He came down the stairs, sleek and sharp and dressed in black. Heads swivel to see Don Baker, harmonica player extraordinaire, enter on the arm of his fiancee. The Autumn Roadshow, a book fest for writers and retailers, immediately becomes a glitzy, rock 'n' roll affair. Baker met Fiona McCabe, from Tuam, Co Galway, five years ago before a gig. "She nearly ran me over in the carpark," he says.
Children's author Siobhan Parkinson missed her Goethe choir practice to be there. Journalist John Cooney is delighted that his book on Archbishop John Charles McQuaid is due out shortly. "It's the untold story of 20th century Ireland," he says. "McQuaid was such an enigmatic figure and such a divided character. He's essentially a control freak." And, Cooney adds, he has "probed into his private life" using a lot of private sources.
Present also was actor Brian McGrath, who recently appeared in A Love Divided, the film of the Fethard-on-Sea boycott. So, too, are Larry and Aislinn O'Loughlin, father and daughter, who are both producing novels at a rate of knots. Jacqui Broderick, editor of Galway Life, told us about her book on Shane Broderick, the former jockey - he's not related but she had always listened out for him - "like you would for a long-distance brother or cousin."
Cathal Elliott, sales manager with Easons, doesn't think the country is coming down with writers. "The more the merrier," he says. "It's extremely healthy." Some 18 independent book shops opened in Ireland last year, about seven have opened so far this year and Irish writers now account for 30 per cent of the Irish market.