`This is a conference whose time has come." A distinguished gathering of writers, critics and academics gathered for the seventh annual WERRC conference to celebrate Irish women's writing, which got under way at Earlsfort Terrace on Wednesday afternoon. The Minister for the Arts, Sile de Valera hoped the conference would be "questioning, rigorous and reflective". Next up was poet Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill who has just returned from Boston College and a stint as Burns Library Visiting Scholar. Her eighth volume of poetry, The Waterhouse, is due out in October.

WERRC's director Ailbhe Smith continued the opening ceremonies at a wine reception in the Conrad Hotel, where Prof Adele Dalsiner and Prof Vera Kreilkamp - recent recipients of honorary degrees from UCD - chatted with Boston art and cultural critic, Robin Lundberg, along with Australian feminist theorist and poet, Prof Robyn Rowland. Irish writers included Eithne Strong, Biddy Jenkinson, Eilis Ni Dhuibhne and Emma Donoghue. (See page 4).