The committee & board of Ennis Book Club Festival are delighted to announce the appointment of Martina Durac as the new artistic director for Ennis Book Club Festival.
Martina’s appointment follows on from Dani Gill who was the artistic director with the festival for the last two years. Dani has now joined the Board of Ennis Book Club Festival. Martina and the committee will now begin work on programming for the 17th Ennis Book Club Festival which will take place on the first weekend of March in 2023.
Martina comes to the festival with a deep and abiding love of literature and writing in all its forms and genres. She is passionate about supporting artists and readers alike and is excited by the opportunities the Ennis Book Club Festival offers to grow and develop these relationships.
She has been a documentary film maker, curator, designer and lecturer for over 25 years. With a particular interest in art, nature and community she has explored these in her projects, whether observing the lives of coastal communities and wild landscapes, the work and lives of writers, musicians and painters, drug-free environments, or musical gatherings. She is intrigued by what sparks the artistic impulse and how developing a creative project, be it writing or a film project, is an all-encompassing endeavour that demands great attention and rewards it in a multitude of ways.
Martina was the originator and series producer on a long-running weekly books programme on RTÉ called Imprint which featured many memorable interviews with writers such as Eavan Boland, Brendan Kenneally, Joe O’Connor, Gore Vidal, JG Ballard, Doris Lessing, Maeve Binchy, Richard Ford and many more. She also made the weekly arts programme, Soiscéal Pháraic, for TG4, which ran for five years and featured many writers. Her work has been intimately connected with the world of the arts and writing for many years. She directed a documentary on the writer Hugo Hamilton and produced a documentary on Patrick Kavanagh.
She served on the board of the European Documentary Network (based in Copenhagen) for two years and is a member of the Documentary Alliance of the Screen Directors Guild of Ireland and sits on its board. Martina is a member of the European Women’s Audiovisual Network (EWA) and Women in Film & Television (Ireland). She was a member of the jury for best documentary series of 2020 for the International Documentary Association.
Originally from Limerick city, Martina has had close ties to Clare all her life as her father came from Scariff, and many of her childhood summers were spent in West Clare. In recent years she had the chance to celebrate this with the making of an award-winning documentary series, An Bhoirinn/The Burren which she directed and produced for TG4.
On her appointment, Martina has said “it is a great honour to have been appointed as the new Artistic Director of the Festival. Not only does it afford me the opportunity to deepen my relationship to Ennis and Clare but also to take up the mantle for a wonderful festival that champions both readers and writers alike. It is with great enthusiasm that I join with the committee in planning for the next festival and look forward to meeting all the readers and writers who will join us on the journey”.
Cora Gunter, chairperson of the committee of Ennis Book Club festival added, “we are delighted that Martina is joining our team. Martina brings a wealth of experience in the arts, both literature and film making so we are very excited about how the Festival develops under her stewardship. Martina is also very interested in exploring events that appeal to all readers but especially with book club groups who are our key audience. Martina has already begun working on the programme of the next Ennis Book Club Festival. This annual celebration of book clubs and readers will hope to combine a unique mix of readings, discussion, music and chat all located in the beautiful town of Ennis.“
