Colbert Kearney:
was born in Dublin and educated at UCD and Cambridge University where he wrote a thesis on British Romanticism. He is Professor of Modern English at UCC where he teaches mainly Anglo-Irish Literature and Shakespeare. He has had one novel, The Consequence, published and is finishing another.

Edel O'Brien:
comes from Kilrush, Co. Clare. At the age of 19 she won the Margaret Burke-Sheridan Cup at the Dublin Feis Ceoil. She graduated with an Honours Masters Degree in Music and Performance from the NUI, Maynooth. In London, she won a scholarship to study at Trinity College of Music. In 2002 she was one of seven singers out of a total of 200 applicants to be accepted on the Young Artists Programme at the Centre de Formation at the Opera Bastille, Opera National de Paris. While there, she won the Prix Lyrique.

Louis de Paor:
born in Cork in 1961, and has been involved with the contemporary renaissance of poetry in Irish since 1980 when he was first published in the poetry journal Innti which he subsequently edited for a time. A four times winner of the Seán Ó Ríordáin/Oireachtas Award. His first bilingual collection, Aimsir Bhreicneach/Freckled Weather was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Award for Literary Translation. A bilingual collection Ag greadadh bas sa reilig/Clapping in the cemetery was published by Cló Iar-Chonnachta in Autumn 2005.

Dr. Pat Bracken:
trained in medicine and psychiatry in Cork before taking up a post with the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture in 1987. He has also worked as a consultant with the organization Save The Children in Sierra Leone, Liberia and most recently in Nepal. His books include Rethinking the Trauma of War (1998), Trauma: Culture, Meaning and Philosophy (2002) and his latest book Postpsychiatry: Mental Health in a Postmodern World, co written with Phil Thomas, is to be published by Oxford University Press in February 2006. He currently holds the position of Clinical Director in West Cork since 2004.

Subhadassi:
was born in Huddersfield in 1967. After graduating from Notthingham University with a degree in Chemistry, he was ordained into the Western Buddhist order in 1992 and shortly afterwards established the Newcastle Buddhist Centre in the North East of England. Since 1998 he has concentrated his time on writing and has published a chapbook of poems Sublunary Voodoo and a full length poetry collection Peeled (2004). He currently lives in Northumberland where he divides his time between his own writing and working as a freelance writer.

Mannix Flynn:
Gerard Mannix Flynn was born in Dublin in 1957. His play He Who laughs Wins, was performed by the Paine's Plough Theatre Company in London. He collaborated with Peter Sheridan in the writing of The Liberty Suit and also appeared in the play. His novel is Nothing to Say. His one-man plays which he wrote and starred in are Talking to the Wall; and James X . Nothing to Say is re-published, along with James X, by The Lilliput Press, Dublin, 2003. He is a member of Aosdána and in 2004 was appointed to the board of IMMA by Minister John O'Donoghue.

Bill Whelan:
composer of Riverdance The Show, has worked extensively in theatre, television and film. His orchestral works include the specially commissioned piece, The Seville Suite (1992) and The Spirit Of Mayo (1993). His work in international film includes Lamb which he co-composed with Van Morrison, the score for the Jim Sheridan/Terry George film Some Mother's Son and the original score for the film version of Brian Friel's award winning Dancing At Lughnasa. He recently composed the musical score for the critically acclaimed Irish history television documentary, The Seven Ages, produced and directed by Sean O Mordha. He won the 1997 Grammy Award for 'Best Musical Show Album' for the Riverdance CD.

Eibhear Walshe:
Dr Walshe lectures on Anglo-Irish literature, Shakespeare, the 19th century novel to undergraduate level, and teaches a postgraduate course on Wilde in UCC. His research interests lie in the area of Modern Irish Literature, with particular interest in John Banville, Tom Murphy, Kate O'Brien, Elizabeth Bowen, Shaw, Wilde, Teresa Deevy, Micheal MacLiammoir, George Moore. More generally he has published in the area of Irish Lesbian and Gay Writing, and is completing a biography of Kate O'Brien, which will be published at the 2006 Kate O'Brien Weekend.

John Horgan:
is enjoying a life long fascination with music. He was a member of the government appointed "Piano" group which examined the role of the RTE Orchestras. He is currently a member of the Board of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. Describing himself as a dilettante in musical matters, John is a former Chairman of the Labour Court and now earns his living as a Human Resource Consultant.

Judith Hill:
is an architectural historian and a writer. She is the author of The Building of Limerick (Cork and Dublin 1991), Irish Public Sculpture (Dublin 1998), and Lady Gregory: An Irish Life which was published by Sutton Publishing last September.

Dorothy Cross:
was born in 1956 in Cork. Cross' work employs sculpture, video, photography, performance and installation often in unexpected combinations. In 1999, she completed Chiasm, a combination of film projection and live opera performed in two handball alleys overlooking Galway Bay. Also in 1999, Cross was awarded the Nissan Public Art Prize, resulting in her production of Ghost Ship - a luminescent ship temporarily moored in Dublin's Dun Loaghaire Harbour. Recent exhibitions throughout Europe and the US include Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb; Orchard Gallery, Derry; Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; Artpace, San Antonio; McMullen Museum of Art, Boston; and Center for the Arts, San Francisco. Cross has also taken part in the Venice, Istanbul and Liverpool biennials.

Colette Davis:
has been Musical Director to Bunratty & Knappogue and Dungaire Castles. She is currently Musical Director of the Voices of Limerick and is well know as an accompanist to many of Ireland's leading singers.