27 - 30 June 2024

Authors appearing at Hinterland Festival 2023

We look forward to welcoming the following authors. Click on the images below for a short biography.

Adrian Duncan

Adrian Duncan

Adrian Duncan

Adrian Duncan

Adrian Duncan was born in County Longford and originally trained as an engineer. His debut novel, Love Notes from a German Building Site, was published in 2019; it won the inaugural John McGahern Book Prize. His second novel, A Sabbatical in Leipzig, was published by The Lilliput Press in 2020 and Tuskar Rock Press in 2022. His third novel The Geometer Lobachevsky (2022) was long listed for the Walter Scott Prize. Little Republics: The Story of Bungalow Bliss, his first work of non-fiction, was published in late 2022.

Alan Dunne

Alan Dunne

Alan Dunne

Alan Dunne

Alan Dunne is an award-winning freelance illustrator from Ireland. His unique style blends digital and traditional processes with occasional paper-craft. His work has been used in children's and young adult publications, graphic novels, editorial pieces, advertising campaigns, postage stamps, museums, restaurants, and visitor centres. In his work, Alan places great emphasis on storytelling and historical research, bringing his characters and details to life. His impressive work includes the book 'The Great Irish History Book' written by Myles Dungan and published by Gill. Alan spent 12 years as a motion designer for RTÉ television before pursuing illustration full time. He loves incorporating motion and animation into his work. Alan is a member of Illustrators Ireland, the Association of Illustrators, and the Society of Authors, and lectures part-time at NCAD, Dublin.

www.alandunne.ie @AlanDunneDraws

Alice Ryan

Alice Ryan

Alice Ryan

Alice Ryan

Alice Ryan grew up in Dublin. After moving to London to study at the LSE, she spent ten years working in the creative industries, holding roles in publishing, film and TV. She was Head of Insight and Planning at BBC Studios before returning to Ireland. She now works at the Arts Council of Ireland and lives in Dublin with her husband Brian and their daughter Kate. In October 2022 she won the Best Newcomer award at the Irish Book Awards.

Anne Griffin

Anne Griffin

Anne Griffin

Anne Griffin

Anne Griffin is the author of the bestselling novels Listening Still and When All Is Said. Anne’s third novel The Island of Longing publishes in May 2023. Anne received the Irish Book Awards Newcomer of the Year 2019. Her work has also been longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award and shortlisted for the John McGahern Annual Book prize and the RSL Christopher Bland prize. Anne’s books are published in twenty-five territories. Anne's short works have featured in, amongst others, The Observer, The Irish Times and The Stinging Fly and read on BBC Radio 4. Born in Dublin, Anne now lives in Westmeath, Ireland.

Beatrice Wallbank

Beatrice Wallbank

Beatrice Wallbank

Beatrice Wallbank

Beatrice Wallbank grew up in mid Wales, surrounded by sheep. When not wandering about in wild places thinking about stories she works backstage in theatre, storytelling in a different form. She also really likes Old Stuff and is a historian of things relating to the sea in early medieval Wales.

Bill Whelan

Bill Whelan

Bill Whelan

Bill Whelan

Bill Whelan has composed music extensively for theatre, film and orchestra but is best known for Riverdance which he initially composed for the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. In 1997 he won the Grammy for ‘Best Musical Show Album’ for the soundtrack to Riverdance the Show. The show itself is in its 28th year of live performances and to date has been seen by 22 million people world wide. As a producer in the studio Bill has worked with U2, Van Morrison and Kate Bush.

Catriona Crowe

Catriona Crowe

Catriona Crowe

Catriona Crowe

In addition to her many scholarly, journalistic and broadcasting achievements Catriona Crowe, former head of special projects at the National Archives of Ireland, is a member of the Royal Irish Academy and Chair of the Irish Theatre Institute, as well as a member of numerous boards in the cultural sector. She is the author of Dublin 1911.

