Karen Gillece was born in Dublin in 1974. She studied Law at University College Dublin. Her debut novel Seven Nights In Zaragoza was published in 2005 and hailed by the critics as ‘Highly impressive and assured writing’ (Evening Herald).
Donal Ryan was born near Nenagh, County Tipperary, in 1976. He was a civil servant for many years, and was only able to devote himself to writing from 2014, following the success of The Spinning Heart, the novel he wrote during the evenings of the summer of 2010. Ryan received 47 rejections before finding a publisher. His novels have gathered a great deal of critical acclaim and The Spinning Heart was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He lives in County Limerick with his wife and two children.
Dr. Sorcha de Brún is a lecturer at the University of Limerick, where she teaches modern Irish prose, Irish-language film, drama and poetry. She has published essays, poems, stories and reviews and is currently working on a monograph about masculinities in contemporary Irish-language writing. She is an award-winning writer: having received the Foras na Gaeilge 1st prize at Listowel Writer's Week, the Máirtín Ó Cadhain Short Story award and several Oireachtas na Gaeilge prizes.
Ronan Colgan is managing director of the Wordwell Publishing Group, publisher of Books Ireland, Wordwell Books and former president of Publishing Ireland, the Irish Publishers’ Association.
Nessa O'Mahony is a novelist and poet from Dublin. She has published four volumes of poems and a crime novel. A fifth volume of poetry has been published by Salmon in May 2019.
Conor Kostick is an award winning author and historian based in Dublin, Ireland. As the author of sixteen books, he has twice been the chairperson of the Irish Writers Union.
