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| Michael D. Higgins :: |
| Michael D. Higgins was born in Limerick in 1941 and received a B.A., B. Comm from UCG before going on to study at the universities of Indiana and Manchester. Michael was visiting lecturer at the University of Southern Illionois in 1973 and lectured in Political Sience and Sociology at UCG from 1997 – 2001. He has also lectured at Berkley, San Francisco State and St. Thomas and Indiana universities.
From first becomming a member of Seanad Eireann in 1973 and currently a member of Dail Eireann Michael was appointed Minister For Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht 1993-1997, presiding over a time of unequaled growth in the arts in Ireland. He was President of the Council of Culture Ministers and President of the Council of Broadcasting Ministers of the European Union during the Irish Presidency of the E.U. in 1996. Equal to his passion for the arts, Michael has campaigned for human rights in many parts of the world, including such areas as Turkey, Western Sahara, Nicaragua, Chile, Gaza, the West Bank, Peru, El Salvador, Iraq and East Timor. In recognition of his work for peace he became the first recipient of the Seán MacBride Peace Prize of the International Peace Bureau in Helsinki in 1992 and is a recipient of the Order of Friendship of the Saharaoui People.
Michael D Higgins poems have been published in several Poetry Journals including: Sunday Tribune - New Irish Writing, Céide, Salmon Poetry Journal, Poetry Ireland, Aishling and Studies. His poems are included in various publications including the Whoesday Book 1999, The Great Book of Ireland 1998, I.P.A. Anthology, Wexford Anthology, Mothers, U.N.I.C.E.F., Human Rights have no Borders, Amnesty 1998, Irish Poetry Now - Edited Gabriel Fitzmaurice, Wolfhound 1993, Fathers and Sons, Wolfhound Press 1995, On the Counterscarp and Limerick Writing 1961-1991,1992.
His collections include Betrayal, 1990, The Season of Fire, 1993, and An Arid Season, 2004 published by New Island.
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| Joe McKenna :: |
| From a distinguished piping family in Dublin’s Liberties, Joe Mc Kenna took lessons from one of the greatest pipers, Leo Rowesome (1903-1970), at the Pipers’ Club on Thomas Street. Joe was also influenced by the playing of Willie Clancy, Johnny Doran and Patsy Tuohy, and he developed not only a brilliant technique on the chanter and regulators, but also the ability to design and make his own uilleann pipes.
As well as being a master uilleann piper, Joe is an accomplished tin whistle player, talented button accordionist, pianist, singer and composer and a pioneer of the low whistle. In 2001 Joe released ‘The Irish Low Whistle’, a solo album showing yet another side of his musicianship. With his wife, harper/singer Antoinette, Joe recorded four studio albums, plus a “Best of” compilation in 1997, and they also make ‘The Open Door’ with their band Slua Nua in 1993. That same year Joe received the “New Irish Music Composer of the Year” Award from IMRO and received an Artist in Residence to work on composition with a group of students in a secondary school in Bray.
Joe continues with a tight schedule running Shanachie Records here in Ireland, touring worldwide, performing in schools and community care, giving workshops and master classes, produced albums (including Danú) and tours with Antoinette McKenna and her sister, tin whistle virtuoso Mary Bergin.
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| Antoinette McKenna :: |
| Antoinette McKenna comes from the well know musical family the Bergins of Dublin. Antoinette and her sister, tin whistle player Mary both have had far-ranging impact in Irish traditional music over the past three decades. Antoinette received strong musical encouragement for her father an accordionist and her mother a fiddler.
Throughout the years she has been committed to adapting the harp to Irish traditional music through masterful accompaniment of fast dance tunes, slow melodies and vocals. Her singing has paralleled her harp playing and some of the most moving songs she’s recorded rely on a lovely pairing of vocal and harp.
Antoinette’s professional career began in the early ‘70’s when she play in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and this was followed by an international touring schedule with her husband Joe, covering America, Europe and Australia. She recorded four harp and pipe albums during this time. In the early 90’s she formed the band Slua Nua with Joe and recorded the CD ‘Open Door’ and brought out a single of her own composition “Ó Ró Song of the Sea”. She has been short listed for the Hot Press/Grolsch song contest and her composition “The Dawn Chorus” was chosen for a classical performance and filmed by Finish Television.
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| Angela Bourke :: |
| Dr Angela Bourke’s new book is Maeve Brennan: Homesick at The New Yorker, a biography of the recently rediscovered Irish writer whose work has been ranked with that of Joyce and Chekov. A senior lecturer in Irish at UCD and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, Angela describes her research area as ‘the ecology of Irish culture’. She has been a visiting professor at Harvard and the University of Minnesota, and has lectured and written extensively on storytelling and singing in Irish. Joint editor of the 3,200-page, two-volume Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing: Irish Women’s Writing and Traditions, her earlier book, The Burning of Bridget Cleary: A True Story, won several awards. |
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| Brian Farrell :: |
academic, author, journalist, broadcaster
Born in Manchester, Brian Farrell was educated at Coláiste Mhuire, Dublin, University College Dublin and Harvard. In 1955 he joined the administrative staff of UCD, became director of extramural studies and assistant to the registrar in 1957. From 1966 he lectured in the department of ethics and politics, going on to become senior lecturer in politics, acting head of the department and, in 1985, Associate Professor of Politics. On retirement from UCD in 1994 he became director-general of the Institute for European Affairs.