Cécile Chemin

Cécile Chemin

Cécile Chemin

Cécile Chemin

Cécile Chemin is Senior Archivist at the Military Archives of Ireland and Director of the Military Service (1916-1923) Pensions Collection Project. The MSP Collection is the largest archive collection in existence covering the revolutionary period and contains the claims for service, wounds, disability and dependency lodged by those who took part in the events from the 1916 Rising to the end of the Civil War in 1923, and their dependents. The Project has so far catalogued and made available 113,500 files. 45,750 files have been digitised and are now fully downloadable online. In total, the Project has so far made available close to 2.5 million pages of archival material online. Cécile’s areas of interest include archival theory, the impact of the work of the archivist in society and the intersection between archives, representation, identity and memory. Cécile is also the founder of Archive Nation, the only Irish podcast dedicated to archives and archivists.

Christy Lefteri

Christy Lefteri

Christy Lefteri

Christy Lefteri

Christy Lefteri was born in 1980 to refugees who escaped Cyprus following the partition of 1974. Raised in London, she released her first novel, A Watermelon, a Fish and a Bible, in 2010, and her second, The Beekeeper of Aleppo, in 2019. The latter became a Sunday Times bestseller and the winner of the 2020 Aspen Words Literary Prize. Her third novel, The Songbirds was published in 2021.  Lefteri is currently a lecturer in Creative Writing at Brunel University.

Ciarán Wallace

Ciarán Wallace

Ciarán Wallace

Ciarán Wallace

Ciarán Wallace is Deputy Director of the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland. Having completed his PhD at Trinity College Dublin he lectured in Modern Irish History at universities in Ireland and Britain before joining the research team reconstructing the lost Public Record Office of Ireland. Ciarán has published on Dublin's political and social history, Irish political cartoons and online learning.

Colin Bateman

Colin Bateman

Colin Bateman

Colin Bateman

Colin Bateman is a novelist, screenwriter and former journalist from Bangor, Co. Down. Since his hilarious debut with Divorcing Jack (later made into a film starring David Thewlis) Colin has been writing commercially successful and critically acclaimed novels—often featuring the perennial ne’er do well Dan Starkey—and screenplays such as Murphy’s Law, written for Belfast actor James Nesbitt. His children's book Titanic 2020 was shortlisted for the 2008 Salford Children's Book Award 

Cristín Leach

Cristín Leach

Cristín Leach

Cristín Leach

Cristín Leach is an Irish writer, art critic, and broadcaster whose critically acclaimed memoir Negative Space was published by Merrion Press in 2022. Her art criticism has appeared in The Sunday Times Ireland since 2003. Her short fiction and personal essays have been published in Winter Papers and broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1. Her second book, From Ten till Dusk, A Portrait of the Royal Hibernian Academy in Twelve Stories, is a collection of historical fiction, critico-fiction, poetry, essays, and other forms of art writing, which will be published by the RHA in 2023.

Edel Coffey

Edel Coffey

Edel Coffey

Edel Coffey

Edel Coffey is an Irish journalist and broadcaster. She has worked as a journalist and editor with the Sunday Tribune, and was editor of the Irish Independent Weekend Magazine, and Books Editor of the Irish Independent. She has also written columns for The Irish Times and The Sunday Business Post and has worked as a presenter and reporter with RTE radio. She is a columnist with the Irish Examiner. Breaking Point is her debut novel and was a number one bestseller in Ireland. It also won the An Post Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction Book Of The Year. She lives in Galway with her husband and children.

Eileen Dunne

Eileen Dunne

Eileen Dunne

Eileen Dunne

RTE Newscaster, Eileen Dunne, is the eldest of the late RTÉ GAA correspondent Mick Dunne’s three daughters. Born and raised in Clontarf, Dublin she studied Irish and French at UCD and after a year in France, came back to do a H.Dip (Masters in Education) and begin work as a radio continuity announcer in RTÉ. Eileen joined the RTÉ Newsroom in 1984 and has been involved in coverage of all the main news stories since. She has also presented programmes on RTÉ Lyric FM and on RTÉ Radio 1. A member of the Association of European Journalists, she served as International President from 2010 to 2014 (the first woman to hold the position). She is also a director of the Kennedy Summer school in New Ross. Eileen is married to the actor Macdara Ó Fátharta and they have one son, Cormac.

