Books are my business: Irish Writers Centre CEO Mags McLoughlin

Mags McLoughlin: 'I have been in the job 10 months and it has been a rollercoaster.'

Mags McLoughlin is CEO of the Irish Writers Centre, which is based in Parnell Square, Dublin.

How did you get into your current role?

My whole career has been a circuitous journey — I have been in communications for most of it, and I was working in advertising for a long time. 

I have always been exposed to that creative process, which I loved and really enjoyed. I have also been writing for about 25 years, so that was a big part of the love.

In the latter part of my career, I was working as a communications consultant on a project basis. 

Then last year, I decided to enter the Irish Writers Centre novel fair — I had done courses there over the last 15 years or so and I was always a little in awe of the place. 

I dusted off my second novel, entered, and I was one of the winners — which was such an amazing moment. 

It means that you get to skip the slush pile and pitch directly to 16 agents and publishers.

I’ve written three novels, and I hope at some stage to be published. 

Meanwhile, the role was sent on to me; I hadn’t worked in an arts organisation before, but I entered the recruitment process, and here I am. 

It is a blend of everything I know with everything I love, I really feel it is the perfect job for me.

What does your role involve?

I have been in the job 10 months and it has been a rollercoaster, because there’s so much new to bring to the table, and so much to build on, as the organisation is 34 years old.

My job is to elevate awareness of the centre, its story, and get more money in for more writers to do more writing. 

We’re in the middle of a significant restructure as well. A typical day is anything from programming to communications.

I’m also trying to increase engagement in terms of fundraising and philanthropy. 

One of the most exciting things has been bringing in new initiatives for writers.

We are programming at six literary festivals this year; doing young audience programming and we did a collaboration with the Frustrated Writers’ Group, a loose co-op of writers and artists. 

We have also launched a new competition in collaboration with The Stinging Fly, which is really interesting.

The appetite for creative writing is enormous and growing; our courses are always over-subscribed. The goodwill towards us from the writing community is also huge.

What do you like most about it?

Concept and ideation are probably my strongest points. For example, I would love to set up a foundation for writers — something like the basic arts income, but for writers. 

It’s ambitious, but we have got to start somewhere.

I love coming up with new ideas but you can’t live in that space all the time; so on a daily basis, it has to come back down to what are we doing this month to grow?

What do you like least about it?

When I started the job, the Arts Council application was due two weeks later, and it was a nightmare. There were a lot of hours involved but as we are strategically funded, it is important and essential. 

That forced me to put a growth plan in place, and it is great to see that playing out now. 

I don’t like long meetings and the deluge of emails but that’s just part of the job.

There’s very little I don’t like about it. It is a beautiful place to work, in a great part of town.

Three desert island books

I am a massive fan of Willy Vlautin, the way he writes about the dust bowl towns, the marginalised, human frailty, and the beauty in all of that. 

I love all his books but I would probably take Lean on Pete.

The next one would be Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. 

I have just reimmersed myself in it because we are running an event to mark the 100th anniversary of its publication. It is an extraordinary text.

The third one would be A Goat’s Song by Dermot Healy. 

I remember reading it and just being blown away by it — the way it depicted relationships, and the hard landscape, overlaid with tenderness.

• The Irish Writers Centre’s roadshow will be at West Cork Literary Festival, July 11 to 18; Write by the Sea, Wexford, September 26 to 28; Waterford Writers Weekend, October 24 to 26; and Dublin Book Festival taking place in November;
• See www.irishwriterscentre.ie for more details on programming and events.

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