Jerry Nolan, an Irishman living in London, began life as a published writer in 1994 as a result of his research into the life and work of Edward Martyn about whom he lectured in Loughrea (Galway), Monaco, Dublin, Tulira Castle (Galway), London. His Martyn studies stimulated him to explore forms of Irish Cultural Nationalism mainly in the work of writers who have been marginalised in standard accounts of the Irish Literary Revival of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries so that the legacy of these Irish writers could be rediscovered in the face of indifference on the part of the Irish Studies academic establishment.
His widening interests led onto extensive research into controversial writers such as William Beckford and Thomas Hope, and to the rescuing from oblivion of some of his own unpublished poetry over the previous forty years. His decision in 2008 to set up the self-publishing project The Agathopolis Company was taken to facilitate the publication of new versions of poems and plays from the past, and to provide the opportunity for publication of new work based on new interests.