Elaine Farrell

Elaine Farrell

Elaine Farrell

Elaine Farrell

Dr. Elaine Farrell is a Reader at Queen’s University, Belfast and a social historian of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Ireland, with a particular interest in crime history, and women’s and gender history. Along with Dr. Leanne McCormick she is co-investigator on the ‘Bad Bridget’ project looking at criminal Irish women in North America, 1838–18. They co-host the ‘Bad Bridget Podcast’ and the Bad Bridget Exhibition has opened at the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh, Co. Tyrone and have recently co-authored The Bad Bridget: Crime, Mayhem and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women

Elena Browne

Elena Browne

Elena Browne

Elena Browne

Elena Browne has worked in the book industry for many years and now works in publishing. She loves books and dogs, so decided to combine the two in her first book Take the Lead: How to Care for your Dog published in 2020. Elena’s first picture book was published in 2022; You Can Do It, Rosie! is illustrated by Brian Fitzgerald and is an adventure story about an old dog, her little girl and a very special walk they go on together. Elena lives in Dublin with her partner and their dog, Red. She spends most of her spare time reading or writing with Red by her side. 

Ellen Ryan

Ellen Ryan

Ellen Ryan

Ellen Ryan

Ellen Ryan is the debut author of the best-selling, award-winning children’s book, “Girls Who Slay Monsters: Daring Tales of Ireland’s Forgotten Goddesses”, published by HarperCollins Ireland. Ellen is a journalist who has contributed to the Irish Times and Irish Independent, among other media. She has a passion for Irish myth and loves to visit archaeological sites (though she always brings a raincoat). Along with her husband and daughter, Ellen is lucky to live by the sea in County Wicklow, where she can keep an eye out for sea gods.

Fintan O’Toole

Fintan O’Toole

Fintan O’Toole

Fintan O’Toole

Whether writing for the Irish Times, the Guardian or engaged in one of his many non-fiction tours de force the range and scope of Fintan O’Toole’s scholarship is startling. He is a critic, historian, controversialist and intellectual. He is as capable of writing a monograph on Edmund Burke or George Bernard Shaw, as he is of eviscerating the corrupt cowboys of the Celtic Tiger. His latest work, We Don’t Know Ourselves was winner of the An Post Irish Book Awards for 2021, was an Irish Times #1 Bestseller and was cited by the New York Times as one of its books of the year.

Gerry Murphy

Gerry Murphy

Gerry Murphy

Gerry Murphy

Gerry Murphy comes from Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan. Having graduated with an Honours degree in Experimental Physics from UCD in 1990, he joined Met Éireann in 1992. Following meteorological training in Reading, England and Aviation forecasting experience at Shannon Airport, he was appointed as Chief Scientist of Valentia Geophysical Observatory, Cahirsiveen, Co. Kerry a position he held from 1993 to 1999. There he was responsible for the quality of a range of Environmental, and meteorological measurement systems and projects. Returning to Dublin in 1999, he worked as Met Éireann's agricultural meteorologist until 2001 and completed a MSc on the measurement of Ultra-Violet-B irradiance in 2000. He has worked full time as a forecaster in Met Éireann's Central Analysis and Forecasting Office (CAFO) since 2001 and as presenter of weather forecasts on RTE ONE since November 2001.

He is an occasional lecturer in University College Dublin (UCD), where he lectures on the topics of Meteorology and Climate Change.

Jane Casey

Jane Casey

Jane Casey

Jane Casey

Jane Casey was born and brought up in Dublin, and studied English at Jesus College, Oxford. A former children's books editor, she has written twelve novels for adults and three for teenagers. Her books have been international bestsellers and the Maeve Kerrigan series has won many awards including Crime Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards on two occasions. The Killing Kind was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick in 2021 and is currently being filmed for television. Her most recent book is The Close.

John Boyne

John Boyne

John Boyne

John Boyne

John Boyne is the author of fourteen novels for adults, six for younger readers, and a collection of short stories. His 2006 novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and has been adapted for cinema, theatre, ballet, and opera. His many international bestsellers include The Heart’s Invisible Furies and A Ladder to the Sky. He has won four Irish Book Awards, including Author of the Year in 2022, along with a host of other international literary prizes. His novels are published in fifty-eight languages.

John Creedon

John Creedon

John Creedon

John Creedon

John Creedon is a native of Cork . He joined RTÉ Radio 1 in 1987 and since his radio debut he has won both Jacob’s and PPI awards for his work. He currently produces and presents the highly popular and acclaimed nightly music-fest The John Creedon Show. John completed a diploma in Regional Studies at UCC, and his love of Irish folklore and culture has seen him take to the roads of Ireland to present Creedon’s Wild Atlantic Way, Creedon’s Epic East, Creedon’s Shannon and several series of Creedon’s Atlas of Ireland.