He has written a number of books on Irish political history, including Chairman or Chief?, The Founding of Dáil Éireann and a biography of Seán Lemass.
As a media commentator he contributed to the Irish Press, Irish Independent and Radio Éireann in the 1950s and 1960s, and for more than 30 years has presented RTÉ television’s main programmes of comment and analysis, successively Broadsheet, Newsbeat, Seven Days, Today Tonight and Prime Time.
Following his appointment by Síle de Valera T.D., Minister of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, he was chairman of the Arts Council of Ireland from 1998 to 2000.
Brian is currently president of the Dublin Business School and in April of this year was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by the National University of Ireland.
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| John Carty :: |
John Carty was born in London in 1962. There was music on both sides of his family and it was handed down from generation to generation. John’s own father, John P, is a fine flute player and a multi-instrumentalist.
John started playing in the 70’s when Clareman Brendan Mulkere started music lessons in the school John attended. He went on to enter Fleadh competitions over the years culminating in wining the Senior All-Ireland banjo title in 1982. During the 1980s John became a mainstay of the flourishing London session scene. In 1982 he spent a year playing and teaching music in Australia. In 1991 John moved to Ireland settling in Boyle, Co Roscommon. He recorded his first solo album on banjo entitled “The Cat that ate the Candle” in 1994. His first fiddle album Last Night’s Fun was released in 1996. Hailed as his best yet Yeh, That’s All It Is accompanied by Brian McGrath and Arty McGlynn as released in 2000. In August 2003 Shanachie Records released Carty's latest fiddle CD At It Again.
In addition John plays with his band AT THE RACKET, with Brian McGrath and Seamus O’Donnell. He has guested with the Chieftains, De Danaan and has been involved in many recordings notably Brian Rooney’s acclaimed albums - The Godfather and From London to Leitrim. John is a much sought after tutor for summer schools and workshops. Currently he tours extensively both as a solo performer and with the band and has performed at all major festivals throughout Europe and the North America. Recently he has undertaken a series of concerts with Matt Molloy exploring the North Connaught tradition.
John Carty is the TG4's Traditional Musician of the Year for 2003, which is considered the most important award in the traditional Irish music scene.
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| Jacqueline McCarthy :: |
| Jacqueline was born in London in 1957. Her parents had emigrated to England in the early 1950’s. She grew up to traditional music, her father Tommy McCarthy being a piper and concertina player from Kilmihil, Co. Clare. She played with all the legendary players from Ireland who were living in London. Musicians like Máirtín Byrnes, Raymond Roland, Roger Sherlock, Danny Meehan, Paddy Taylor and Bobby Casey were all part of a thriving music scene that Jacqueline experienced first hand. She also recalls meeting John Kelly and Willie Clancy during frequent visits to Ireland.
With her father Tommy, sisters Marion and Bernadette and brother Tommy, Jacqueline performed throughout Ireland and the U.K. – including The Royal Albert Hall, London. She was a member of The Sergeant Early Band who performed traditional music for a contemporary ballet production ‘Sergeant Early’s Dream’ by the London-based Rambert Dance Company. This association goes back to 1985 and has taken her to Poland, Egypt, Greece, Jordan, Zambia, and all over the U.K. Since 1987 she has been living in Co. Galway where she teaches concertina. She is a regular performer at the Willie Clancy Summer School in Co. Clare and has toured the U.S. on several occasions with her husband Tommy Keane. In 1995 they released an album – ‘The Wind Among the Reeds’. She is a member of Maigh Seóla a group who specialise in songs collected in North County Galway at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1999 she released ‘The Hidden Note’ featuring the McCarthy family, Tommy Keane and Alec Finn.
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| Gearóid Mac Lochlainn :: |
| Gearóid Mac Lochlainn is a writer whose star is fast ascending. He is from Belfast, and through his poetry he gives a wonderful insight into this city and life in its often troubled streets. Sruth Teangacha / Stream of Tongues (Cló Iar-Chonnachta, 2002) is his latest work, and the first collection he has published in translation. He has also published Babylon Gaeilgeoir (An Clochán 1997) and Na Scéalaithe (Coiscéim 1999).
He gives workshops in creative writing and can frequently be seen at arts and literary festivals reading from his work. Gearóid has won several prizes for his work and has been awarded bursaries from both Arts Councils in Ireland. He has received an award from President of Ireland Mary McAleese in recognition of his work. He is currently writer in residence writer-in-residence at Queen’s University, Belfast and at the University of Ulster, Coleraine.
