RODDY Doyle's book launches are always casual, fun affairs with the author giving a brief but brilliant reading from his latest book.
This week The Woman who Walked into Doors was officially launched in Bewley's, and the large crowd included fellow writers Nick Hornby and Maeve Binchy who arrived to congratulate the author.
Doyle has much to celebrate even before its Dublin launch the already best selling book, has earned glowing literary reviews in North America and Britain. On the day of the launch, Radio 4's Kaleidoscope (not a programme known for hurling itself over the top) gave his new book one of that programme's best reviews ever.
All of Which made publisher Dan Franklin's speech completely understandable in its polite puzzlement. As an Englishman, he admitted that he didn't know much about Irish literary politics but said: "While The Irish Times ponders whether Roddy writes literature or not, the books are flying out of the shops."