Ms Máire Logue:

Our long-term challenges are the same other festivals face. They include funding and growth. Listowel is a small heritage town in north Kerry with a population of 3,500. As the availability of accommodation is hugely important, we are expanding our reach to Ballybunion, Tarbert and Tralee where audiences can stay there and come to the town. Staff is a huge issue, while obviously sponsorship is foremost in everybody's mind. As we do not have access to corporate companies, we are very lucky to have Kerry Group which has supported us for the last 35 years. It is key for us and works in partnership with us. There is competition. As there are literary and book festivals popping up all over the place, we must remain authentic. We have to be sustained and ensure ours will continue to be the primary literary festival in Ireland. Obviously, the accessibility of our location is hugely important. That is a positive, but it can also be a challenge. We take it as a positive because we are located in a beautiful heritage town.