In 2018, he spearheaded the National Treasures project, a collaboration between RTÉ and the National Museum of Ireland, which culminated in a television series and an exhibition of artefacts that celebrate the nation’s story. His first book, That Place We Call Home, was a bestseller. John lives in his native Cork with his partner, Mairead, and broadcasts mostly from the local RTÉ studios.

In 2022, he was announced as Cork Person of the Year. His most recent book, An Irish Folklore Treasury,which topped the Non - Fiction bestsellers list was honoured as the Best Irish Published Book of the Year at the 2022 Irish Book Awards.

John MacKenna

John MacKenna

John MacKenna

John MacKenna

John MacKenna is the author of twenty-three books; a winner of the Irish Times; Hennessy and C Day Lewis Awards and a winner of a Jacobs Radio Award for his documentaries with Leonard Cohen. He teaches creative writing at Maynooth University and at The Hedge School on the Moone.

Joseph O’Connor

Joseph O’Connor

Joseph O’Connor

Joseph O’Connor

Joseph O’Connor, novelist, editor and broadcaster, is McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick. His first novel Cowboys and Indians (1991) was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize. Shadowplay (2019) won the Eason’s /An Post Irish Novel of the Year Award. Among his many other awards are the Prix Zepter for European Novel of the Year, France’s Millepages, Italy’s Premio Acerbi and the 2022 American Ireland Funds AWB Vincent Literary Award. Star of the Sea (2002) became an international bestseller, published in forty languages, selling more than a million copies. His latest novel My Father’s House (2023) has received rave reviews internationally. The Sunday Times described it as ‘a spectacular, thrilling novel’ and The Observer as ‘a literary thriller of the highest order’.

Katie O’Donoghue

Katie O’Donoghue

Katie O’Donoghue

Katie O’Donoghue

Katie O’Donoghue is a child and young people’s therapist with a background in Fine Art and Design from County Kerry. She has a master’s degree in Art Psychotherapy and is a PhD in Healthy Psychology. She writes her books to attend to the challenges children face and to support the inner child in us all. She is also the author of The Little Squirrel Who Worried.

Leanne McCormick

Leanne McCormick

Leanne McCormick

Leanne McCormick

Dr. Leanne McCormick is Senior Lecturer in Modern Irish Social History at Ulster University. Specialising in the history of gender and sexuality, she was the co-author of the Mother and baby homes and Magdalene Laundries in Northern Ireland, 1922-1990 report published in January 2021. Along with Elaine Farrell she is co-investigator on the ‘Bad Bridget’ project looking at criminal Irish women in North America, 1838–19. They co-host the ‘Bad Bridget Podcast’ and the Bad Bridget Exhibition has opened at the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh, Co. Tyrone and have recently co-authored The Bad Bridgets: Crime, Mayhem and the Lives of Irish Emigrant Women.

Liadán Hynes

Liadán Hynes

Liadán Hynes

Liadán Hynes

Liadán Hynes is a journalist who lives in Dublin with her young daughter. She writes for a number of publications including the Sunday Independent, the Irish Independent, and Image. Liadán hosts ‘How to Fall Apart: A Podcast About Picking up Pieces’, which examines how people coped, or didn’t cope, during the difficult times in life. Her first book, the bestselling How to Fall Apart, was published by Hachette in 2020. She is also a founding member and editor of online magazine, Rogue Collective. Her most recent book is Courting: Tractor Dates, Macra Babies and Swiping Right in Rural Ireland. 

Liam McNiffe

Liam McNiffe

Liam McNiffe

Liam McNiffe

Dr Liam Mc Niffe is an historian, author, former teacher Eureka Kells, and retired Principal of St. Patrick’s College Cavan. He also lectures in Art History.  In conjunction with Meath County Library Service and Meath Travellers Workshop, he recently published Roots and Routes.

