Alphabetical Listing of Participants
A | B | C
| D | E
| F | G
| H | I | J | K
| L | M
| N | O
| P | Q
| R | S
| T | U | V | W
| X | Y | Z
A
B
Ivana Bacik [2004]
Ivana Bacik is a practising barrister in Dublin and Reid Professor
of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology at Trinity College
Dublin. She is co-author of 'Abortion and
the Law' (1997) and co-editor (with Michael O'Connell]
of 'Crime and Poverty in Ireland'
(1998). She is a feminist activist and a Labour Party candidate
for Dublin in the European elections in June 2004.
Siobhán Barry [2008]
A native of Cork, graduate of UCC and TCD,a Consultant Psychiatrist
and Clinical Director of The Cluain Mhuire Service, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, she has written What Everybody Needs to Know
about Cannabis [2006] and The High Rates of Suicide
in Ireland [2006]. A founder member of the Irish Psychiatric
Association [1999] she is their Public Relations Officer. She
co-edited Understanding Mental Health [2006].
Eileen Battersby [2005]
Staff journalist and Literary Correspondent of The
Irish Times, three times National Arts Journalist of
the Year; reviews fiction, covers Arts, writes about archaeology,
history, heritage and environmental issues.
John Bird [2008]
Born to a London –Irish family n 1947, he was an orphan, thief,
inmate, artist and poet before becoming a successful small businessman
in the late 1980’s. He then became Founder and Editor -in-Chief
of The Big Issue in 1991, to help the homeless
help themselves. The UN Scroll of Honour, an MBE and the 2005/6
Beacon prize for Creative Giving are just three of the many
awards he has received. He has written his autobiography
Some Luck, and in March 2007 he wrote a bestseller:
How to change your life in 7 steps. He has recently
remarried for the third time and has five children.
Sinéad Blanchfield [1999]
born in Kilkenny, Sinead has a B.A. (Hons) in Music and a postgraduate
Dip.Ed from TCD. She continued her vocal training at the Royal
Northern College of Music in Manchester, and graduated with
the conservatoires highest award in performance -the PPRNCM
Diploma. She performed extensively on the concert and opera
platform here and in the UK including the Oratorio and Recital
repertoire and has recorded for TV and Radio. Her next engagement
is a concert series with OTC and the London Baroque Sinfonia.
Dr. Pat Bracken [2006]
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.
Collette Boushell [2004]
began singing at the age of seven in St.Michael's Church Children's
Choir in Dun Laoghaire. Having studied Piano and Violin, she
began formal vocal training with Deirdre Grier-Delaney in 1997.
She has won the Margaret Burke Sheridan and Gervase Elwes Cups
and the Cait Lanigan Cooper Bursary. Her oratorio repertoire
includes Mozart's Requiem, Handel's
Messiah, Bach's Christmas
Oratorio and many cantatas. Collette has participated
in masterclasses with Sarah Walker, Torn Krause, Paul Hamburger
and Bernadette Greevy.
Conor Bowman [2008]
A Barrister, married with four children and a dodgy Mondeo he
is the author of Wasting by Degrees. His interests
include collecting books and autographs, and his ambition is
to live long enough to cheat the pension company.
Olive Braiden [2004]
was director of the Rape Crisis Centre for ten years. She has
been involved in campaigns for legislative reforms in the area
of Women's rights. In 2003 she was appointed Chair of the Arts
Council. She is a Human Rights Commissioner, a board member
of the Courts Services and the Judicial Appointments Advisory
Board, and is Chair of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency.
Ivor Browne [2005]
is Professor Emeritus, University College, Dublin, having retired
in 1994. He was formerly Professor of Psychiatry at the University
College, Dublin; Chief Psychiatrist of the Eastern Health Board.
He is a preceptor of the Sarg Marg system of meditation which
he has practiced since 1978. Browne has published many books
and articles as An Experiment with a Psychiatric
Night Hospital (1960); Psychiatry
in Ireland (1963); The Dilemma of
the Human Family: a cycle of growth and decline (1966);
Thomas Murphy: The Madness of Genius(1987),
How does Psychotherapy Work? (1989),
Psychological Trauma, or Unexperienced Experience
(1990).
Patricia Byrne [2005]
A native of Mayo, she was employed at Shannon Development for
20 years in various economic and enterprise activities. She
was Chief Executive of the National Technology Park at Plassey
and on the Senior Management Team in Shannon Development as
Director of Knowledge Enterprise. She recently retired to pursue
writing, teaching and consulting interests.
C
Derek Cahill [1999]
has a BA in History and Politics from UCD. He taught at Sierra
Leone, West Africa for two years and in Algeria for a year;
more recently has spent a year teaching in the University of
Bratislava in Slovakia.
Carmen Callil
[1996]
born in Melbourne of Irish Lebanese parentage;
1959: BA In Eng Lit & History, Melbourne University.
1960: moved to London; during her time as publicity manager
for Granada Publishing she was involved in projects The
Female Eunuch & Henri Charrier's Papillon.
1972: founded Virago; initiated the Virago
Modern Classic series which included the authors Margaret
Atwood, Antonia White, Rosamund Lehmann & Kate O'Brien.
1979-1984: member of Booker Prize committee.
1982-1994: managing director of Chatto & Windus & The Hogarth
Press.
1995: resigned as chairman of Virago
She is a member of the board of Channel 4 TV and a fellow of
The Royal Society of Arts.
