When Mags McLoughlin was appointed chief executive of the Irish Writers Centre (IWC) in August last year, the first thing she did was set down a growth plan.
“At the top of that list was to extend our presence and our offerings outside of Dublin,” she says.
It was perhaps fitting then that McLoughlin was being interviewed from the side of the motorway as she made her way back to Dublin from the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, where she had been at a showcase for five writers who had spent a week in residence funded by the IWC.
The IWC, founded in 1991, is a charity which seeks to help writers nurture and explore their craft through its annual programme of mentoring opportunities, masterclasses, courses, writers’ residencies, bursaries and other competitions. They support all types of writers, including novelists, poets, essayists and playwrights, and are based in Parnell Square on Dublin’s northside.
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McLoughlin comes to her position with significant experience in fundraising, advertising, communications and non-profit management. She began her career in advertising, was a marketing director for a leading financial services group in Sydney, and an account director for two global communications agencies in Dublin.
Eventually, McLoughlin “reached a point in my life where I just wanted to do something that was a bit more meaningful, but that still used my skill set”.
Her consultancy practice led her to work as a freelance project manager for charities such as Unicef, Young Social Innovators and social enterprise LIFT Ireland, as well as serving as interim chief executive at Charities Institute Ireland.
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McLoughlin first came across the IWC as a writer, however, having written fiction for many years in her spare time.
“I got to know the centre from going in and doing creative writing courses over the last 20 years. I benefited hugely, and loved the atmosphere. I found it so valuable in terms of trying to hone your craft and meeting fellow writers. You know, the community part of what we do is so key, and the writing community is just growing and ever-keen to nurture each other.”
Writers truly earn so little. An awful lot of them can’t afford to live off their craft
Last year, McLoughlin was one of the winners of the IWC Novel Fair.
While she is a proud advocate and alumni of the IWC, she appreciates that there is room for improving its services.
“I’ve heard the criticism that the centre is very Dublin-centric, so it was important for me to bring the master classes, courses and talks out around the country to benefit as many writers as possible.”
Since assuming her position, the centre has participated in six regional literary festivals around Ireland and launched the Writers in the Regions masterclass series, where experienced writers share their knowledge on their craft and the business of publishing. So far, Sean O’Reilly, Kevin Barry and Mike McCormack have given classes in Derry, Carrick-on-Shannon, Sligo and Galway.
“Writers truly earn so little. An awful lot of them can’t afford to live off their craft, so they’re constantly watching a budget. To travel to Dublin for a course I imagine is going to be a bit of a luxury for a lot of writers. So the idea is to bring our masterclasses and courses out and around the country, and to put a lot more online, so it’s accessible for anyone, anywhere. We’ve seen the growth. Looking outwards really does make a huge difference.”
Before McLoughlin joined, the organisation put on about 119 courses a year, and she has sought to build on that, with 135 courses offered this year and 150 due next year. She believes the courses are for all writers – beginners who have always wanted to write something, intermediate-level writers who might have got one book published but are stuck on the second, or seasoned, published writers seeking to perfect their craft.
When it came to how the centre has come up with the new courses on offer, McLoughlin says, “We take soundings from the facilitators we use. We talk to writers all the time, and we deal with something like 2,000 writers a year. We’re always listening to what they have to say. We have so much evidence from the past few years of what worked and what didn’t work.”
Other than increasing the number of regional classes and courses, McLoughlin is keen to make the centre’s courses more accessible in general.
“We’ve got six- and eight-week courses, but we are also looking at weekend courses, one-day courses, lunchtime packages that people could avail of, and more courses being offered online. We’re looking at doing at webinar series. We’re trying to work around people who work, people who are at home with children, etc. Online is key for us.”
Despite the time constraints that mean some writers cannot attend the courses, demand has never been higher, and nearly all the courses are oversubscribed, with a wait list.
“Facilitators will only take a maximum of probably 14 people [per course], because otherwise you don’t get that personal tuition.”
The centre is also trying to make recordings of its talks and masterclasses available online after the live event, for free.
McLoughlin has meanwhile identified a weakness in the organisation’s financing that she is seeking to rectify in order to future-proof it.
Funding remains a huge problem, and for a national organisation with an all-island brief, we are very underfunded
“We are hugely reliant on the Arts Council [for funding]. Truly we could not do half of what we do without the Arts Council. Their support is phenomenal for us. But I want to diversify the income streams and bring in more corporate and cultural partnerships into the organisation. We are almost 35 years old, and the next 35 years are also on my mind. Long after we’re all gone, the future generations of Irish writers need to be secured to some extent.”
The events of 2008/9 likely weigh heavily on McLoughlin’s mind, as in December 2008, Arts Council funding was withdrawn because of concerns about “value for money and quality of service for writers”. At the time, their funding was worth €200,000 a year. Founder Jack Harte returned to the board of directors as chairman and worked with writers including Seamus Heaney and Anne Enright along with other activists to try to save the IWC. The centre only exists today because of an incredible voluntary effort that was made by members of the Irish public and the literary community to keep it afloat.
Funding issues were still to the fore when, in 2016, Valerie Bistany, then director of the IWC, told an event celebrating the centre that, “Funding remains a huge problem, and for a national organisation with an all-island brief, we are very underfunded. We have a wonderful team here who it is my good fortune to work with, but we spend too much of our energy raising funds and not enough time on connecting with writers and their audiences.”
McLoughlin has recruited seven new board members, whose backgrounds reflect her desire for the organisation to become more fiscally independent.
“Recruitment for the board was pretty exhaustive and extensive, and we had a public call-out [for applicants]. All the new board members are people who first of all love literature and are passionate about the arts, but also can bring skill sets that will help us increase awareness of what we do... and to increase potential for diversifying our income streams and bring expertise, willingness and genuine enthusiasm.
“It’s about scaling, growing and doing what we can do on every level to support writers. So it involves bringing in people from the corporate world, people from law, technology, enterprise, a real mix around the table. People with PhDs in literature, people who run bookstores – it’s really broad and interesting.”
New board members include Brian McEnery, a managing partner at BDO Ireland; Patrick Barrett, a practising barrister; and Maria Dickenson, who spent 22 years working for Eason as a book purchaser and general manager.
McLoughlin is planning to launch the Irish Writers Centre Patrons Circle next year, where individuals and organisations can sponsor writers.
“Next year I really want to focus my efforts into raising money so that we can support more writers. Every single one of our development programmes, like the mentoring programmes we run, are oversubscribed by at least 10 people. The appetite for people to be mentored and upskill is huge. We honestly couldn’t facilitate all of the applications we get unless we are super-funded. We’re looking for people to come in and give €5,000 to sponsor a group of writers, for instance.
“I also want to secure a sponsor for our novel competition, which has been running 14 years and has produced 37 novels.”
To this end, the Novel Fair has been rebranded as the International Debut Fiction Competition to clarify firstly that it is a competition and not a book fair, and to let people know that anyone in the world can apply. Last year, the competition had entries from 17 countries.
McLoughlin is hopeful for the success of these fundraising endeavours, as she believes Ireland’s writers are so fundamental to its global identity, culture and tourism.
“It’s a great story to tell, as we are a nation of storytellers.”
She hopes that one day the organisation could also foster relationships with Irish diaspora communities.
“If you think about it, in any major city there’ll be a strong Irish community, and within that a pocket of writers, so I really want to target them and bring them home in a way.”
