Madam, – A recent letter suggesting the need for a Dublin Book Festival prompted correspondence (August 25th) which revealed Dublin has no fewer than three book festivals! Surely this is a clear indication of the need for a more co-ordinated approach to the promotion of books and literature in the city?
To the festivals mentioned, one can add other literary events such as the long-established Dublin Writers Festival (of which I am director), Imram Irish Language Literature Festival and the Dun Laoghaire Poetry Now festival.
I do appreciate book festivals are, primarily, concerned with the sale of books. Literature festivals, while encouraging book sales, are primarily concerned with the promotion of literature, both clearly complementary objectives. I would, therefore, suggest that all these festivals should look at the feasibility of combining resources and delivering one huge literature and books festival for Dublin and Ireland. In my opinion, it is only through this type of co-operation that anything approaching the Edinburgh model, as mentioned by David Smith (August 22nd), can be achieved.
– Yours, etc,