Sínead Campbell [2002]
has a B.Mus. Performance Degree, with Mary Brennan and coach
Mairead Hurley. She has won many vocal competitions in the Feis
Ceoil and was a finalist in the RTE Millennium Singer of the
Future Competition (2000). Her operatic roles include 'Flora'
in La Traviata with Lyric Opera Company
(2001), 'Pamina' in The Magic Flute
with Opera Theatre Company (2001).
Ciaran Carson [2004]
was born and lives in Belfast. He worked in the Arts Council
of Northern Ireland from 1975-1998. In October 2003 he was appointed
Professor of Poetry and Director of the Seamus Heaney Centre
at Queen's University, Belfast. He is the author of nine collections
of poems and four prose books.
Catriona Clear [1998]
was educated at the Presentation Convent, Sexton Street, Limerick.
She lectures in 19th and 20thC history in University College
Galway. Among her publications are research on nuns in 19thC
Ireland, women's work in 20thC Ireland and homelessness and
poverty in the same period.
Mary Coll [2000]
[2008]
is a poet, writer, critic and broadcaster. She contributes to
programmes on RTE Radio One and Lyric Fm on Theatre, Visual
Arts and írish Arts in general. She was awarded an MA in modern
English for her thesis on The Social Environment in the
Works of Kate O'Brien. Caroline Considine in Without
My Cloak is her favourite O’Brien character.
Bob Collins [2000]
is Director General of Ireland's national broadcasting organisation,
RTE, to which he was appointed in April 1997. He was a member
of the interim Authority for the Irish language television service
Telifís na Gaeilge.
Evelyn Conlon [1998]
was born in Co. Monaghan in 1952. She has lived in Australia
and has travelled extensively in Asia, America and Europe. A
fiction writer and reviewer, her short stories have been anthologised
in Ireland, Britain, France, Canada and the USA, Her short story
collections include My Head is Opening
and Taking Scarlet as a Real Colour;
novels are Stars in the Daytime and
A Glassful of Letters to be published
by Blackstaff in March 1998. She is a regular commentator on
the arts on national radio.
Terry
Corcoran [2007]
from Drogheda studied economics in UCD from 1970-75. He worked
in the Department of Labour from 1977, in the Youth Employment
Agency (1982-88) and has been with FÁS since 1988, where he
is Director of Corporate Governance and Internal Audit. He has
consulted on employment and training services for international
organisations and governments in Eastern Europe, the Balkans
and Africa. He worked with the EU Commission (1999-2001) on
employment-policy aspects of the accession of the 10 new member
states.
Patricia Coughlan [1997]
[1996]
lectures in the Dept. of English, University College Cork.
Carol Coulter [2003]
From County Sligo, studied English at under- and post-graduate
level in Trinity College, Dublin, by which she was awarded a
PhD. Since then she has worked as a journalist. She is the author
of a number of books and essays on feminism and social affairs,
and works as Legal Affairs Correspondent with The Irish Times.
Dorothy
Cross [2006]
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.
Doreen Curran [1996]
a mezzo soprano in her final year of B.Mus.Perf. course in the
College of Music, Dublin, she is studying with Anne-Marie O'Sullivan
and won the College gold medal in 1995. She is working with
the Opera Theatre Company and has appeared in Monteverdi's 'Orfeo'.
Michael Curtin [1997]
was born in Limerick and has produced a number of novels. The
Self Made Men appeared in 1980 and was followed by The
Replay (1981), The League Against
Christmas (1989) and The Plastic
Tomato Cutter (1991). His latest novel The
Cove Shivering Club was published in 1996. He lives and
works in Limerick.
D
Colette Davis [2006]
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.
Eamon Delaney [2002]
is an author and a journalist and lives in Dublin. An
Accidental Diplomat, a best-selling account of his time
in the Irish Foreign Service was published last year. He is
also the author The Casting of O'Shaughnessy,
a blackly comic novel about art and history, due to be published
this June. He is at present developing a screenplay The
Sharing of The Green, about the Irish American community.
María de la Cinta Ramblado Minero
[1998]
born in Spain in 1971 Maria graduated with a degree in English
Philology from the University of Huelva, Spain. After finishing
her degree as an Erasmus student in the University of Limerick,
where her interest in Kate O'Brien awoke, she spent a year as
a foreign language assistant in Northern Ireland, a time she
also devoted to the reading of Kate O'Brien's novels. At the
moment she is a postgraduate student in the Department of Languages
and Cultural Studies at the University of Limerick, where she
is striving toward a PhD degree in Comparative Literature.
Louis de Paor [2006]
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.
Eoin Devereux [1999]
a Limerick born Media Sociologist, Eoin Devereux was educated
at NUI Galway and DCU. He has worked as a researcher on RTE
Radio and as a regular commentator on Network 2's
Later with John Kelly. He has published Devils
and Angels: Television, Ideology and the Coverage of Poverty
(1998) and has edited a collection of Seamus O'Cinneide's
journalism entitled Last Word by The Listener
(1999). He lectures in sociology at University of Limerick.
Nuala Ní Dhómhnaill [2005]
[2007]
Born in the North of England; she was raised in Ventry (Dingle
Gaeltacht) Co. Kerry from the age of five and is one of Ireland's
best poets. Among her books are An Dealg
Droíghín; Féar Suithinseach;
(versions in English by Michael Hartnett) and a full collection
Selected Poems/Rogha Danta. She is
a member of Aosdana, and was editor of Modern Irish Poetry section
of Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing,
Vols. 4 & 5 (2002)
Pat Donlon [2000]
was Director of The National Library of Ireland from 1989 -
1998. Elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 1992. She has served
on council and as Vice President in 1995 and 1 997. She was
appointed to the Heritage Council in 1999. She is currently
Research Fellow in the Faculty of Applied Arts, Dublin Institute
of Technology.
