Born in Dublin in 1959, the poet, playwright and novelist Dermot Bolger is one of Ireland’s best known writers. His fourteen novels include The Family on Paradise Pier, An Ark of Light and two novels reissued in softback: The Lonely Sea and Sky and a radical rewriting of his book, A Second Life, which was among the first novels to explore the subject of secretive Irish adoptions.

In 2022 he also published a new poetry collection, Other People’s Lives – poems written on walks during lockdown, reflecting on his life and the lives of others. His debut play, The Lament for Arthur Cleary, received the Samuel Beckett Award. Numerous other plays include an adaptation of Joyce’s Ulysses and Last Orders at the Dockside, both staged by The Abbey Theatre.

In 2021 he was the recipient of The O’Shaughnessy Poetry Prize from The University of St. Thomas in America and last year he was awarded an honorary degree in literature from The National University of Ireland.

Lynn Buckle is an award-winning deaf/hard-of-hearing author published by époque press. Her second novel, What Willow Says is a celebration of nature, deafness, languages, and familial love. It explores the landscapes and stories of counties Kildare, Offaly, and Laois while presenting a unique perspective on trees. It was an Irish Times and Independent critics’ pick-of-the-year and went on to win The Barbellion Prize, an international literary award dedicated to the furtherance of chronically ill and disabled voices. She received the Greywood Arts Carers Award, The John Hewitt Society Bursary, and a Special Mention in the Saboteur Awards. She was shortlisted for The Red Line Short Story Award and represented Ireland as a UNESCO Cities of Literature Writer in Residence at the UK National Centre for Writing. She writes literary articles and creative non-fiction for The Irish Times, Arachne Press, Massachusetts Review, Exacting Clam, Books Ireland Magazine, and appears in various anthologies. She has worked in education as a qualified tutor for over 35 years and hosts the climate writers’ group, Writing for a Change, at The Irish Writers’ Centre where she teaches creative writing. She is also a visual artist and works for a national deaf and hard-of-hearing charity.

Oein DeBhairduin is a writer, activist and educator with a passion for preserving the beauty of Traveller tales, sayings, retellings and historic exchanges. He is the author of the award-winning Why the moon travels (Skein Press, 2020), Weave (Skein Press, 2022) and The Slug and The Snail (Little Island & Skein Press, 2023). He is the Traveller Culture Collections Development Officer with the National Museum of Ireland and seeks to pair community activism with cultural celebration, recalling old tales with fresh modern connections and, most of all, he wishes to rekindle the hearth fires of a shared kinship.

Is múinteoir bunscoile é Seán de Paor arbh as baile Chill Dara ó dhúchas dó, a bhí ina Phríomhoide ar Ghaelscoil Chill Dara ó 1995-2019. Oibríonn sé faoi láthair do Ghlór na nGael, is ball de Ghlór an Churraigh é agus tá sé ina Uachtarán ar Ghalfchumann Chill Dara.

Seán de Paor is a primary teacher from Kildare town who was Principal of Gaelscoil Chill Dara from 1995 2019. He presently works for Glór na nGael, is a member of Glór an Churraigh and President of Cill Dara Golf Club.

Catherine Gander is Associate Professor in the English Department of Maynooth University, where she runs the Poetry and Poetics event series with Karl O'Hanlon.

Her academic books include Muriel Rukeyser and Documentary: The Poetics of Connection (Edinburgh UP, 2013), The Edinburgh Companion to Don DeLillo and the Arts (ed., Edinburgh UP, 2023), and Mixed Messages: American Correspondences in Visual and Verbal Practices (Manchester UP, 2016, ed. with Sarah Garland). She is completing a book for Cambridge UP called Extending the Document: Contemporary Transmedial Poetics, and with Stefania Heim she is editing a creative-critical hybrid book called Beyond Ourselves: Contemporary Poets on Muriel Rukeyser (West Virginia UP). Her poetry can be found in a number of journals online and in print in Ireland, the UK, the US and Canada. Her co-written pamphlet (with Georgia Hilton and Anna Kisby), Sea Between Us, was published with Nine Pens Press in 2022 and her pamphlet Matches will be published by Verve Poetry Press in early 2024.