Liz Gillis

Liz Gillis

Liz Gillis

Liz Gillis

Liz Gillis is from the Liberties and is the author of six books about the Irish Revolution. She is Historian in Residence for Dublin South County Council for the Decade of Centenaries and also works as a Researcher for the History Show on RTÉ Radio and lectures at Champlain College Dublin.  She was a Curatorial Assistant in RTÉ, specialising in researching the Easter Rising and a tour guide for many years in Kilmainham Gaol. In 2018 Liz was a recipient of the Lord Mayor’s Award for her contribution to history. Liz was a Historical Consultant for the new Custom House Visitor Centre and was a Curatorial Assistant in RTE, specialising in researching the Easter Rising. In 2018 Liz was a recipient of the Lord Mayor’s Award for her contribution to history.

Liz Nugent

Liz Nugent

Liz Nugent

Liz Nugent

With her debut novel Unravelling Oliver Liz Nugent made a spectacular entrance onto the Irish and international literary stage. She followed it up with Lying In Wait, Skin Deep and Our Little Cruelties, and her books have all been number 1 bestsellers. She has been long-listed for the Dublin International Literary Award (formerly the IMPAC) and has won multiple awards at the Irish Book Awards. Liz was named Irish Woman of the Year in Literature in 2017 and received the James Joyce medal for Literature from UCD’s Literary & Historical society in 2021. Her latest novel, Strange Sally Diamond, entered the Irish best seller list at #1.  

Malcolm Byrne

Malcolm Byrne

Malcolm Byrne

Malcolm Byrne

Malcolm Byrne is a Fianna Fáil Senator and party spokesperson on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. As a member of the Oireachtas Media Committee, he played a significant role in shaping the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act, 2022, and has written and spoken extensively on the impact of technology on society and the role of legislators in preparing for technological change. From Gorey, Co Wexford, he is a graduate in law from UCD and prior to his election to the Oireachtas, worked as Head of Communications and Public Affairs with the Higher Education Authority. He was also the first Commercial Manager with myhome.ie, a former Executive Director of Screen Producers Ireland and a former Chief Executive of Community Games. He has completed 35 marathons.

Marita Conlon McKenna

Marita Conlon McKenna

Marita Conlon McKenna

Marita Conlon McKenna

Marita Conlon McKenna is an award winning Irish writer of both adult and children’s fiction. Her first book ‘Under the Hawthorn Tree,’ which was set during Ireland’s Great Famine, has become a children’s classic and is part of the international best-selling ‘The Children of the Famine’ series.

Her new children’s book ‘Fairy Hill’ is full of magic and mystery and was inspired by W.B Yeats Poem ‘The Stolen Child‘.  Her other best- selling children’s books are ‘Wildflower Girl’, ‘Fields of Home,’The Blue Horse, ‘Safe Harbour’, ‘No goodbye’, In Deep Dark Wood, and ‘A Girl called Blue’.  Her adult novels include ‘The Magdalen’ and ‘Rebel Sisters, and The Hungry Road..

She is a winner of the of the International Reading Association Award ( U.S)  and The Bisto Children’s Book of the Year Award ( Ireland), Kalbach Klapperschlange, German Children’s Choice Book Award Reading Association of Ireland Award, IBBY-White Raven Book Choice, The Burke Medal (Trinity College Hist. Soc. ) for her contribution to Discourse through the Arts.  Her work has been adapted for stage, film and TV. She is a former Chair Person of Irish PEN and lives in Dublin.

Matthew Spangler

Matthew Spangler

Matthew Spangler

Matthew Spangler

Matthew Spangler’s highly successful stage adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner has now toured the known world, with stops on London’s West End, the Dubai Opera House, and Gaiety Theatre in Dublin  before opening on Broadway in 2022. Matthew has hosted numerous ‘adaptation sessions’ at Hinterland over the years, with authors like Zlata Filipovic (Zlata’s Diary), Kevin Barry (Beatlebone), Mary Manning/Sinead O’Brien (Striking Back), and Christy Lefteri (The Beekeeper of Aleppo). The last two have been adapted for stage by Matthew in collaboration with their authors and The Beekeeper of Aleppo toured the UK and Ireland earlier this year.

