Harold's Cross

Amanda Bell’s children’s book The Lost Library Book is the story of a 500-year old book missing from Marsh’s Library, which was found in the much-missed Harold’s Bazaar in Harold’s Cross. She holds an MA in Poetry Studies, and her books of poetry and haiku are available from Alba Publishing and Doire Press. Awards include The Allingham Prize, and short-listings for Irish Poem of the Year 2017, a Touchstone Distinguished Books Award, a Merit Book Award, and the Shine Strong Award. Her YA novel was shortlisted for the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair 2020. She has a new collection forthcoming from Doire in 2021.

Dr. Catherine Ann Cullen is the inaugural Poet in Residence at Poetry Ireland and author of six books. Her latest are All Better! (Little Island 2019) http://littleisland.ie/books/all-better/ and The Other Now (Dedalus 2016)https://www.dedaluspress.com/product/the-other-now/

Judith Mok, who was born in the Netherlands, started off by writing and publishing prose and poetry in Dutch. While based in Ireland she began to write in English at the request of newspapers and radio programmes. She now only writes in English and her prose and poetry in English has been widely published. Her short stories have been shortlisted twice for the Francis McManus award. Her first novel, The Innocents at the Circus (unpublished), was written in French for the Prix de l’Académie Française, and led to a three-day visit to the Académie. Her work has appeared nationally and internationally in numerous literary magazines and anthologies. She has been supported by the Irish Arts Council. In December 2016, Judith received a Patrick Kavanagh Fellowship.

Michael O’Loughlin Michael O’Loughlin was born in Dublin in 1958. He has published six collections of poetry, and is also a critic, screenwriter, translator and columnist. He lived for many years in Spain and the Netherlands but now lives in Dublin. He is a member of Aosdana, the Irish Academy of Artists, and in 2017 was the UNESCO City of Literature Writer in Residence in Prague. His Poems 1980-2015 appeared in 2017, of which the Irish Times wrote: “These poems from three and a half decades constitute European poetry in the mask of English, and they are a unique addition to the Capital of Letters.” His poetry has been translated into many languages.  

John O’Donnell’s work has been published and broadcast widely. Awards include the Irish National Poetry Prize, the Ireland Funds Prize, and the Hennessy Awards for Poetry and for Fiction.

He has published four poetry collections, the latest of which is Sunlight: New and Selected Poems (Dedalus Press) and is available here:  https://www.dedaluspress.com/product/sunlight-new-and-selected-poems/

His short story collection Almost the Same Blue is published by Doire Press and is available here https://www.doirepress.com/writers/g_l/john_odonnell/

Peter Sirr has published ten poetry collections, of which the most recent are The Gravity Wave (2019), a Poetry Book Society recommendation, and Sway (2016), versions of poems from the troubadour tradition. The Rooms (2014) was shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award and the Pigott Poetry Prize. The Thing Is (2009), was awarded the Michael Hartnett Prize in 2011. His novel for children, Black Wreath, was published in 2014. His radio dramas are broadcast on RTE, the national broadcaster. He teaches literary translation in the Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation, Trinity College and is a member of Aosdána.

Adam Wyeth is an award-winning writer. In 2019 he received The Kavanagh Fellowship Award. He is the author of two poetry collections, Silent Music and The Art of Dying; and essays, The Hidden World of Poetry. His third collection ‘about:blank’ will be published in 2020. He teaches online creative writing at adamwyeth.com.

Enda Wyley has published six collections of poetry, from her debut Eating Baby Jesus, (1993 ), through to Borrowed Space, New and Selected Poems, (2014), and her most recent, The Painter on his Bike (2019). She was the inaugural winner of the Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize, Melbourne University, and has been widely broadcast, translated and anthologised, including in The Harvard Anthology of Modern Irish Poetry. She has been Poet in Residence for many projects, such as The People’s Acorn, with sculptor Rachel Joynt, for Áras an Uachtaráin, the official residence of the Irish President. She has also published books for children, including, Boo and Bear, The Silver Notebook, and I Won’t go to China! (O’Brien Press). She is a member of Aosdána, the Irish academy of artists.