Shauna Gilligan is a novelist and short story writer living in Kildare. Her writing has been published in journals such as The Stinging Fly and New Welsh Review. She has a PhD in Creative Writing and teaches in further and higher education. She is particularly interested in exploring the crossover of art and literature in storytelling, the depiction of historical events in fiction, and creative processes. She has received many awards for her writing including the Cecil Day Lewis award from Kildare County Council.

Eva Griffin is a poet from Kildare. Her pamphlets Fake Hands / Real Flowers (2020) and one last spin around the sun (2021) were published by Broken Sleep Books. Her poems have appeared in The London Magazine, The Stinging Fly, bath magg, Poetry Ireland Review, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a Centre Culturel Irlandais residency award, and participated in the Poetry Ireland Introduction Series in 2020.

Eithne Hand is a writer and producer from Greystones, Co Wicklow. She worked in RTE for over twenty years and was Head of RTÉ Radio 1 from 2003-2006. In recent years she produced Lyric FM’s weekly Poetry File slot and as a theatre producer she worked on The Man In The Woman’s Shoes and I Hear You and Rejoice – both one man shows written and performed by Mikel Murfi. She was one of the Artists in Residence at the Hawk’s Well Theatre in Sligo in 2022.

Fox Trousers, her first poetry collection, was published in 2021 by Salmon Press and her second collection will be published by them in 2024.

Neil Hegarty grew up in Derry. His novels include The Jewel and Inch Levels, which was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Novel of the Year award in 2017.

Neil’s non-fiction titles include Dublin: A View from the Ground; Frost: That Was the Life That Was, a biography of David Frost; The Secret History of our Streets, which tells the story of twentieth-century London; and The Story of Ireland, which accompanies the BBC television history of Ireland. His short fiction has appeared in the Stinging Fly, Tangerine, and other journals; and in Queer Love, an anthology edited by Paul McVeigh. Neil is co-editor with Nora Hickey M’Sichili of the essay collection Impermanence, which was adapted for radio by RTE.

Neil lives in Dublin.

Brighton-born Katie Jacques is a music graduate from Cork School of Music. She has performed in a wide range of musicals and was a member of Sylvia's Not well - an all-woman band. She also performs solo and she teaches music with Music Generation and at St Leo's School in Carlow.

Nithy Kasa is a Congolese-Irish poet whose work is featured on the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation website, the University of Galway’s archive, the Special Collections of University College Dublin, Poetry Ireand Review and others. She is among the ten poets selected for Poetry as Commemoration for the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 programme by UCD supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. She's the recipient of I bhFad i gCéin international residencies for Cave Canem by Poetry Ireland, The Arts Council and the Department of Foreign Affairs. She received the Poetry Ireland Commission 2020 and was shortlisted for The Eavan Boland Emerging Poet Award 2021.

Her debut collection of poetry, Palm Wine Tapper and The Boy at Jericho (Doire Press 2022), was selected by the Art Council of Ireland for the read mór for Culture Night Ireland 2022, was listed among the top poetry books of 2022 by The Irish Times, and was shortlisted for the Pigott Poetry Prize 2023. Nithy is also a facilitator registered with the Irish Writers Centre.

Léachtóir le litríocht agus teanga na Gaeilge, Ollscoil Mhá Nuad. Scoláire nualitríochta agus foclóireachta é an Dr Liam Mac Amhlaigh atá ina léachtóir le litríocht agus teanga na Gaeilge in Ollscoil Mhá Nuad. Céimí de chuid an Choláiste Ollscoile, Baile Átha Cliath agus Coláiste na Tríonóide is ea é. Ar na suimeanna taighde atá aige, áirítear litríocht chomhaimseartha na Gaeilge (go háirithe an nuafhilíocht), foclóireacht na Nua-Ghaeilge, léann digiteach na Gaeilge agus stair theanga na Gaeilge san fhichiú haois. Tá mórán foilsithe aige sna réimsí sin, idir leabhair agus ailt.

Rosemary Mac Cabe is a journalist, writer and podcast host from Dublin, Ireland. She has written for publications including The Irish Times, Irish Independent, Irish Tatler, IMAGE, Irish Country Magazine, STELLAR and more. Her work was featured in the mental health anthology You, Me & Everyone We Know, published by Inspire Ireland. Rosemary has over 43k followers on Instagram and hosts a successful podcast with her sister: Not Without My Sister. Rosemary lives in Indiana, US with her husband and sons. This Is Not About You is her first book.

