An exciting new chapter has begun for Irish duo Órla Carr and Clare Appezzato after the publication of their debut ebook from their independent press, Castles in the Air.
Órla, a native of Fanad, and Clare, from Kilkenny, founded their new publishing press in Vancouver. Both graduates of English Literature, the friends had a shared love of stories and a passion for supporting authors.
Last year they founded Castles in the Air Press, an e-book publisher dedicated to finding and supporting unique and diverse Irish authors.
On August 1st 2021 they launched their first book, Why are you here? written by Radhika Iyer, who is currently living in Dundalk. This is a powerful collection of short stories that focus on themes of womanhood, identity and domestic violence. The book is available to buy now on any ebook retailer, such as Apple Books, Kindle, and Kobo.
Órla and Clare had both recently moved from Ireland to Vancouver, Canada when the pandemic hit. They originally moved across the Atlantic to find work in publishing but coronavirus meant that job opportunities were few.
“After an online internship fell through due to the pandemic, we both decided we were sick of waiting for an opportunity to present itself and that we would create one ourselves,” they said.
“With our collective knowledge and experience and our shared passion of stories, we felt confident that we were up to the task. After an excited discussion at our kitchen table, we decided to take the plunge and set up our own business. We had our first meeting the next evening, where we decided on the name. Castles in the Air is a reference to Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, which is a shared favourite. We hired a freelance designer to create our logo, which we drew up by hand and asked them to replicate on screen. We built a website basically overnight, learning everything as we went.”
The vision for Castles in the Air Press is to create a space for Irish voices that are not commonly heard, to donate a portion of the profits made to a charity of the author’s choice, and to bring a fresh perspective to the Irish publishing industry.
Castles in the Air Press founders Órla & Clare
Órla and Clare said: “We are so grateful to everyone who has submitted writing to Castles. We are constantly in awe of the talent in Ireland, and one of our main goals with this business is to showcase it. From those submissions, we found Radhika Iyer, who’s writing immediately struck a chord with us. We both remember reading the opening few pages and instantly thinking “this is the one”. After she agreed to be our first author, we couldn’t believe our luck, as not only is she a talented writer, she is such a humble, kind, and hard-working person.”
The organisation that Radhika has decided to donate 10% of profits to is the Immigrant Council of Ireland.
Órla and Clare added: “We’ll be diving back into the submissions to look for our second book as soon as we release our first title. We love reading every single submission in depth and giving each a lot of thought and respect. We always welcome submissions, so check out our guidelines on our website, castlesintheairpress.com.”
Follow the company on Twitter: @castlespress and Instagram: @castlespress