Phoenix Convention

Colin Smythe was born in Berkshire in 1942, and was educated at Bradfield College near Reading and subsequently at Trinity College Dublin from which he graduated in 1963. By then he had started collecting books by W.B.Yeats and in 1966 he sold his collection to the Dublin City Library and started his publishing company, Colin Smythe Ltd, on the proceeds. He moved to Gerrards Cross (about 20 miles N.W. of London) in 1967.
The company publishes books by or about many Irish poets, novelists and dramatists of the 19th and 20th centuries, and also on such subjects as the Irish epic myths, the fairy faith, ghosts, folklore, heraldry, orders of knighthood, diplomacy, politics, trout fishing, and parapsychology, as well as agent for the literary estates of a number of the Irish authors it publishes.
He has edited and written books, chiefly by or about Lady Gregory and her family, and hopes to finish his W. B. Yeats bibliography soon. It's now 350,000+ words in length, still growing and delivery to the publishers is nearly 30 years late. It is, however, now much more comprehensive than had it been handed over to his publisher in 1982, and three times the size.
Colin is a keen SF and fantasy reader, having been introduced to the works of Tolkien, Lewis, Edison and others at university. He met Terry Pratchett in 1968 and published Terry's first book, The Carpet People, in 1971, to be followed by his next four books, and co-published the next three. Since 1987, he has been acting as Terry's agent, which has involved him in a completely different world from the rather academic one he was used to - and much more interesting and challenging than publishing: after editing, proof-reading, getting printed and publishing more than 500 books in forty odd years, the novelty had worn off.
Agenting has involved him not only in dealing with Terry's publishers all over the world, but in film, television, drama productions, merchandising, as well as dealing with internet piracy. He acted as the late Josh Kirby's agent in the UK for Pratchett related pictures (for calendars, prints, jigsaws, etc), and also published fantasy works by William Barnwell and Hugh Cook.
Colin was a visiting professor at the University of Ulster at Coleraine from 1993 to 2002, and remains one still at the Universidade Moderna in Lisbon. For his services to Irish literature the University of Dublin conferred an honorary Doctorate of Laws (LLD) on him in July 1998. He is a Senior Research Fellow of London University's Institute of English Studies.
He still lives in Gerrards Cross, bewails the fact that his home isn't really big enough to hold his book collection, and now has a rescued Great Dane. Fortunately Robby does not chew the furniture, or the books, unlike certain of his predecessors....

More information about Colin Smythe can be found at his website, http://www.colinsmythe.co.uk/ .