (University College Dublin Press, 2018) was awarded the Michael J. Durkan Prize for Books on Language and Culture by the American Conference of Irish Studies in 2019 and shortlisted for the Michel Déon prize. Recent publications include Technology in Irish Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2022) which she co-edited with James O’Sullivan. She was UCD academic lead for the development of the Museum of Literature Ireland and is a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
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