Carlo Gébler was born in Dublin in 1954 and lives outside Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. He is married and has five children. His most recent publications (all from New Island) include I, Antigone, which purports to be Antigone’s biography of her father, Oedipus, and the memoir A Cold Eye, Notes from a Shared Island 1989 - 2024. His podcast Escape from the Maze on the 1983 IRA escape from HMP Maze was broadcast in July 2024. He teaches at the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing at Trinity College, Dublin, and HMP Hydebank. He is a member of Aosdana.

Dr Martina Devlin is an author and newspaper columnist. She has written nine novels, two non - fiction books, a short story collection and two plays. Her latest novel, Charlotte , focuses on Charlotte Brontë ’ s Irish connections. Other novels include Edith about the Irish R.M. co - author Edith Somerville; and The House Where It Happened about the 1711 Islandmagee witchcraft trial, which led to a plaque erected to commemorate those wrongly convicted

Robert O’Byrne is a writer and lecturer specializing in the fine and decorative arts and author of more than a dozen books, several of which look at Irish country houses. A former Vice-President of the Irish Georgian Society, he has written for Apollo magazine, the Burlington Magazine and the Irish Arts Review. Since 2012 he has produced an award-winning blog, The Irish Aesthete: www.theirishaesthete.com

Stephen Price is a broadcaster and writer. His 2011 book 'The Earl Bishop' is an accessible biography of Frederick Hervey, Bishop of Derry and the 4th Earl of Bristol, who built the original palace at Ballyscullion Park.

Dr Sophia Hillan, former student and later colleague of Seamus Heaney, was Associate Director of Queen’s University Belfast’s Institute of Irish Studies (1993-2003). Her extensive work on the previously unexplored story of Jane Austen’s Irish family was published as May, Lou and Cass: Jane Austen’s Nieces in Ireland  (2011). She is the author of two novels, The Friday Tree  (2014) and The Way We Danced (2016); and a short story collection, The Cocktail Hour (2018). As Literary Co- Executor of the Michael McLaverty Estate, her studies of his work include The Silken Twine (1992), The Edge of Dark (2000) and (as editor) In Quiet Places (1989).

Historian and owner of Dunbrody Abbey, Co Wexford. Author of The 4th Lord Templemore: a Life of Service, and Heaven on Earth: The Characters, Eccentrics and Experiences growing up in the bottom right-hand corner of the Emerald Isle

Dr Andrew Gailey is an historian whose previous books include Ireland and the Death of Kindness: The experience of constructive unionism 1890-1905. Crying in the Wilderness: Jack Sayers, a liberal editor in Ulster 1939-1969. The Lost Imperialist: Lord Dufferin, memory, and mythmaking in an age of celebrity (2016 winner of the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography). His latest book is A Portrait of a Muse: Frances Graham, Edward Burne-Jones, and the Pre-Raphaelite Dream.

Originally from Portrush, Dr Heidi Edmundson now lives and work In London where she is a consultant in Emergency Medicine. As a child she was an avid reader, particularly mysteries especially Nancy Drew. She loved telling stories and as a child always said that one day she would write a book. About ten years ago she joined a weekly writing group. To begin with she thought that she could only write a short story but surprised herself by discovering that she had a lot more to say and she enjoyed creating a crime to solve as much as reading about one.

Bruce Clark is an author, journalist and broadcaster, specializing in the history of Greece, the later Ottoman empire and eastern Europe. He spent 40 years as an editor and foreign-news writer for top publications including the Economist, the Financial Times and The Times. His latest book "Athens, City of Wisdom" tells the story of the city over 3,000 years. He has deep roots in mid-Ulster and has written and broadcast about the region's Scots-Irish traditions and connections with early America.

Paddy Donnelly is an award-winning Irish author and illustrator. Originally from Ballycastle and now living in Belgium, Paddy has illustrated 25 picture books including The Golden Hare, The Vanishing Lake, Fox & Son Tailers and Wolves in Helicopters. Many of his books are inspired by the beautiful North Antrim coast.

Lyndsy Spence is a bestselling author, including The Mistress of Mayfair: Men, Money and the Marriage of Doris Delevingne, The Mitford Girls’ Guide to Life, and The Grit in the Pearl: The Scandalous Life of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll. She also wrote The Flower Girl – a short film directed by Emmy award winner, Nick Nanton. The screen rights of her book, Cast a Diva: The Hidden Life of Maria Callas, were bought by an Oscar- nominated production company. Her most recent book is Where Madness Lies: The Double Life of Vivien Leigh.

