"Kavanagh was a poet of the ordinary. He celebrated the everyday so that we could see it in a new way. There are no grand moments. The mundane is actually very beautiful."—Greg Delanty, poet, on Patrick Kavanagh and noticing the unusual
"The Irish Comic Tradition is alive and well. If you can make someone laugh there's no question of whether it is art or not. It's just a clear return."—Mairead Byrne, poet, on Vivian Mercier and taking playful writing seriously
"Everything I do is a purgation of the spirit. It's all fictional and although I've used voices that I've heard—you cannot separate the dancer from the dance."—Ronan Noone, playwright, on his creative process and W.B. Yeats
"I think Irish people are very culturally outward looking. I am at home here when I'm here and then I'm at home when I go back so I have a foot in both camps. That unsettled spirit suits a writer."—Mary O'Donoghue, poet, in the Athenaeum