Catherine Donnelly [1996]
worked as a copywriter in advertising for a number of years,
though is now pursuing other areas. She has had a play televised
in RTE's Two Lives series, wrote
a restaurant column for the Sunday Independent
and has a weekly diary in the same paper. She is a board member
of the Rough Magic Theatre and the Gaiety School of Acting.
Emma Donoghue [1996]
an Irish writer based in Cambridge, she has published two novels
Stir Fry and Hood
as well as a history, short stories and essays on Kate O'Brien
and Eva Gore Booth and a section in the forthcoming Field
Day Anthology Volume IV.
Lelia Doolan [1999]
has worked in theatre, television, film and journalism RTE,
the Abbey Theatre, The Irish Press
and other newspapers and publications. She has lived and worked
in Dublin, Belfast and Mayo and moved to south Galway some years
ago where she now freelances as a writer, teacher, film-maker,
gardener and homeopath. She was until recently Chair of Bord
Scannan na hEireann, The Irish Film Board.
Theo Dorgan [2000]
is a poet, editor, broadcaster and Director of Poetry Ireland.
With Noel Duffy he co-edited the recent anthology Watching
The River Flow, a century in Irish poetry. His most recent
publication is Sappho's Daughter,
a book-length poem. He is a member of Aosdana.
Roger Downer [2002]
was born in Belfast and obtained the degrees of BSc and MSc
from Queen's University, before moving to Canada, where he completed
the degree, of PhD at the University of Western Ontario. He
assumed the presidency of the University of Limerick in 1998.
He is also Chair of the Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation,
Vice-Chair of the National Technology Park, Vice-President of
the Hunt Museum and a member of the board of the Irish Peace
Institute.
Hugh Duffy [2001]
Hugh Duffy, S.J., was born in Dublin. He was educated at Belvedere
College, U.C.D., Milltown Park and Columbia University (NY).
After some years teaching in Clongowes Wood College, Crescent
College Comprehensive, Gonzaga College as well as in the United
States, he became Head of the English Department in Mary Immaculate
College, UL.
E
Terry Eagleton
[2001]
Terry Eagleton is Warton Professor of English Literature at
St. Catherine's College, Oxford. A world renowned literary critic,
his many books include Literary Theory :
An Introduction, one of the world's best-selling academic
books. He is also author of the play Saint
Oscar and the novel Saints and Scholars
along with two widely acclaimed studies on Ireland, Heathcliff
and The Great Hunger and Crazy John
and the Bishop.
F
Fergus Finlay [2001]
Worked for three governments from 1982 to 1997 as advisor to
Dick Spring. His account of this experience appeared as Snakes
and Ladders. He is the author of two previous bestsellers
A President with a Purpose, about
Mary Robinson's election and a political thriller A
Cruel Trade. He lives in Dublin with his wife and four
daughters.
Mannix Flynn [2006]
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.
Aishling Foster [1997]
grew up in Ireland where she attended NCAD & UCD. After writing
for advertising and fashion she became a freelance journalist
and broadcaster; she has written plays for Radio 4, The
First Time, a story for young adults and a novel, Safe
in the Kitchen. She lives in London with her husband
and 2 children.
G
Fatima Gailani
[2004]
a lifelong advocate of Women's rights in Afghanistan, she is
one of only seven female commissioners who served on the 35
member Drafting Committee for the new Afghan Constitution. The
Gailani family were forced into exile in 1978. Ms. Gailani was
a spokeswoman for the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan
and the highest ranking woms in the mujahideen, the freedom
fighters battling the Soviet Union during the 1980's. A pioneer
of Islamic women in political leadership her return to Afghanistan
in 2001 was lauded by women throughout the country.
Nicci Gerrard [2002]
is a feature writer and contributing editor on The
Observer. In colaboration with her husband Sean French,
under the pseudonym 'Nicci French', she is a writer of psychological
thrillers. Their works include The Memory
Came, Killing me Softly and Beneath
the Skin. She has four children.
Owen Gilhooly [2007]
Limerick born baritone Owen Gilhooly studied with Jean Holmes
and subsequenyly at the Royal College of Music and National Opera
Studio. He made his début at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden,
singing the Fauré Requiem. Operatic
engagements have included roles for the Royal Dublin Society,
Castleward Opera, Cork Opera 2005, Opera Project, OTC,Dublin,
Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Ireland, Lyric Opera Productions,
Dublin, Savoy Opera, the ENO Studio, and for Scottish Opera and
the Ulster Orchestra. He has broadcast for BBC Radio 2's Friday
Night is Music Night. Most recently, he has sung Joseph
and Polydorus in Berlioz
L'enfance du Christ with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and
Sir Andrew Davis.
Ann Marie Gill [2000]
Mother of 4 daughters, formerly chief executive of the National
Womans Council. Previously in charge of management and employee
development at INTEL, in Leixlip, Co. Kildare. She is now the
Human Resources Director at Genworth Financial Europe.
