Despite the fact that one of Mayo's best known annual literary events - Force 10 in Belmullet - was billed this year as "the last fling", the elemental energy from which the event and its journal, Force 10, were spawned is already harnessing new windpower.
Mayo County Council's newly appointed Arts Officer, Ms Ann McCarthy, is clearly committed to the survival of both the journal and the annual literary gathering. She is sensitive to the fact that the isolated location of the weekend confirms and complements its identity.
She also generously acknowledges the work of her predecessor, Mr John Coll. His many initiatives have not only brought community arts out of the closet but firmly established an ambience whereby Vincent Woods, Leland Bardwell, Eva Bourke and Mary O'Malley read in the same circle as an unknown poet from Tourmakeady or a budding short-story writer from Carnacon, Co Mayo.
However, Ms McCarthy stresses that bureaucratic decisions will have to be made. "Whilst the whole Force 10 phenomenon will undoubtedly continue," she said, "it is now an appropriate time for it to be evaluated and possibly restructured." She is confident this process will help reflect the changes and developments that have occurred in the arts and media since the idea was first mooted over a decade ago.
In 1989, when Dermot Healy wrote the editorial for the first issue, he explained this was more than just "a literary magazine"; it was, also, "a visual and social document of the area". Since then each annual publication has remained true to this radical vision. It has never been forgotten that it was conceived in the Markievicz Centre for the Unemployed in Sligo. Its commitment to providing an even platform for both established and unknown artists has never wavered .
The intuitive ability of its guest editors to produce high quality publications has remained constant. Most importantly, the hallmark of this journal is its ability to reflect a peripheral culture that embraces, but is not compromised by, the encroaching flotsam imposed by a mass society.
It is therefore no surprise that when Mayo poet Ger Reidy facilitated one of the sessions during "the final fling" he was already committed to editing the progeny of Force 10, whatever its new title.
It is expected he will not only reinvigorate and extend the parameters of the publication but also further empower the surging swell of talent that community arts projects have unlocked throughout the west.