Chairperson: Margaret Ward

More than forty years after the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement returned from Belfast triumphantly brandishing the pill, a contemporary observer might be forgiven for thinking that feminism has died, and that being a woman is all about submitting to desire. But, as the editors of a new Virago anthology set out to show, feminism is alive and well and more diverse than ever. Featuring contributions by everyone from Jeanette Winterson to Pussy Riot, Fifty Shades of Feminism explores what being a woman means in the twenty-first century.

To mark the publication of Fifty Shades of Feminism, Dublin Writers Festival brings together co-editor Rachel Holmes and contributor Shami Chakrabarti with theatre maker Louise Lowe and journalist Una Mullally to explore the many shades of feminism today. Rachel Holmes is a writer, activist, programmer and teacher, and former Director of Literature & Spoken Word at London’s Southbank Centre. Shami Chakrabarti is the Director of the civil liberties advocacy organisation, Liberty. Earlier this year she was named in BBC Radio 4’s list of the 100 most powerful women in the UK. Louise Lowe is a theatre director and playwright and Artistic Director of Anu Productions, whose recent productions include the acclaimed The Boys of Foley Street at the Dublin Theatre Festival. Una Mullally is an arts journalist and broadcaster who writes for publications including The Irish Times. She has a strong interest in politics, gender equality and feminism and sits on the board of GAZE, Dublin’s international LGBT film festival.