Nerys Williams

Nerys Williams

Nerys Williams

Nerys Williams

Nerys Williams is a Welsh poet, academic, and Welsh language activist, born in Carmarthenshire and resident in Kells. Her first book of poetry, Sound Archive, was published in 2011, was nominated for the Forward Prize (first volume) and won the Irish equivalent, the Strong Prize. She is also a past winner of the Ted McNulty Prize. Her second volume Cabaret, was published in 2017 and also that year she was poet in residence at Passa Porta, Brussels as part of the Welsh Government’s Poetry of Loss / Barddoniaeth Colled centenary commemoration of Welsh language poet Hedd Wyn. Her ‘anti-memoir’ Republic was published by Seren Press earlier this year.

Nesrin Alrefaai

Nesrin Alrefaai

Nesrin Alrefaai

Nesrin Alrefaai

Nesrin Alrefaai, is co-author with Matthew Spangler of the current touring production of Christy Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo, a project which began at the 2019 Hinterland festival. Nesrin is a Visiting Fellow and Arabic Content Editor at the LSE Middle East Centre. Her research interest is on language, arts and politics in the Middle East and focuses on Syria. She tweets at @Nal_Ref.

Philip Quinlan

Philip Quinlan

Philip Quinlan

Philip Quinlan

Phil Quinlan played every sport on TV and represented his county in cross-country twice, but his life was suddenly and irreparably changed by a clash of heads playing football. Having defied the 25% chance of living odds, living with a disability, travelling the globe, finding love, Phil hopes his story is an inspirational one. Through all the hurt, rage and rehabilitation, trials and tribulations, he's living the dream now…

Richard Ford

Richard Ford

Richard Ford

Richard Ford

Richard Ford the American novelist and short-story writer is acknowledged as one of the best living writers in the English language.  His best-known works are the novel, The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day, The Lay of the Land and Let Me Be Frank With You, all featuring the character, Frank Bascombe. His short story collection Rock Springs contains a number of pieces that have been anthologised. Ford was a recipient of the 1996 Puliitzer Prize for fiction for Independence Day.

Roger McGough

Roger McGough

Roger McGough

Roger McGough

Poet, performer and broadcaster, Roger McGough has published over 100 poetry books for adults and children and has been called ‘the patron saint of poetry’ and ‘the godfather of modern poetry’. He was one of the Liverpool poets, alongside Adrian Henri and Brian Patten who influenced popular culture in the sixties. The Mersey Sound published in 1967 is one of the bestselling poetry anthologies of all time, selling over a million copies. In the 1960’s with John Gorman, and Mike McGear he formed The Scaffold, performing a combination of comic songs, poetry and sketches who had several top 20 singles including the hit song

‘Lily the Pink’. He has won numerous awards including The Cholmondeley Award in 1988, received the Freedom of the City of Liverpool in 2001, and was awarded a CBE in 2004. A Fellow of The Royal Society and President of The Poetry Society he presents the popular Radio 4 ‘Poetry Please’ series. His most recent books include Safety in Numbers written during the covid pandemic, as well as books for children, including Over to You, Crocodile Tears and Money Go Round.

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy is a reporter and videographer with the Irish Times. He is the author of two books on Irish history, Wherever the Firing Line Extends: Ireland and the Western Front and Great Hatred: The Assassination of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson MP. He is also the editor of Centenary: Ireland Remembers 1916, the official State volume recalling the commemorations of the Easter Rising of 1916.

Rus Bradburd

Rus Bradburd

Rus Bradburd

Rus Bradburd

Rus Bradburd has had an extraordinarily varied career in sport and as a writer. For many years he was a basketball coach at the university and professional level. For two years in early noughties he even coached the Tralee Tigers in the Irish National League, an experience he recorded in his book Paddy on the Hardwood: a Journey in Irish Hoops. More recently he has ventured into academia as a professor of creative writing in New Mexico State University. His four books, most notably All the Dreams We’ve Dreamed, all focus on the intersections of sport, social progress, politics, and race. Rus is also an exceptionally average traditional fiddle player.

Sam Blake

Sam Blake

Sam Blake

Sam Blake

Sam Blake’s debut novel Little Bones (2016) —the first of her ‘procedurals’ featuring the detective Cathy Connolly, was a runaway bestseller. Both Little Bones and her later standalone novel The Dark Room were shortlisted for Irish Crime Novel of the Year (2016 & 2021).  Sam, who also writes successfully for a Y/A audience, is originally from St. Albans in Hertfordshire but now lives in County Wicklow mountains.