Gearóid is a musician with Irish language reggae band Bréag.
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| Erin Gibbons :: |
Erin graduated in archaeology and history and also attained a Higher Diploma in Education from U.C.G. and a Diploma in Irish Heritage Management from U.C.C. Her research interests include Viking Age Ireland, Coastal Archaeology, Vernacular architecture and the interaction between landscape history and mythology.
Erin has been working as archaeologist and museum consultant since 1987 for state bodies, local authoroties and NGO's. She lectures in Landscape Studies for the Diploma in European Conservation Management at U.C.D. and she is a participant in the INTO/Heritage in Schools Scheme panel.
Erin has carried out archive and exhibition research for many local authorities and was research editor for Cruachan Ai Visitor Centre, Tulsk. She is currently compiling a computer database of Co. Roscommon finds from the National Collections for Roscommon County Council.
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| Ned Kelly :: |
Following completion of his M.A. studies in archaeology in University College Dublin, Eamonn P. Kelly joined the staff of the National Museum of Ireland where, as Keeper of Irish Antiquities, he now has responsibility for the archaeological treasures of the nation. The broad range of his archaeological interests is reflected in the diverse subject matter of his published reports and papers that have arisen mainly from fieldwork and research undertaken on behalf of the museum. Work in recent years has centred on Early Medieval and Viking settlement studies in addition to art historical books on Early Celtic Art and medieval Sheela-na-gigs. Involvement in underwater archaeology has included pioneering work on ancient fords along the rivers Suck and Shannon as well as participation in the Crannog Archaeology Project run jointly by Cornell University and the National Museum. Mr. Kelly has also contributed to the catalogues of exhibitions that have travelled extensively throughout Europe, USA, UK, Japan and Australia. He also acted as travelling curator for the various exhibitions and he has lectured extensively at home and abroad. The proposed talk on 'Archaeological Treasures of Co. Roscommon' will provide a broad introduction to the history and antiquities of ancient Roscommon with reference to important treasures found in the area, now housed in the national collections.
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| Maire Mhac an tSaoi :: |
Máire Mhac an tSaoi was born in Dublin in 1922, she studied Irish and Modern Languages in UCD and later at the Institut des Hautes Êtudes en Sorbonne, Paris before studying law and being called to the Irish Bar in 1944. Máire worked for the Department of foreign Affairs from 1947 until 1962 serving in Paris, Madrid, Dublin and Strasbourg including secretary of the Irish Cultural Relations Committee, member of the Irish Delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations and the Council of Europe. Máire was Writer in Residence at UCD in 1991, she has lectured extensively nationally and internationally including Queen’s College, New York and the University of Pennsylvania.
From her MA thesis on Pierce Ferriter in 1945, Máire is currently conducting further research into his work, which she hopes will be published shortly. Publications of her own work include Margadh na Saoire, 1956, Codladh an Ghaiscígh, 1973, An Galar Dubhach, 1980. She published a selection of translations from Classical Gaelic poetry entitled, A Heart Full of Thought in 1959. More recently she published An Cion go dTí Seo, 1987, Trasládáil, 1997, Shaoh agus Dánta Eile, 1999. The chronicle of her own story The Same Age as the State was published last year by O’Brien Press.
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| Mary O'Malley :: |
Mary O'Malley is the author of four collections of poetry published by Salmon Press and "The Boning Hall" New and Selected Poems published by Carcanet. She grew up in Connemara, has received a Hennessey award for her poetry, as well as three arts Council bursaries. She travels regularly to the United States and Europe to read her work and lecture on contemporary Irish poetry. She lived in Lisbon for eight years and has edited three anthologies of new writing, including "The Waterside Book" which arose out of a residency in the Verbal Arts Centre. She broadcasts regularly on radio and recently presented a series of six programmes drawing on her interest in working with musicians and young people.
She was closely involved with the organisation of the Cuirt Literature Festival for many years, programming both the regular festival and initiating and developing its educational programme. She regularly participates in both Letterfrack Sea Week and Bog Week and the Clifden Community Arts week. Her collection, "The Knife in the Wave", deals with what she sees as the threat to a city and its way of life from economic greed and questions Galway's image of itself as a city of the arts. "Asylum Road" addresses the changing Ireland and in particular the new Irish.
She has been Mayo Writer-in-Residence and held residencies in the Verbal Arts Centre in Derry, in Manhattanville University in New York, in Ty Newwydd in Wales and unofficially in the Aran Islands, where she has aided the writer's group for many years. She has recenly formed links with Spanish, French, Corsican and Portuguese poets through PEN Clube International. Some of her poems have been translated into French, Portuguese, Italian, among other languages. She has worked on translations from a number of languages, most recently the poems of Pura Lopes Colome, the Mexican poet who translated Seamus Heaney's work into Spanish.
She has two children and lives outside Galway in the Moycullen Gaeltacht and is a member of Aosdana.
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