Is scríbhneoir é Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin a bhfuil réímse leathan seánraí saothraithe aige, ina measc ficsean, neamhfhicsean, drámaíocht teilifisé agus amhráin. Is iomaí sin gradam aitheantais atá tuillte ag a shaothar, ina measc Irish Book Award, glac gradam IFTA, Gradam Uí Shúilleabháin, Gradam Réics Carló agus an White Raven, liosta gradamúil de litríocht na cruinne a roghnaíonn an International Children’s Library, Munich gach bliain. Bronnadh Aitheantas Speisialta ar a úrscéal, Madame Lazare, ag Gradam Litríochta an Aontais Eorpaigh, 2022. Tá a shaothar aistrithe go forleathan san Eoraip, san Áise agus i Meiriceá Theas.

Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin is a writer and editor of fiction, non-fiction, television drama and songs, for both adults and children. His work has been recognised by the Gradam Uí Shúilleabháin Award, (Irish-language Book of the Year), an Irish Book Award and three consecutive IFTA Awards. He is a White Raven honouree, awarded by the International Youth Library in Munich. His novel, Madame Lazare, was awarded a Special Mention by the 2022 jury of the European Union Prize for Literature. His work has been translated to a range of languages in Asia, Europe and Latin America.

John MacKenna is the author of twenty-three books; a dozen stage plays and a number of radio plays. He is a winner of The Irish Times; Hennessy and C Day Lewis awards for literature and a WorldPlay Award and a Jacobs award for his radio plays and documentaries. He teaches creative writing at Maynooth University and The Hedge School on the Moone. His latest book is Absent Friend, a memoir of his friendship with Leonard Cohen.

Is as Baile Átha Cliath ó dhúchas Nuala Mac Lochlainn ach bhí cónaí uirthi i nDoire agus i dTír Chonaill sular shocraigh sé i Nás na Ríogh. Tógadh í i gclann dhá- theangach, ceolmhar.D’fhoghlaim sí go leor óna máthair Fionnuala - ámhránaí í féin a rinne céirníní le Gael Linn. Ina cuid ama i nDoire chuir Nuala go leor amhráin le Raidió Uladh agus bhí sí an-ghníomhach i gCiorcal Amhránaíochta na Feabhal. Le déanaigh tá sí tar éis titim i ngrá - arís - leis na sean-ámhráin agus baineann sí sult mór as iad a cheol timpeall na háite.

“Is iad siúd atá i gcumhacht a scríobhann an stair, agus iad siúd atá ag fulaingt ag scríobhann na hámhráinn” (Frank Harte)

Nuala Mac Lochlainn is from Dublin but lived in Derry and Donegal before she settled in Naas. She was raised in a bilingual, musical family. She learned a lot from her mother Fionnuala — a singer herself who recorded songs with Gael Linn. In her time in Derry, Nuala contributed songs to BBC Radio Ulster and she was very active in the Foyle Folk Club. Recently she has fallen in love — again — with the old songs and she really enjoys performing them around the area.

“Those in power write the history, those who suffer write the songs” (Frank Harte).

Roe McDermott is a writer, journalist, and Fulbright scholar with an MA in Journalism; an MA in Sexuality Studies from San Francisco State University, where she wrote a thesis on Irish women’s experiences of abortion; and an MFA in Creative Writing from UCD, where her creative thesis was supervised by Booker award winning writer Anne Enright. Roe has taught in SFSU, UCD and the Irish Writers Centre. Roe is also a columnist for The Irish Times, the film editor for Hot Press magazine, and has carved out as a career as a public intellectual in Ireland, frequently contributing to national discussions on culture and politics. Roe's creative non-fiction essays have been published in The Rumpus, The Coven, and Khora, and in 2020, Roe was awarded the Irish Arts Council’s Next Generation Artist Award for Literature. Her first essay collection exploring trauma, gender and culture is due for release in 2023.

Belfast-born but raised in Kildare, Maria McDonald has always been an avid reader who only discovered her passion for writing fiction after early retirement. Since then, her short stories and articles have been published in Woman’s Way and Ireland’s Own, as well as numerous anthologies: Intermissions, Grattan Street Press Melbourne; Same page anthology, UCC; Fragments of Time, Amber Publishers.

Maria is a founder member of Ink Tank Writing Group, based in Newbridge library and contributed to their anthologies, Timeless in Kildare and Let me tell you something.