Victoria Glendinning
[1999]
Award-winning biographer of Trollope, Elizabeth Bowen, Vita
Sackville-West, Edith Sitwell, Rebecca West and most recently
Jonathan Swift, Victoria Glendinning is also a literary critic,
broadcaster and writer on travel and gardening as well as the
author of two novels, The Grown Ups
and Electricity. She has four sons
and lives in London and in West Cork.
H
Hugo Hamilton [2004]
grew up in Dublin speaking Irish and German, wearing lederhosen
and Aran sweaters. He has written five novels and a collection
of short stories. His best known book is The
Speckled People (2003) which tells the story of his German/Irish
childhood in the 1950's.
Eoghan Harris [2005]
is a screenwriter and political columnist with The
Sunday Independent.
James Heaney [1999]
has a BA and an MA in English and Philosophy from Maynooth,
and at present is doing his PhD in TCD, 'Comparative
study of Modern Irish and Spanish Writing'. He lectures
at the Mater Dei Institute of Education in Clonliffe Road, Dublin.
Judith Hill [2006]
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.
Glen Hooper [2004]
is a lecturer in the Dept of English, Mary Immaculate College,
University of Limerick. He is editor of The
Tourist's Gaze and Harriet Martineau's
Letters from Ireland, and co-editor of Ireland
in the Nineteenth Century. His monograph, Stranger
in Ireland is to be published in late 2004.
John Horgan [2008]
Is a co-editor of a newly published book Mapping
Irish Media: Critical Explorations. He has also authored
Broadcasting and Public Life:RTE News and Current Affairs,
1926-1997(2004) and Irish Media: A Critical History
Since 1922 (2001). In August 2007, he was made Ireland's
first Press Ombudsman.
John Horgan
[2006] [2007]
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 a former 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.
I, J
K
Colbert Kearney [2006]
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.
Maeve Kelly [1997]
was born in Dundalk, Her first collection of short stories A
Life of her Own and other Stories was published in 1976.
Her first novel Necessary Treasons
came out in 1985 and was followed by a second, Florrie's
Girls in 1989. Orange Horses
was published in 1990 and Alice in Thunderland
a feminist fairy tale was issued in 1993. She lives and works
near Limerick.
Virginia Kerr [2000]
is one of the most distinguished Irish sopranos of her generation,
equally well know on the operatic stage, concert and oratorio
platform and as a recital ist. She has sung with many of the
world's leading orchestras and she has given masterclasses in
Mexico, Georgia and the USA and is a frequent performer on radio
and television.
Declan Kiberd [1996]
born in Dublin, he took a degree in English and Irish at Trinity
College and holds a doctorate from Oxford. Among his books are
Synge and the Irish language, Men and Feminism
in Modern Literature, Idir Dha Chultúr; his latest book
is Inventing Ireland.
L
Ms Justice Mary Laffoy [2003]
Appointed a judge of the High Court in 1995, having practised
at the Bar, specialising in property law, for twenty four years.
Currently Chairperson of the Commission to Inquire into Child
Abuse, which is conducting a statutory inquiry into child abuse
in institutions.
Ronit Lentin [1997]
Israeli born, has lived in Ireland since 1969. She has published
several novels and a book on Palestinian women in Hebrew. Novels
include Night Train to Mother (Attic
Press), Songs on the Death of Children
(Poolbeg Press 1996). Teaches Sociology and Women's Studies
at TCD and has edited 2 volumes of In from
the Shadows, the UL Women's Studies Collection published
by the University of Limerick.
Mae Leonard [2003]
Originally from Limerick now living in Co. Kildare: Writer,
Writer in Schools/Libraries, Poet and Broadcaster. Winner of
several short story and poetry literary awards including Scottish
International, Francis MacManus, Belmont Prize etc. Publication:
My Home is There, Tarzan
Clancy, Six for Gold. Poetry
collection pending. Working on a text book of children's poetry.
Kathleen Lombard [1998]
born 1962 in Mallow, County Cork. As a mature student she completed
an Arts Degree in English and German in UCC. Last year she completed
an M.Phil in Anglo-Irish Literature in Trinity. During this
course she undertook a major study of Kate O'Brien's Irish based
novels. Her subsequent thesis centred on how these novels reflected
social history in the period 1 850-1 940. She currently works
as a civil servant in the Department of Health in Dublin.
Giulia Lorenzoni [2003]
is a graduate of the University of Bologna, Italy, and has been
PhD student at University College Dublin for the past 4 years.
Her academic background is in English and French Literature
and her current interest is on the representation of the family
in contemporary Irish writing. She has just moved back to Italy
where she teaches English in Modena, Italy.
Terry Lynch [2007]
is a GP and psychotherapist living and working in Limerick.
He qualified from UCC in 1982 and became a GP. By 1997 he became
concerned about certain aspects of health and health care. This
concern culminated in the publication of his book Beyond
Prozac Ireland in 2001, and in Britain in 2004. Terry
Lynch now works exclusively in the field of mental health. He
contributed to A Vision for Change
(2006), a report that forms the basis of mental health policy
for the next 7-10 years in Ireland. He is also a member of the
Independent Monitoring Group for A Vision
for Change (2006-8) and the Irish Health Service Executive's
Expert Advisory Group on Mental Health (2006-8).
Patricia Lysaght [2002]
is a native of Co. Clare and a Professor in the Department of
Irish Folklore, UCD. Her academic background is in Law, the
Classics, Irish Language and Literature, and Irish and European
folklore and ethnology. A major work entitled The
Banshee was published in 1986. Second and American editions
appeared in 1996 and a pocket edition in 1998. Professor Lysaght
participated in the documentary film Talking
to the Dead (2000) and has lectured and published on
aspects of funerary customs and ceremonials.