Santis O’Garro

Santis O’Garro

Santis O’Garro

Santis O’Garro

Santis O’Garro calls herself ‘The Caribbean Dub’ (she lives in Dublin but was born in Monserrat). While working as manager of a Dublin betting shop she found it increasingly hard to make ends meet and ended up heavily in debt. She clawed her way out of her predicament by learning how to budget and has since been sharing her experience on social media as The Money Mentor and on her website www.thecaribbeandub.com.

Siobhra Aiken

Siobhra Aiken

Siobhra Aiken

Siobhra Aiken

Siobhra Aiken joined the Department of Irish and Celtic Studies in April 2021. Her publications include two edited books, three edited journals as guesteditor, an exhibition, a number of peer-reviewed articles and chapters and numerous journalistic articles. Her edited two books include: The Men Will Talk to Me: Ernie O'Malley's Interviews with the Northern Divisions (2018) and An Chuid Eile Díom Féin: Aistí le Máirtín Ó Direáin (2018); the latter won the Phelan Conan Award in 2020. She has also contributed to a variety of television documentaries and radio programmes.Her first monograph, Spiritual Wounds: Trauma, Testimony and the Irish Civil War, was published in April 2022 by Irish Academic Press.

T.J. McIntyre

T.J. McIntyre

T.J. McIntyre

T.J. McIntyre

Dr TJ McIntyre is an Associate Professor in the Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin where his research focuses on issues involving information technology law, cybercrime, and civil liberties. He practises as a consultant solicitor with FP Logue Solicitors, specialising in data protection and technology law issues. He is a specialist adjudicator for the .ie Alternative Dispute Resolution Policy. He is chairperson of the civil liberties group Digital Rights Ireland and regularly appears in the national and international media discussing issues of law and technology. From 2010-2022 he was the Irish national expert on information society and data protection issues for the EU Fundamental Rights Agency research network.

Tom Dunne

Tom Dunne

Tom Dunne

Tom DunneTom Dunne has been front man with the Irish rock band, Something Happens (‘the band that forgot to break up’) for the better part of three decades now. He has also been a radio presenter for the last two decades - probably still best known for his seminal ‘Pet Sounds’ programme on Today FM. He’s only been coming to Hinterland to enthuse audiences about classic rock albums since 2017, but in 2027 we have no doubt that he’ll have been doing that for a decade as well
Tommie Gorman

Tommie Gorman

Tommie Gorman

Tommie Gorman

Tommie Gorman worked for RTÉ News and current Affairs from 1980-1921. He was Northern Editor, covering Northern Ireland news from 2001 to 2021 and during that time interviewed all the main players in Northern Ireland political life. Prior to that assignment Tommie, from 1989-2001, was the station’s European correspondent. After his retirement in 2021 Tommie wrote his autobiography Never Better: My Life in Our Times.

Tony Bucher

Tony Bucher

Tony Bucher

Tony Bucher

Tony Bucher grew up in one of the few places that mattered in the 1970s, Berkeley, California. He regularly attends the Hinterland Festival and organises a few talks each year as President of the San Francisco Irish Literary and Historical Society. He is also the founder of our sister festival in San Francisco, Hinterland:West, the second iteration of which took place in the United Irish Cultural Centre in San Francisco in 2022.

Ultan Courtney

Ultan Courtney

Ultan Courtney

Ultan Courtney

Ultan Courtney is a local Meath historian who has written extensively on the War of Independence in Meath. He lives in Lusk Co. Dublin. Both of his parents were from Meath and his father was involved in the War of Independence. He is a management consultant and Chairman of the Low Pay Commission and former Chairman of Dublin Bus. He is a Graduate of Trinity College, UCD, DIT and the Law Society School of Education.

Zak Moradi

Zak Moradi

Zak Moradi

Zak Moradi

Zak Moradi is a Kurdish, Irish hurler who plays as a left corner-forward for the Leitrim senior team. His family relocated to Carrick on Shannon in 2002 and Zak became smitten with the sliothar and the camán. In 2019 he played on the winning Leitrim team in the Lory Meagher Trophy in Croke Park. His book Life Begins in Leitrim, written with Niall Kelly, was nominated for an Irish Book Award in 2022.