While writing short stories Maria was also working on compiling her family tree. She was intrigued by the story of her great-grandfather, Charlie McMullen, who lived and died during the Home Rule Campaign. A Protestant married to a Catholic, he was shot by the B Specials in February 1922 and died from his injuries. His eldest son fought with the Royal Irish Rifles and was injured in the Battle of the Somme while his youngest son, Ernie supported the IRA and joined the Irish National Army in 1923 in support of Michael Collins.

In 2018 she published, Charlie Mac, the fictionalised biography about her great grandfather, which sparked her interest in historical fiction. Maria continued to write but concentrated on historical fiction. In April 2022 she was offered a two-book contract with Bloodhound Books UK. The Devils Own was published in January 2023 and Tangled Webs in September 2023. Maria has signed a contract for another novel to be released in Spring 2024.

Murt (Martin) Malone is a seasoned writer with 15 books, several radio plays, 20 broadcast short stories, and a stage play. His awards include the RTE Francis MacManus Short Story Award, The Killarney International Short Story Prize and the Inaugural Cecil Day Lewis Literary Award. His print work includes Thames & Hudson UK, Scribner UK, Stand UK, Bridport Prize UK, Poolbeg Press, New Island, Doire Press, Owl Fella’s Press and national and provincial newspapers, The Sunday Times, and Daily Mirror. Radio features: The Ryan Tubridy Show, Arena, Sunday Miscellany, Lyric FM, Newstalk, Today FM…TV: RTE 1, TV 3.

Murt holds a Masters degree (Distinction) in the Philosophy of Creative Writing from Trinity College. His short story Bone Deep is currently on the literary programme at San Jose State University, California and at several colleges in Denmark. He was Editorial Consultant for FISH Publishing, and more recently taught English to war refugees from Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. His body of work includes novels, a novella, and short stories drawn from his experiences of his UN service in Iraq and Lebanon. After Kafra deals with PTSD and was optioned by RTE TV, while The Broken Cedar was optioned by a UK film company in 2022. His story Valley of the Peacock Angel was nominated for The Sunday Times EFG Short Story Prize, inspired by his experiences of quite literally drawing the short straw for a patrol through the town of Halabja, where over 5,000 perished in a chemical weapon attack…"

Judith Mok, Dublin-based classical soprano who has toured the world, leading voice coach, novelist and poet, was born in the Netherlands to Jewish survivors of the Holocaust trying to rebuild their shattered lives. Despite the constant presence of the past in silences and whispered conversations Judith had little information on the hundreds of her family members who died in the camps. The State of Dark is a memoir and detective story.

At one point in her career, she worked with the great German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. It was only years later that she discovered the full extent of Schwarzkopf ’s collaboration with the Nazi regime. Not only was she a long-time member of the National Socialist Party, but was also the mistress of Hans Frank, the notorious ‘Butcher of Poland’. Later, Mok would discover that Schwarzkopf had been entertaining German troops in Poland while 163 members of Judith's family were being murdered in Auschwitz and Sobibor. Over 100,000 Jews from Holland were killed in the Nazi camps, including the diarist Anne Frank, who befriended Judith's aunt Saar in Auschwitz in 1944.

A chance phone call made from her Dublin home in 2017 leads to Judith's discovery in shocking and intimate detail the terrible fate of her family. The State of Dark is a moving, beautifully-written memoir of a Second Generation survivor, as the Holocaust continues to be a living issue in European life and culture, including in Ireland.

Kathleen Murray was born in Carlow and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. She has published work in The Stinging Fly, Dublin Review, Winter Papers and various anthologies. She was the first Irish winner of the Fish Short Story Prize and was a finalist for the Davy Byrnes Short Story Award for her story Storm Glass. The Deadwood Encore, her first novel, was published by Harper Collins in 2022. Set in Carlow, it tells the story of Frank Whelan, a seventh son of a seventh son, and his journey of self-discovery.

Annemarie Ní Churreáin is a poet from the Donegal Gaeltacht. Her books include Bloodroot (Doire Press, 2017) and The Poison Glen (The Gallery Press, 2021). She is a recipient of the Arts Council’s Next Generation Artist Award and a co-recipient of The Markievicz Award.