M
Ciaran MacGonigal [2001]
[1999]
Is currently (2001) Director of the Hunt Museum; was formerly
Director of the RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin. He is, inter
alia, a member of the Board of Governors and Guardians of the
National Gallery of Ireland and was formerly art critic with
The Irish Times and The Irish Independent.
Ciarán MacMathúna [1997]
is a world renowned RTE journalist and broadcaster.
David McWilliams [2008]
writes two weekly opinion columns and is the author of the acclaimed
book on the new Ireland, The Pope’s Children and,
more recently, The Generation Game. He has been
a regular on Irish television and radio since 2000. He was educated
at Trinity College Dublin and the College of Europe, Bruges,
Belgium. As an economist with the Irish Central Bank, he helped
draft the Irish Submission to the Maastricht Treaty and advised
the authorities during the 1992-93 exchange rate crisis. He
was the first economist to predict the 1990s boom in Ireland
which later became known as the “Celtic Tiger”. He travelled
extensively in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, devising
bank strategy in both regions.
Manchán
Magan [2007] [2008]
has written, presented and co-produced a series of 50 travel
documentaries. Has made a historical movie on the Irish Civil
War, The Struggle for RTE. In 1998
he wrote a travelogue on Africa, Manchán ar Seachrán. A follow-up,
Baba-ji & TnaG won the 2005 Oireachtas Prize for non-fiction.
In May 2006 Brandon published his first English book, Angels
and Rabies. Having knocked his straw bale cottage, he
now lives in a grass-roofed house in Co Westmeath. Manchán's
new travel book is a rollercoaster ride through the mad masala
of modern India, a culture pole-vaulting from the middle ages
to the future, titled Manchán's Travels: A Journey Through
India.
Anne Maguire [2007]
was born in Dublin in 1962. At 19 she started work for the Department
of Labour as a clerical assistant and began her political education
during the H-Block Hunger Strikes in 1981. She worked on two
general election campaigns supporting Bernadette McAliskey,
and was also active in fighting the anti-abortion campaign in
the Republic, as well as campaigning to end the strip searching
of women political prisoners in the North. In 1987 she emigrated
to the U.S. and eventually settled in the stock footage and
currently works as a content editor in film at Getty Images.
She was a founding member of the Irish Lesbian & Gay Organization
in 1990 as well as the Lesbian Avengers in 1992. Her book
Rock the Sham! was published in 2006 and she is currently
working on a novel.
Eamon Maher [2000]
worked as a secondary teacher from 1982-1994 in Clongowes Wood
College, Naas, Co. Kildare. Has been lecturing in French in
IT Tallaght since 1994. In Spring 2000 Eamon will be publishing
a book (with an introduction by Brian Fallon) on 5 French and
5 Irish novelists (including Kate O'Brien) under the title:
Crosscurrents and Confluence: Echoes of
Religion in 20th Century Fiction (Veritas)
Maurice Manning [2001]
Maurice Manning has written extensively on modern Irish politics.
His earlier books include The Blueshirts
and Irish Political Parties. More
recently he has written a political thriller, Betrayal
and a biography of James Dillon. He lectures in politics at
University College Dublin and is leader of the opposition in
the Irish Senate. He is married with one son.
Martin Mansergh [2005]
was brought up in County Tipperary and educated at Oxford University.
He joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1974 before joining
the Department of the Taoiseach in 1981. He was appointed special
adviser on Northern Ireland in 1982 and has served three Taoisigh
in this capacity. He is now a member of the Seanad. His book
The Legacy of History was printed
by Mercier Press.
Lara Marlowe [2004]
Paris-based foreign correspondent for The
Irish Times since 1996, Lara Marlowe has reported on
conflicts in Algeria, the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Israel
and the Occupied Territories. Last year, she covered the Iraq
war, returning six months later to assess the state of the US
occupation.
Sinéad McCoole [2005]
is the author of a number of books and she has scripted a series
of short films, Women of 1916, for
RTE. She works as an historical and picture researcher and as
a lecturer at the Kilmainham Gaol Museum. Author of Hazel:
A Life of Lady Lavery 1880-1935, Guns and Chiffon, and
No Ordinary Women, she has worked
on a number of important exhibitions for the Irish Heritage
Service. A former guide she is now on the Board of Visitors
of Kilmainham Gaol Museum.
Paul McNamara [2001]
A native of Limerick, he studied in Cork and London and is currently
based in Berlin. He has performed with amongst others, Opera
Theatre Company, the DGOS, Opera Ireland, the RTE Concert Orchestra,
the National Symphony Orchestra, The Handel Festivals of London
and Halle, the London Jazz Festival and the Festivals of Covent
Garden, Dartington and Batignano. More recent engagements include
Puccini's Messa di Gloria in Avignon
and the title role in Idomeneo in
England.
Padraic McKernan [2005]
Born in Limerick, he was formerly Ireland's Ambassador to Washington
- and is currently Ambassador to France.
Bríona Nic Dhiarmada [2007]
Lectures in the Dept. of Languages and Cultural Studies, University
of Limerick. She was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and
UCD. She is the author of a full length study of the poetry
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Glór Baineann, Glór
Mná (2006). Among her other publication are Téacs
agus Comhthéacs (with M. Ní Annracháin) (1998), she was
a contributing editor to The Field Day Anthology
of Irish Writing Vols. IV & V and to Cambridge
History of Irish Literature (Kellegher, O'Leary eds.)
