This website is owned and operated by me, Jane Mitchell. I am the data protection officer and can be contacted through the contact page on this website. This privacy statement was last updated on 4 January 2025. It will be updated periodically, if I change how I collect or use your personal information.
I understand how important privacy is to every visitor to my website. Any of your personal data that I collect, use, store, and retain is in line with data protection legislation. This privacy notice aims to provide as much information as possible to help you understand how I look after your data, what your legal rights are in relation to that information, and how you can contact me if you have any questions or queries about how I look after your personal information.
I can only process your information if I have a ‘legal basis’ for it. There are 6 legal grounds for processing personal data: Consent; Performance of a contract; Legal obligation; Vital interest; Public interest; or Legitimate interests. You can find out more information at the GDPR website for Ireland, where I am based.
I only use your personal information to respond to queries or messages you send me, or to arrange visits to or talks at schools, festivals, libraries or other events. I do not give your personal data to any third-party. When I receive a message from you, I keep your details to answer your queries or messages. The sections below explain in more detail what data is collected and how.
I do not publish, produce, or circulate any marketing materials. I only send information to those who have specifically asked to receive it. Information you send to me is used only to answer your queries and to correspond with you.
I do not give your personal data to any third-party.
It is not possible for you to order or purchase books directly from me. You can order or purchase my books through other websites linked directly from my website. The links to the privacy policies for these other websites are given below. I generally keep these links updated, but if a link doesn’t work, try using a search engine. Search for the platform name, followed by ‘Privacy Policy.'
I cannot control how these websites process your data.
If you order and purchase my books through other websites linked directly from my website, I do not receive your payment account details or any information about your order or delivery details.
If you visit my website, third-party websites might process data about your use of the site. This is called ‘usage data’ and it includes information about what pages you visit and how long you spend on the site. This type of information is gathered to help to continuously improve the website and services. I do not have any analytic software or plug-ins on my website.
Legitimate Interest: administration of my website and contact form. I do not have access to the personal information gathered by third party websites, only the statistics.
I might process information about you to answer your query or reply to you. This may include your name, address, email address, age, postal address, and telephone number; it depends what information you provide. I receive this information directly from you and I receive only the information you choose to provide, which is used to correspond with you until your query is resolved.
Consent, or the performance of a contract between you and me, and/or taking steps, at your request to enter into a contract, or legitimate interests, in particular, managing relationships with you, as my customers.
I might process information you send me for publication on my website, for example, if you email me feedback about one of my books that you have read. I may share this on my website and/or social media platforms. I will always ask your permission before I use your personal information in this way, unless you have already posted the infomation on a public website or published it in a public document.
Consent: if you have sent this information by private communication channels (such as email) then I will ask your consent to publish this. If however you have posted the information on a public website or published it in a public document, I do not require consent, as you have chosen to make this public and it is therefore exempt from data protection provisions.
I may process any of the personal information mentioned in this policy, where necessary, for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out of court procedure. I may process personal information for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, or obtaining professional advice in relation to business risk. However, this is unlikely.
Legitimate Interest: The protection and assertion of my legal rights, your legal rights and the rights of others; the protection of my business against business risk. I may also process personal information where I am required to do so to comply with any legal obligations to which I am subject, or where it is necessary to protect my vital interests or the vital interests of anyone else (as specified in relevant legislation).
I am based in Ireland. My website is based in Ireland. I mostly only access data you send me on devices when I am in Ireland.
Most websites use cookies that store little bits of information on your computer when you visit. They are used to make websites work correctly. The data they use is not data about you, it is data about the device you use to access my website and the location of that device.
Cookies are issued each time you visit my website to identify your device as a unique user, for access and security purposes. It is retained only for that active browser session. You can set your browser to block cookies, but some websites might not work if you do that.
How long I keep your data will depend on why I have it. Mostly, I only keep your data as long as I need to answer your queries. If you are a regular correspondent, I might keep your address or email information longer, so I don’t need to keep asking you every time.
You can ask me to remove your details at any time.
Data Protection legislation is in place to help protect your personal information, and to give you control over how it is used. It gives you rights associated with your data. Your main rights are listed below, although they won’t always apply in every circumstance.
Where I rely on consent to process your data, you can withdraw that consent at any time.
©Jane Mitchell. Website updated 2025