Writers have their own sense of decency, which is why the 24-hour homage to banned poets and authors brought willing readers even to midnight and early-hour sessions under the title The Word Endures.

Witnessing the discomfort of poet Gerry Murphy as he read Havel and Akhmatova on the bleak courthouse steps against the din of unheeding rush-hour traffic to an audience of four, the rationalisation was that such temporary suffering and indifference were a tribute to the banned and exiled and executed writers. But organising such an event at short notice and more or less "off the page" was a big task for the resources of the city library, although there were better audiences in the quieter conditions of the Triskel Arts Centre and the library itself.