Hermione Ireland

Wine book publisher, Académie du Vin Library | Inside a professional’s everyday life

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How did you get here?

I love connecting authors and audiences, particularly on non-fiction topics. I’ve been in sales and marketing in publishing all my life and have always loved books. When chairman and publisher Simon McMurtrie got in touch about the Académie in 2018, I felt I was looking at my dream job description.

What’s the best thing about your job?

The authors. I feel so privileged to work with so many great wine people, particularly Hugh Johnson, as well as Oz Clarke, Andrew Jefford and many others. I was lucky to work with Steven Spurrier before he passed away [March 2021], though I joined too late to meet Michael Broadbent. I’m working to collect as many of the greats and as much new talent as possible.

I also get a kick from working on lots of things at the same time, and running a small business gives me lots of opportunities to do that! And of course, it’s worked wonders for my wine education – I now buy far more expensive wine than I did when I published fiction!

And the worst?