She is also a documentary filmmaker.
Mrs. Moneypenny [2008]
is a director of Taylor Bennett Ltd, an executive search company.
She joined them from ABN AMRO Bank where she worked for eight
years as an investent analyst and latterly as asenior manager
in the equities division. During this time she was posted to
Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo. She has an MBA from the London
Business School and holds a PhD in Behavioural Finance from
the University of Hong Kong. She writes a weekly column in the
Financial Times [Mrs Moneypenny] and a monthly advice column
in IR Magazine.
Thomas Moore [2007]
was born in Detroit, Michigan to an Irish American family. At
thirteen, he left home to enter the Servite Order and study
for the priesthood. Those studies took him to Our Lady of Benburb
Priory in County Tyrone for two years of philosophy. He left
the order after another thirteen years, studied music, theology,
and world religions, and got his Ph.D. in religious studies.
He taught at universities and then became a psychotherapist
in private practice. In 1992 he published Care
of the Soul, a bestselling book that is still being bought
and read. He lectures on psychotherapy, medicine, and the soul
of culture and is now working on his eighteenth book, a novel
about self-transformation.
Blake Morrison
[2000]
is the author of two collections of poems, Dark
Glasses and The Ballad of the Yorkshire
Ripper; a bestselling memoir: And
When Did you Last See Your Father?, a study of the Bulger
case, As If; a children's book: The
Yellow House, a play: The Cracked
Pot, a collection of stories and journalism Too
True and the libretto for
Gavin Bryars' opera Dr. Ox's Experiment.
His Selected Poems were recently published by Granta Books,
and his first novel, The Justification of
Johann Guenberg will be published by Chatto & Windus
later this year. Formerly literary editor of the Observer and
Independent on Sunday, he lives in London.
Ferdinand Mount
[2003]
Ferdinand Mount is the author of The Subversive
Family [Cape 1982]. The book was also published in the
United States and in French, Swedish and German. He was editor
of the Times Literary Supplement
from 1991 to 2002, and was formerly head of the Prime Minister's
Policy Unit from 1982 to 1984 and a director of the Centre for
Policy Studies. He is also the author of nine novels, including
The Man Who Rode Ampersand (1975),
Of Love and Asthma (1991), which
won the Hawthornden Prize, and most recently Fairness
(2001). These books all form part of a loose sequence entitled
A Chronicle of Modern Twilight. He
is currently a columnist for the Sunday Times and has written
for most newspapers in Britain and the USA. He is married with
three grown-up children and has lived in Islington for more
than thirty years.
Mary Morrissy [1997]
born in Dublin 1957. She won the Hennessy Award for short stories
in 1984 and her stories have appeared in magazines, newspapers
and anthologies including Best Short Stories
(1992), New Writing 2 (1993). Her
first collection A Lazy Eye was published
in 1993. She won the Lannan Literary Award 1995 for Mother
of Pearl, her first novel. She reviews fiction for The
Irish Times and The Independent on Sunday and lives in Dublin.
Miriam Murphy [2003]
From Tralee Co. Kerry Miriam studied at the DIT College of Music
in Dublin under Dr. Veronica Dunne. Her awards include The Joan
Sutherland Prize, The Gervase Elwes Cup, The Yamaha European
Foundation Bursary and silver medal at the International Competition
for Young Musicians in Antwerp representing Ireland. She performed
with Opera Ireland, Opera Theatre Company and toured with The
Leinster Opera Studio. At The Royal Academy of Music in London
she won the Opera Gold Medal. During her three years postgraduate
study she sang in six major opera productions. Awards included
The Leverhulme Trust Awards, The Dame Eve Turner Prize, The
Principal's Discretionary Award for outstanding musical contribution
and the Principal's Prize for Opera Performance.
Melissa Murray [2007]
is an award winning poet and playwright who works mainly in
theatre and radio. Her collection of short stories Changelings
was published here in Ireland. Her radio work, broadcast by
BBC Radio 4 and Radio 3 and the World Service, includes many
short stories and over fifteen original plays. She has also
dramatized many notable classics. Her five part adaptation of
Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov
was a highlight of last year's BBC Radio 4 schedule. She has
written and presented non-fiction programmes on literary and
cultural matters both for the BBC and for Lyric FM. Melissa
moved from London to Ireland in the early 80's
N
Mary Nelson [1998]
born in Northern Ireland, 1971, Mary studied at the Royal Academy
of Music in London, graduating in 1994 with first class honours
in performance. She continued her studies as a postgraduate
in the Opera Course at the London Royal Schools Joint Vocal
Faculty, recently graduating with a dip.RAM, the academy's highest
award. While at the Royal Academy of Music Mary was awarded
numerous prizes, including the Henry Cummings Prize (awarded
to the singer gaining the highest result in their final recital),
the Oratorio Prize and the Isabelle Jay Prize for operatic arias.
She has also been the recipient of major awards including the
countess of Munster Musical Trust, Ian Fleming Charitable Trust
and Sybil Tutton Award. During her studies she has participated
in master classes with Heather Harper, Robert Tear, Sir Colin
Davis, Nickolai Gedda and Leonard Slatkin. Mary has recorded
a CD for the Oxford Classic label.
Michael Noonan [2002]
is a native of Limerick and a former teacher. He was elected
Leader of Fine Gael during February 2001. He is party Spokesperson
on Northern Ireland.
