Dublin Writers Festival 2009 - 2nd to 7th June

Behind every event is a busy team working hard to make it happen. Dublin Writers Festival Director Jack Gilligan kindly took time out to answer my questions on why he enjoys the festival, the significance it has in 2009 and what will make it a success…

Tell us a little about yourself and your role as Director.

I suppose I should say that my full-time job is that of Dublin City Arts Officer with Dublin City Council. The Dublin Writers Festival is an initiative of the City Council with generous support from The Arts Council. The festival has a wonderful Programme Director in Liam Browne and we have a very small, but marvellous, support team from the Arts Office. Nobody is working full-time on the festival but rather is it part of our overall work. For my part, as Festival Director, I have ultimate responsibility for the event and am answerable to my employers, to The Arts Council and especially to the audience.

Why did you want to be part of Dublin Writers Festival?

When I took on the role as Dublin City Arts Officer sixteen years ago, and reviewed arts and cultural activity in the city, it struck me as a serious gap in provision that Dublin did not have a literary festival, although there had been one some years before. After all, we have a wonderful literary heritage and are famous for giving the world some of the greatest writers ever. My belief was that we should not live off past glories but should ensure that Dublin would hold its special place in the literary world and provide a platform for the best Irish and international writers to engage with each other and with the public.

What was the inspiration behind this year's theme The Power of the Word? What significance does it have for Dublin in 2009?

I suppose, in essence, every festival is about the power of the word. This year we wanted to highlight the significance of the written and spoken word and bring a sharper focus to something we can often take for granted. Your question about its significance in 2009 is interesting. I think that literature and the arts in general, while hugely important always, do take on an additional significance in difficult times like we are experiencing right now. That food for the soul is especially needed at this time and can play a huge role in sustaining us through bleak times.

This year's festival has a wonderful variety of events. Are there any that you're particularly excited about?

That's a difficult one for me to answer - there are so many! I'm delighted we are celebrating this special year for Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney, with a sell-out event in the National Concert Hall. I am really pleased that we have another of Ireland's favourite poets, Brendan Kennelly, with his brand new collection, Reservoir Voices, at The Abbey Theatre. Brendan can hold an audience spellbound! Writers such as Sarah Waters, Simon Schama, Melvyn Bragg, Zoe Heller and Colm Toibin are just some of an amazing line-up put together by Liam Browne.

One event, which I believe will be a big hit and one I'm really looking forward to is The Frost is all Over, bringing to the stage the poetry of Dermot Bolger, spoken by actor Eamonn Hunt ( ex Fair City) with Traditional Musicians Tony Mac Mahon and David Power, against a backdrop of archive imagery. This is a different type of event and I think it will be magic!

You would consider the 2009 Dublin Writers Festival a success if...

We have such a fantastic line-up of writers on the Festival programme this year, I’ll consider the event a success if we increase our audiences and get the positive feed-back we’re hoping for. I also hope that the Dublin Writers Festival will take another step towards reaching its potential to become a major international literary event, of which Dublin can be proud.

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