Meet the #DBF2018 Team!

These friendly faces have been working hard behind-the-scenes and will be on-site to welcome you to Dublin Book Festival 2018:

Julianne Mooney – Programme Director

Background: Julianne has been programming the Dublin Book Festival since 2010 and has loved every moment of it. Alongside the festival, she has worked at The Ark, is author of The Time Out Guide to Ireland and Reader-in-Residence for Dublin City Public Libraries and DLR Libraries. She considers herself incredibly lucky to work in the world of books – reading has been her favourite pastime ever since she was a little girl and could hold a book in her hands. She is passing on this love of books to her son Jack, whose favourite book is Chris Judge’s The Snow Beast.

What ignited your passion for reading: “I am the youngest of five children, so I assume my mother barely had time to have a sip of coffee, however, she always had time for stories. We would fight over whose room the story would be told in – wanting to be tucked up in our own cosy bed for the next magical tale. We were brought to the library several times a week and would wander through the lines of books choosing the ones we wanted to take home. I can still remember the smell and the sound of the stamp at the back of the book. I confess, I used to dream of being able to stamp books! As I sit writing this, my Mum is with Jack (my son) reading to him and he is squealing with delight at some picture. This is the person who ignited my passion for books and it is a passion I have never lost and one I hope I have passed on to my son.”

Ruth Ennis – Marketing & Administrative Assistant

Background: Ruth Ennis completed her undergrad in University College Dublin in English with Drama. She is due to begin her Master’s degree in Children’s Literature with Trinity College Dublin. She has written for The Observer, UCD Literary Society, The Blue Nib and Children’s Books Ireland. She has worked with Luath Press, Children’s Books Ireland, Dublin City of Literature. This is her second year with the Dublin Book Festival and she can’t wait to meet you all there!

What ignited your passion for reading:  “Books have always been a part of my life. Moments with books stood with me throughout my childhood; reading way past my bedtime, the school book fair being the biggest event of the year, and reading in the back seat for long journeys even when I knew it made me car-sick. There is no one book or experience that made me love reading. It has been there regardless as it is always a great comfort.”

Cassia Gaden Gilmartin – Marketing & Administrative Assistant

Background: Cassia has just completed her MPhil in Creative Writing at Trinity College. She spent four years as a bookseller at The Company of Books, and now volunteers with the Irish Writers Centre and Fighting Words, an organisation offering free writing workshops to kids and adults. Her recent fiction has been published by Transnational Queer Underground and Eunoia Review. She has loved writing, reading and sharing stories for as long as she can remember, and can’t wait to be part of all that #DBF2018 has to offer!

What ignited your passion for reading: “People sometimes see reading and writing as solitary pastimes, but for me the sharing of stories has always been an important social act. I was lucky enough to be born a twin, and since early childhood books were things to be squealed over, talked about and reenacted in games of ‘let’s pretend’ with my sister. I was a shy kid, and discovered quickly that writing and reading can be wonderful ways of connecting with people. When I write a story, I’m communicating something that I’ve felt, or thought, or experienced. When I read someone else’s work and find I can relate to the piece, I’m recognising some part of that writer’s thoughts or experiences mirrored in myself. That moment of recognition and connection is my favourite thing about reading, and seeing it happen for other people is my favourite thing about organising events in the arts.”

Megan Nelis – Marketing & Administrative Assistant

Background: Megan completed her Master’s degree in Literature and Publishing at NUI Galway in 2016. She’s been the Literature Editor for An Áit Eile, a grassroots arts & culture organization based in the west of Ireland, since 2015. Megan also previously worked at Cúirt International Festival of Literature and Vancouver Writers Fest, and she is very excited about being a part of the #DBF2018 team!

What ignited your passion for reading: “From an early age I remember our dad bringing us home special books as surprises, after various work trips or meetings. Some of them would be special editions or they would be in the guise of a game or toy. On Christmas mornings we always got a separate Santa bag filled with books (and some of them were even signed and dated by Mr. Claus himself!) From then on the book lover contract was binding. The librarian in our hometown was also our piano teacher, so we were never in short supply of stories and singsongs. My English teacher in secondary school was also a great influence on my passion for literature. Her observations and applications of literature to situations in everyday life, and her ability to recall an extract from a short story or poem, and offer a glimpse into new perspectives, still stick with me to this day.”