"Writing, though it often deals with the past or the present, is universally addressed to the future. Much of it is done in the hope that in the future we will understand more fully all those things which baffle or bemuse people today. This is both the glory and the vulnerability of the writer - the knowledge that they are minting a coinage which may not be negotiable in any present currency because, as Patrick Kavanagh once ruefully observed, 'posterity has not printed its banknotes yet'.

In that sense, our books are like our children: signals sent hopefully, but uneasily, into a future world."- Declan Kiberd Who are the Irish writers working today whose work will be read in a hundred years' time?

That was the question RTE put to an eclectic panel of critics, editors, teachers, a librarian, an actor and a former government minister - avid readers all - who intensely debated their selection over a period of several weeks. The result is an impressive - and controversial - list of twelve Irish men and women, adjudged to be among our finest living writers. Featuring nine in-depth interviews with Mike Murphy and three round-table discussions with fellow Irish writers and critics, Reading the Future creates a unique freeze-frame portrait of Ireland's literary culture at the turn of the century - and provides fascinating insights into the shaping influences on the lives, creative minds and working methods of twelve great writers.

Including a challenging introduction by Declan Kiberd, consulting editor to the series and chairman of the selection panel, Reading the Future is an indispensable source for any serious reader of Irish literature.