Ms Catherine Moylan:

In Listowel not only do we believe, we also know that everybody has a creative muscle. Some of us may get a chance to flex it more than others, but in Listowel we have a creative press.

We have a physical environment that supports every element and muscle of creativity one might have. Everybody from the local bingo hall to the shops and the hotel is involved in it; we are all in it together. The physical size of the town lends itself to the festival. It is very warm and friendly. From a psychological perspective, to refer to what I said, there is buy-in from everybody in it. There is a level of support, whereby, whether one is having a cup of coffee or giving a reading, one will receive encouragement from every person one meets. There is great camaraderie within the committee which is supported by those living in the town and north Kerry.

As to experience of the festival, there are literary competitions for which which people can prepare now and which they can enter up to March next year. We have other novel ideas such as having a cup of tea with Colm Tóibín or elevenses with Emma Donoghue, which is something quirky and different which, in a way, allows people who might not see themselves as typical literary festival visitors to go along to it. They can sit down, have a cup of tea and listen to something diverse and different. There are also lectures. There is an historical and literary walk around the town that takes people on a journey of the mind and to see all of the landmarks associated with our great writers such as Bryan MacMahon, John B. Keane and Sean McCarthy. There is wealth. As it is in our DNA, we just embrace it.