O
Edel O'Brien [2006]
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.
Eugene O'Brien [2002]
is head of the English Department in Mary Immaculate College,
Limerick. His first book The
Question of Irish Identity in the Writings of William
Butler Yeats and James Joyce, was published in 1 998,
and two more, Literature, Identity, Religion
and the Epistemology of Irish Nationalism, and Seamus
Heaney - Creating Irefands of the Mind, are forthcoming
in 2002.
Robert O'Byrne [2001]
A former resident of Limerick, Robert O'Byrne has worked as
a journalist with The Irish Times for the past ten years. He
is the author of After a Fashion: A History
of the Irish Fashion Industry and Hugh
Lane 1875-1915: A Biography.
Naomi O'Connell [2005]
is a soprano, trained with Archie Simpson, a member of The Lismorahaun
Singers and a winner at Feis Ceoil 2003 & 2004. She is currently
studying at Royal Irish Academy of music.
Joe O'Connor [1996]
has written novels: Cowboys and Indians
and Desperadoes; short stories: True
Believers; film and television scripts, a biography of
Charlie Donnelly: Even the Olives are Bleeding;
a compilation of his journalism The Secret
World of the Irish Male is a best seller.
Kevin O'Connor [2007]
[1996]
Born in Limerick, developed an early interest in theatre; worked
in touring theatre in Britian; became a journalist in London
and returned to work with RTE in the 1970's. Script editor and
writer if Thou Shallt Not Kill; an
admirer of Kate O'Brien, he wrote the Memory
and Desire play performed at 1995 Kate O'Brien Weekend
and adapted The Ante Room for premiere
performance by the Island Theatre Company in July 1996.
Ciaran O'Driscoll [2003]
was born in Catlan, Co. Kilkenny, and lives in Limerick with
his wife and son. He has published five collections of poetry,
the latest of which is The Old Women of
Magione, based on a year spent in Italy, and Moving
On, Stilt There: New and Selected Poems. He has also
recently published a childhood memoir, A
Runner Among Falling Leaves. In January 2000, he was
awarded the Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship in Poetry.
Redmond O'Hanlon [2002]
[1999]
teaches Drama at UCD, has been published internationally on
Wine, Theatre and the Novel. He organises an annual Dionysus
Colloquium in Montpelier in the South of France.
Pamela O'Malley de Crist
[1996]
born in Limerick; moved to Franco's Spain with her husband Gaynor
Crist in 1953; widowed in 1964; she remained in Spain and became
involved with the Spanish Communist Party resulting in three
spells in prison for anti-Franco activities. She is still involved
with anti-racism and Third World support groups.
Gearóid O Tuathaigh
[1998]
a native of Limerick City, Gearóid has written extensively on
Irish culture, language and politics in 19th and 20thC Ireland,
most notably in his two publications Ireland
Before The Famine and The Age of
deValera, the latter being co-authored with Joe Lee.
Formerly dean of The Faculty of Arts and Vice-President of The
National University of Ireland, Galway, he is presently Professor
of History at NUI, Galway and Chairman of Udaras na Gaeltachta.
P
Patricia Palmer [2000]
is a lecturer at University of Limerick and presenter of the
Wore/scapes series on Lyric FM's artszone programme.
Ger Philpott [2003]
Writer and filmmaker, lives in Dublin. Among his films are the
award winning Change and An
Turas. Deep End his best-selling
book on aids was published in 1995. He currently works on a
novel, No More Dreaming and has two
screenplays in development with Dublin based Caspar Films. He
holds national records in masters swimming and breeds prize-winning
Weimaraners.
Q
Joe Queenan [2001]
Joe Queenan has written for the New York Times, the Washington
Post, Spy, the Wall Street Journal, the New Republic, Time,
Newsweek and Rolling Stone, among other publications. He is
a contributing editor at GQ and Movieline. The author of four
previous books, including the best-selling America,
and the most recent My Goodness: A Cynic's
Short-lived Search for Sainthood, he lives in Tarrytown,
New York.
Ruairi Quinn
[2007]
Having spent thirty-five years committed to Irish politics,
Ruairi Quinn has now written about his own journey - a journey
that has taken him to the heights of power as Labour's first
ever Minister for Finance and Leader of the Labour Party. He
was Leader of the Labour Party from 1997 to 2002 and Minister
for Finance 1994 - 1997 Minister for Enterprise & Employment
1993 - 1994 Minister for Public Service 1986 - 1987, Minister
for Labour 1984 - 1987 Minister of State for the Environment
1982 - 1983. Bachelor of Architecture and a Higher Diploma in
Ekistics
R
RTE Vanbrugh Quartet [2008]
Winner of the 1988 London International String Quartet Competition
and now in its twenty-first concert season, the RTE Vanbrugh
Quartet is one of Europe's most sucessful quartets, widely recognised
for its beauty of sound, clarity of texture and integrity of
interpretation.
S
Kay Sheehy [2002]
Is from Granagh in Co. Limerick, Kay went to a convent boarding
school in West Limerick, a good grounding, she feels, for appreciating
the work of Kate O'Brien. For the past six years she has been
a producer on RTE Radio , and more recently a reporter on Rattlebag
and a presenter of the Saturday show Morning
Glory. Kay attended the first ever Kate O'Brien Weekend
and is delighted to participate in this one.