The Yale Review has reported that Ní Churreáin “often captures a whole world of cultural and historical implications in a single, simple, but metaphorically rich image”. Ní Churreáin has received fellowships and awards from the Jack Kerouac House (Florida), Centre Culturel Irlandais (Paris) and Akademie Schloss Solitude (Germany). Ní Churreáin is the 2022-23 Decade of Centenaries Artist in Residence at Donegal County Archives Service. She is Guest Editor of Poetry Ireland Review Issue 140.

File, drámadóir agus scríbhneoir do dhaoine óga í Áine Ní Ghlinn. Tá 36 leabhar scríofa aici - pictiúrleabhair, drámaí do pháistí, scéalta & úrscéalta do léitheoirí óga agus do dhéagóirí, cnuasaigh filíochta do pháistí agus do dhaoine fásta. Ainmníodh í mar an séú Laureate na nÓg, 2020-2023.

Áine Ní Ghlinn is a poet and children’s writer. She has written thirty-six books, including picture books for very young readers, stories and novels for children and teenagers, poetry collections for children and adults. She was named as Ireland’s sixth Laureate na nÓg, 2020-2023.

Ceoltóir, amhránaí agus scoláire idirdhisciplíneach is ea an tOllamh Tríona Ní Shíocháin go bhfuil suim ar leithligh aici i dtaibhealaíona agus i dtraidisiúin bhéil na Gaelainne, sa cheol traidisiúnta, sa chleachtas cruthaitheach, i mbanfhilí na Gaelainne, agus i stair na smaointeoireachta mar a léirítear dúinn í in amhránaíocht agus i bhfilíocht na Gaelainne. Ceapadh í ina hOllamh le Nua-Ghaeilge agus le Taibhealaíona in Ollscoil Mhá Nuad in 2021. Roimis sin do bhí sí ina Ceann Roinne agus ina Léachtóir le Ceol Gaelach i Roinn an Cheoil i gColáiste na hOllscoile, Corcaigh, agus roimis sin arís do bhí sí ina Léachtóir le Gaeilge in Ollscoil Luimnigh, áit inar chaith sí roinnt blianta mar Cheann Léann na Gaeilge. Do foilsíodh Bláth ’s Craobh na nÚdar: Amhráin Mháire Bhuí (2012) léi; in 2018, Singing Ideas: Performance, Politics, and Oral Poetry (Berghahn, 2018), agus in 2019 do foilsíodh cnuasach aistí dar teideal Ní Insint Dán ach Bheith: Aistí ar Smaointeoireacht an Ríordánaigh (An Sagart, Foilsitheoirí) i gcomhpháirt leis an Dr. Ríona Ní Churtáin, UCC. Tá saineolas ar leithligh ag Tríona i Léann an Taibhléirithe, agus tá suim mhór aici i gcleachtais chruthaitheacha na béalaireachta agus i bhforbairt an taighde ealaíonta sa Ghaelainn.

Katherine O'Donnell was born in Cork and worked briefly as a journalist before going to Boston College on a Fulbright Scholarship. She has been an activist since her college days in UCC, being involved in a number of campaigns, most notably the 'Justice for Magdalenes' campaign. She is Associate Professor for the History of Ideas in University College Dublin and has published extensively in the history of the Irish Enlightenment and the history of gender and sexuality. Slant is her first novel. She is also the co-author of Ireland's Magdalene Laundries: A Campaign for Justice and editor of several works on the Magdalene Laundries and Gender Studies.

Peadar Ó Guilín is the author of the young adult novel The Call, inspired by the natural beauty of Donegal where he grew up. The Invasion, a sequel to The Call and the end of the duology, was published in March 2018.

Peadar’s first novel, The Inferior, was described by the Times Educational Supplement as “a stark, dark tale, written with great energy and confidence and some arresting reflections on human nature." It has been translated into eight languages, including Japanese and Korean. His fantasy and science fiction short stories have appeared in Black Gate magazine and an anthology celebrating the best of the iconic Weird Tales.

Ed O’Loughlin was born in Canada and grew up in Oghill, a townland between Kildare and Monasterevin. He was educated in Kildare Town at the De La Salle National School and Saint Joseph’s Academy, and later at Trinity College Dublin, where he studied English and French.

A graduate of the DCU journalism programme, he worked as a sub editor and news reporter for The Irish Times, Sunday Business Post, Dublin Tribune and Sunday Tribune. In 1994 he became Africa correspondent of The Irish Times, based in Johannesburg, an experience which formed the basis for his Booker Prize long-listed first novel, Not Untrue and Not Unkind (2009).

