Bobby McDonagh entered the Irish diplomatic service in 1977, and is regarded as an expert on European Union affairs, having spent 23 years of his career either in the corridors of Brussels or in the EU division of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. 

Caroline Foran is a number 1 bestselling author living and working in Dublin, with a degree in Communications and a Masters in Film and TV from DCU.

The Paper Bracelet tells the story of Katie who worked as a nurse in a west of Ireland mother and baby home. For almost fifty years, she has kept a box containing the identity bands of the babies who were born there. Following the death of her husband, she decides to return the paper bracelets to their original owners, many of whom are still trying to find their birth mothers. 

Meadhbh Ní Eadhra is an award-winning author from Connemara. She has published three Irish-language novels for young people Rua, Fáinne Fí Fífí and Faye and has garnered much acclaim for her innovative and natural style of writing.

Sarah Moore Fitzgerald is an award winning novelist, teacher and professor based at the University of Limerick where she teaches on the MA course in creative writing.

Stephen Murray is an award winning poet and the founder of Inspireland. He has published two collections of poetry with Salmon Poetry to widespread critical acclaim.

Stephen Murray is an award winning poet and the founder of Inspireland. He has published two collections of poetry with Salmon Poetry to widespread critical acclaim.

John Burke is a Clare based hotelier who is also a keen outdoor enthusiast and mountaineer. He was the first Clare man to scale Mount Everest in 2017.

Gavin Grace is best known as the host of Clare FM’s flagship current affairs programme, Morning Focus.

As an award-winning solicitor, co-author of Success University for Women series, and personal & leadership coach, Sharon Cahir is known as an intuitive connector of people, information and opportunities.

Réamonn Ó Ciaráin has spent more than twenty years working with Gael Linn in the promotion of the Irish language.

Danne Reed is a best-selling author, lifecoach, entrepreneur, and Founder & CEO of Fashionably Late Productions, LLC. 

With over three decades of experience as a consultant, facilitator and one of the first female Emergency Services Firefighters, Carla White earned her resilience expertise by rising from the ashes of life’s literal and figurative fires.

Niamh spends her days, mentoring and working closely with women who simply want to make real Transformation in their lives. She simply believes that so many of us deserve and want more from our lives but not everyone knows how to get it or where to start. 

Michael Murphy is a well-known broadcaster, psychoanalyst, lecturer and author. He has published two best-selling memoirs, two books of poetry, and an analysis of contemporary Irish dreams.

Sarah Webb writes for both children and adults. Her Ask Amy Green series has been shortlisted for the Queen of Teen Awards in the UK and the Irish Book Awards. 

Rosita Boland is Senior Features Writer at the Irish Times. She won the NewsBrands Ireland Journalist of the Year award in 2018 and she was a 2009 Nieman Fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

Nessa O’Mahony was born in Dublin and has published five books of poetry – Bar Talk, appeared (1999), Trapping a Ghost (2005), In Sight of Home (2009), Her Father’s Daughter (2014) and The Hollow Woman on the Island (2019). 

Mike Hanrahan began his professional career in 1977 with Maura O’Connell in a duo called Tumbleweed and in 1980 he joined Stockton’s Wing as guitarist, singer and songwriter and recorded the album Take a Chance. 

Madeleine Keane is an editor, lecturer and award-winning travel journalist. She was educated at UCD and Trinity and worked in the editorial departments of Irish Tatler, Image Magazine and the publishing house Chatto & Windus.

Ken O’Sullivan is a documentary filmmaker. He returned to his native Clare after thirteen years of living in the United States, England and mainland Europe, and in 2006 founded Sea Fever Productions.

Ian Maleney was born and raised in Co. Offaly. He works in Dublin as a freelance arts journalist, primarily for the Irish Times, and as the online editor at the Stinging Fly.

Hilary Fannin worked as an actor throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Her first play was staged at London’s Bush Theatre in the mid-1990s, and her writing since then includes numerous stage and radio plays.

Hilary Fannin worked as an actor throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Her first play was staged at London’s Bush Theatre in the mid-1990s, and her writing since then includes numerous stage and radio plays.

Gerard Hanberry is an award-winning poet, author and musician. His fourth collection of poems What Our Shoes Say About Us was published in 2014 by Salmon Poetry and he is currently completing his fifth collection.

Éilís Murphy is a visual artist and bookbinder living in Corofin, Co. Clare. She loves to combine materials and processes in an unconventional way, so when she studied at the National College of Art and Design she was drawn to printmaking as it was the perfect union of creativity and mechanics.

Éilís Murphy is a visual artist and bookbinder living in Corofin, Co. Clare. She loves to combine materials and processes in an unconventional way, so when she studied at the National College of Art and Design she was drawn to printmaking as it was the perfect union of creativity and mechanics.

Éanna Ní Lamhna is a botanist by profession having learnt her trade in UCD many moons ago. She was responsible for much of the ground breaking species distribution mapping carried out by An Foras Forbartha in the 1970s and 80s.

Catherine Doyle grew up beside the Atlantic Ocean in the west of Ireland. Her love of reading began with great Irish myths and legends, and fostered in her an ambition to one day write her own.

Catherine Doyle grew up beside the Atlantic Ocean in the west of Ireland. Her love of reading began with great Irish myths and legends, and fostered in her an ambition to one day write her own.

Originally from Ennis, but living in Cork for over 20 years, Brian O’Connell is a multi-award-winning journalist, author and broadcaster. 

Brian Conaghan was born and raised in the Scottish town of Coatbridge but now lives in Dublin. He has a Master of Letters in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow.

Zainab Boladale is a Journalist, TV Presenter and Public Speaker. She was born in Nigeria and raised in Ennis, Co. Clare.

Neil Hegarty grew up in Derry. His novels include The Jewel, published to widespread praise in 2019; and Inch Levels, which was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Novel of the Year award in 2017.

Ruth Gilligan is a novelist from Dublin now based in the UK where she works as a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Birmingham.

Lemn Sissay is a BAFTA nominated award winning writer, international poet, performer playwright, artist and broadcaster. He is also a judge for the 2020 Booker Prize.

Sarah Moss was born in Glasgow and grew up in Manchester. She is the author of six novels, most recently Ghost Wall, and also writes non-fiction about travel, nature and place.