Avi Shlaim [2004]
was born in Baghdad and grew up in Israel where he did National
Service i'rom 1964-1966. He is a fellow of St. Antony's College
and a Professor of International Relations at the University
of Oxford. His main research interest is the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The author of many books, he is a frequent contributor to radio
and television on Middle Eastern Affairs.
Jo Slade [1997]
is a Limerick poet. Her first collection In fields I
hear them singing {Salmon Publishing) came out in 1989.
Her second collection The Vigilant One
(Salmon/Poolbeg Publishing) 1994 was nominated for the 1995
Aer Lingus/lrish Times Literary Award. She was one of the four
editors of On the Counterscarp: Limerick
Writing 1961 -1991. She was awarded The Arts Council
Travel Grant to travel to France in 1995. Her forthcoming collection
City of Bridges will be published
in France in 1997. Her work has been translated into French
and Spanish.
Subhadassi [2006]
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.
Derek Summerfield [2004]
is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry,
London and Research Associate at the Refugee Studies Centre,
University of Oxford. He was also formerly consultant to Oxfam
and other agencies and principal psychiatrist at the Medical
Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, London. He has
published regularly in academic literature and elsewhere on
the impact of war and atrocity on the social and cultural world
of victims.
T
Laurie Taylor
[2002] [1998]
grew up in Liverpool. He enjoyed a short spell as professional
actor with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop before taking
up an academic career. He was Professor of Sociology at the
University of York for twelve years. Laurie Taylor has written
ten books on everything from crime and punishment to the nature
of identity in the modern world. His radio work includes Stop
The Week, The Radio Programme and (currently) The
Afternoon Shift. He writes a weekly satirical column
on university life for the Times Higher
Education Supplement and a weekly column for The
New Statesman.
Virginia Teehan [2004]
a native of Co. Kilkenny, she is a graduate of University College
Cork and Trinity College Dublin. A board member of The Heritage
Council, she has worked in the cultural field for almost twenty
years. She was appointed Director of The Hunt Museum, Limerick
in June 2003.
Don Thornhill [2008]
A graduate of both UCD and TCD, a Fullbright Scholar he is a
member of the Royal Irish Academy and a life member of the Royal
Dublin Society. He is a consultant and adviser on strategy and
policy and a board member of organisations in the public and
private sectors.
Colm Tóibín [1996]
author of The South and The
Heather Blazing and a number of travel books; in 1995
he won the EM Forster award from the American Academy of Arts
& Letters.
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Dick Walsh [2000]
is from Cratloe, Co. Clare. He attended Cratloe National School
and St. Munchin's College, Limerick before starting work as
a reporter with the Clare Champion in 1955. He joined The Irish
Times in 1 965 and was political correspondent (1973-1985) and
political editor before becoming assistant editor - politics
in 1998. He is the author of The Party -
Inside Fianna Fail, Des O'Malley - a political profile and Gearcheim
in Eirinn, about the 1970 arms crisis.
Marie Walsh [1997]
from Limerick, she studied with Dr. Veronica Dunne and subsequently
worked with the Welsh National Opera, The English National Opera,
Glyndebourne, The English Touring Opera. Roles have included
Dorabella in Cos!
fan Tutte, Maddalena in Rigoletto,
Mrs. Critchley and Meg
Page in Fallstaff and most
recently she sang the role of Carmen
for Opera South in the Cork Opera House.
Eibhear Walshe
[2006]
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.
Marina Warner
[1997]
is a writer, critic and historian. She is author of three studies
of mythology, Alone Of All Her Sex: The
Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary, Joan of Arc: The Image of
Female Heroism and Monumenfs & Maidens: The Allegory of the
Female Form. She has also written four novels as well
as biographies, short stories and children's books. Her study
of fairy tales From The Beast to the Blonde
was published in October 1994. In January 1994 she gave the
annual Reith Lectures on her chosen theme of iconography and
mythology today. In July 1996 the opera In
the House of Crossed Desires, for which she wrote the
libretto, was premiered at the Cheltenham Festival of Music.
Marina Warner broadcasts regularly on radio & television and
writes for newspapers. She was a visiting scholar at the Getty
Centre for the History of Art and the Humanities in California.
In 1991 she was a Visiting Professor at the Erasmus University,
Rotterdam. She lives in London with her husband, the painter
John Dewe Matthews and her son.
Bill Whelan
[2006]
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.
Kevin Whelan
[2005]
One of Ireland's best known and widely published historians,
was named the Smurfit Director of the Keough-Notre Dame Centre
in Ireland in 1998. A native of County Wexford, Kevin received
a bachelor's degree at University College Dublin, and a doctorate
from the National University of Ireland. He has published fourteen
books and almost 100 articles on Irelajxfs history, geography,
and culture. Among these are The Tree of
Liberty, Radicalism, Catholicism and the Construction of Irish
Idemity 1760-1830, Fellowship of Freedom: The United Irishmen
and the 1798 Rebellion (1998), and the bestseller Atlas
of the Irish Rural Landscape. His next book is The
Killing Snows: Cultural Change in Nineteenth-Century Ireland.
Paddy Woodworth [2005]
was born in Bray, Co. Wicklow and has written for the Irish
Times from 1988 to 2002. He has worked for the London Times,
the Sunday Times, El
País, as well as RTE, BBC, and Spanish radio and television.
He is the author of Dirty War, Clean Hands,
Aznar's Legacy, Zapatero's Prospects. He now divides
his time between research on environmental issues, and writing
a travel book on the Basque Country.
X, Y, Z