In 2002 he was appointed Jerusalem correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age of Melbourne, and spent five and a half years covering the middle east region, including the Israel/Palestine conflict and the invasion of Iraq, as well as Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Lebanon. His time in the Gaza Strip inspired a second novel, Toploader, a satire on modern conflict.

Returning to Ireland in 2008, he wrote Minds of Winter, a multi-generational polar mystery story which was longlisted for the Sir Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction and shortlisted for Canada’s Giller Prize. In 2021 he published This Eden, a literary thriller about technology and money featuring a daring young female spy from, as it happens, rural Kildare. The following year saw the publication of The Last Good Funeral of the Year, a memoir, dealing in part with his youth in Ireland. He now lives in Dublin with his wife and two daughters, and contributes to The Economist and The New York Times.

The poet, translator, critic, screenwriter and commentator, Michael O’Loughlin was born in Dublin in 1958. His poetry collections include Stalingrad: The Street Dictionary (1980), Another Nation (1996), In This Life (2011), Poems 1980-2015 (2017) and Liberty Hall(2021). He has lived in Barcelona (where he first met his wife, writer and soprano Judith Mok); in Amsterdam and, since 2002, has lived in Dublin. From the youthful collections which ushered in a new urban aesthetic in Irish poetry, to his later explorations of European history and identity, O’Loughlin has earned a reputation as one of Ireland’s most important poets, whose work has an exceptionally strong international outlook and a fierce dedication to social and historical justice.

Rick O’Shea is a broadcaster with RTE - currently on RTE Gold. He has previously been a presenter on RTE2FM and has presented The Book Show on RTE Radio 1. He runs Ireland’s largest book club, The Rick O’Shea Book Club on Facebook, and hosts public author interviews at festivals all around the country. He also chooses the Eason Must Reads lists 4 times a year. Rick has been literary curator for the UCD Festival since 2020 and has previously been curator of the Waterford Writers Weekend.

He has presented the International Dublin Literary Award ceremony, CBI Book Of The Year Awards, RTE Francis McManus Short Story Competition Ceremony and has co-presented the Irish Book Awards on RTE One TV. He is part of the voting academy for the An Post Irish Book Awards and has been a judge for the Bookseller UK and Ireland Young Adult Book Prize, the Costa Book Awards, Dublin Fringe Theatre Festival, and judging chair at the Dalkey Literary Awards.

He is patron of Epilepsy Ireland and is a member of the board of Fighting Words NI.

Dr. Katriona O’Sullivan is a psychologist and memoirist. Her first book, Poor, debuted at #1 on the Irish Non-Fiction bestseller list. The book, a memoir of growing up in extreme poverty, describes the far-reaching impact of childhood poverty. As one of 5 children in a home shaped by her parents' heroin addiction, Katriona's story chronicles her journey from poverty, teenage pregnancy, homelessness to graduating with a PhD from Trinity College Dublin and becoming an award-winning lecturer whose work challenges barriers to education. Poor is her stirring argument for the importance of looking out for our kids' futures. Of giving them hope, practical support and meaningful opportunities. Katriona has presented her work to the UN and at the World Education Forum, she has worked with Irish policy makers to develop policies around education and inclusion.

Is file, drámadóir, údar agus aistritheoir é Tristan Rosenstock. Bhain sé céim amach sa Nua & Luath-Ghaeilge i gColáiste na Tríonóide agus ina dhiaidh sin ghnóthaigh sé céim MA i gCúrsaí Teilifíse & Scannán i gColáiste Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath. Blianta caite aige mar chraoltóir teilifíse agus raidió. Bhuaigh clár ómóis do Seamus Heaney a chuir sé i láthair duais IFTA agus bhuaigh clár raidió faoi shaothar Gaeilge Bhreandán Uí Bheacháin a léirigh sé duais PPI. Léirigh sé ceirnín filíochta dar teideal Fuil ar an Rós a bhí mar chuid de chomóradh 1916. Tá an domhan siúlta aige i dteannta an ghrúpa Téada. Tá sé ag obair anois mar Eagarthóir liteartha ar Comhar.

Born in Limerick. He is a writer/director. His film work includes Guiltrip, About Adam, Ordinary Decent Criminal, Nora (co-written with Pat Murphy), and Alarm. He has also written for television, The Truth about Claire and Black Day at Black Rock. Theatre plays include, Love Child, The Gay Detective and That Was Then. He is well- known for his radio work with Dermot Morgan (Scrap Saturday). He has published five novels: According to Luke, Counting Down, Unspoken, The Effect of Her and What She Saw.

Declan Toohey was born in Scotland and grew up in Kilcock, County Kildare. His work has appeared in Channel, The Irish Times and the Irish Independent, among other outlets. An MFA graduate of University College Dublin, he is the recipient of an Agility Award and a Literature Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland. Perpetual Comedown is his first novel.

Is as Nás í muintir Uí Mhórdha: Aoibhín, Ruben, Margot, Isabelle agus Daid Pascal. Tá siad ag seinm ceoil ó bhí siad ina bpáistí óga agus d’fhás siad aníos i dteach lán le ceol. Tá siad ina mbaill den Chomhaltas áitiúil, Kilteel Eadestown, agus d'fhoghlaim siad ó chuid de na múinteoirí is fearr sa tír. Tá siad chun ceol traidisiúnta na hÉireann a sheinm dúinn ar an oíche. Seinneann an teaghlach an fheadóg mhór, an fhidil, an bosca ceoil cnaipe agus an chláirseach.

The Uí Mórdha family: Aoibhín, Ruben, Margot, Isabelle and Dad Pascal are from Naas. They have been playing music since they were toddlers and have grown up in a house full of music. They are members of the local Comhaltas, Kilteel Eadestown, and have learnt from some of the best teachers around the country. They are going to play traditional Irish music for us on the night. The family play the flute, the fiddle, the button accordion and the harp.

Sophie White is a writer and podcaster from Dublin. Her first four books, Recipes for a Nervous Breakdown (Gill, 2016), Filter This (Hachette, 2019), Unfiltered (Hachette, 2020) and The Snag List (Hachette, 2022), have been bestsellers and award nominees, and have been described by Marian Keyes as "such fun – gas, clever stuff", by Louise O’Neill as "compulsively readable". Her fifth book, the bestselling memoir Corpsing (Tramp Press, 2021), was shortlisted for an Irish Book Award and the Michel Déon Prize for non-fiction. Her second book for Tramp Press, Where I End, won the 2023 Shirley Jackson Award.

Sophie writes a weekly column Nobody Tells You for the Sunday Independent LIFE magazine and she has been nominated for Journalist of the Year at the Irish Magazine Awards, Columnist of the Year at the Irish Newspaper Awards and for a Special Recognition Award at the Headline Mental Health Media Awards. TV adaptations of her first two novels are in development and she is co-hosts of the chart-topping comedy podcasts Mother of Pod and The Creep Dive.

Sophie lives in Dublin with her husband and three sons.

Enda Wyley was born in Dún Laoghaire, Co. Dublin and has published six collections of poetry, with Dedalus Press: The Painter on his Bike (2019), Borrowed Space, New and Selected Poems (2014), To Wake to This (2009), Poems for Breakfast (2004), Socrates in the Garden (1998) and Eating Baby Jesus (1993).

Awards include the Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize, Melbourne University and she is a recipient of a Katherine and Patrick Kavanagh Fellowship for Poetry. Enda has been widely broadcast, translated and anthologised, including in The Harvard Anthology of Modern Irish Poetry and If Ever You Go (One City, One Book, Dublin).

She has been poet-in-residence for many projects and institutions including: The Coombe Maternity Hospital, Dublin, and The People’s Acorn, a sculpture project for Áras an Uachtaráin.

Enda’s books for children from O’Brien Press are Boo and Bear, I Won’t Go to China! and The Silver Notebook. Her poetry for children has been included in anthologies such as Something Beginning with P (O’Brien Press), and Once Upon A Place, edited by Eoin Colfer, Little Island.

Enda is an avid reader and reviewer of fiction. She has been a 2021 judge for the International Dublin Literary Award. She co-hosts with poet Peter Sirr the popular podcast Books for Breakfast, about books and writing and is often a guest talking about poetry on Arena, RTÉ Radio 1. In March 2023, for International Women’s Day, she was listed in The Irish Times as one of the ‘Seventy Women Who’ve Shaped Irish Culture.’ She is a member of Aosdána, the Irish academy of artists.