Dr Nicholas Courtney is an author, broadcaster and lecturer. From pursuing a career as a land agent after the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester (his last estate was the Island of Mustique) he switched to writing on his return to England. He has since published 25 books on a range of subjects - mostly biography, history and satire. His biography of Admiral Beaufort, Gale Force, has recently been republished.

Andrew Heyn was a UK diplomat for over 30 years. He served as British Consul-General (a post with senior Ambassadorial rank) in Hong Kong from 2016-20 and British Ambassador to Myanmar from 2009-13. He also served as Deputy British Ambassador in Dublin from 2005-09. He has written for the Financial Times and the Guardian and is a regular public speaker and media expert commentator on UK, European and Asian affairs as well as wider foreign policy issues. He was awarded an CMG in 2020 and an OBE in 2013. He is an Honorary Fellow of St Hugh's College, Oxford and an Honorary Professor of Practice at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queens University, Belfast.

The Harty String Quartet is named after Hamilton Harty, the noted Hillsborough-born early 20th century composer and conductor. Its members are Hayley Howe leader, Eleanor Eyre-Maunsell violin2, Hilary Flett viola, Janet Ferguson ‘cello. The group was formed some ten years ago and meets monthly, playing largely for their own pleasure. They undertake gigs from time to time, invariably in support of friends or charities, amongst the most notable being for Hilary Clinton when she visited Belfast. Our repertoire is eclectic, ranging from mainstream, usually for weddings, through traditional Irish to baroque and classical music. Some of it difficult to play but hopefully all easy to listen to . The Harty String Quartet will be playing at lunchtime.

Colin Urwin is a modern-day Seanchaí. He is a folk-singer, songwriter, storyteller and author. Steeped for a lifetime in the language, folklore and traditions of his beloved Glens of Antrim, Colin has long been exposed to traditional Irish and Scottish music, song and story. He is most inspired by the people and places, the history and legends, and the sheer, rugged romance of the northeast coast of Ireland. From these he conjures up many of his beautiful ballads, magical rhyming monologues and delicately woven tales of wonder. Colin regularly appears at local storytelling and music events for schools, libraries, a wide range of community groups, and at international storytelling festivals and conferences all over the world.

Born 1974, Belfast. Lives in Glasgow. Gareth Reid is a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art and the Florence Academy of Art. He is a visiting lecturer, previously at Glasgow School of Art. He has shown on five occasions at the BP Portrait Award in the National Portrait Gallery in London, and in 2007 won the BP Travel Award. In 2017 he won Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year, painting Graham Norton for the National Gallery of Ireland. In 2019 Historic Royal Palaces commissioned a portrait of the then HRH Prince of Wales, now King Charles III for Hillsborough Castle. In 2023 Gareth was awarded Sky Portrait Artist of the Decade for his Drawing of Dame Judi Dench.

Roy Foster, Emeritus Professor of Irish History at Oxford, is a well-known cultural commentator and critic. His many prizewinning books include Modern Ireland 1600-1972, Paddy and Mr Punch, The Irish Story: telling tales and making it up in Ireland, the two-volume authorised biography of W.B.Yeats, Vivid Faces: the revolutionary generation in Ireland 1890-1923 and On Seamus Heaney. A Fellow of the British Academy, an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy, and the holder of several honorary degrees, he received the President’s Distinguished Service Award in 2021 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from An Post Irish Book Awards in 2023.

Dr Edward McParland is an Irish architectural historian and author of several books, including James Gandon (1985) and Public Art in Ireland, 1680-1760 (2001). He was elected as Pro-Chancellor of University of Dublin, Trinity College in 2013. McParland is the co-founder of the Irish Architectural Archive which was established in 1976, and he has contributed extensively to architectural conservation in Ireland. Author of The Language of Architectural Classism, published in 2024.

Dr Caroline Campbell is Director of the National Gallery of Ireland. Previously she was Director of Collections and Research at the National Gallery, London. Caroline was born and raised in Belfast, and educated at University College, Oxford and the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her first book, The Power of Art, was published in 2023. Her latest exhibition, Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350, is at the National Gallery, London, from 8 March – 22 June 2025.

Thomas McErlean is a landscape archaeologist and a widely published author on many aspects of heritage. He has had a varied archaeological career culminating in many years spent in the University of Ulster as a senior research fellow. He has worked mainly in Ireland but has been involved in archaeological projects as far away as East Africa and Tasmania. One of his abiding research interests is the study of the Gaelic landscape with particular reference to the origin and significance of Irish parishes and townlands. He has researched and published work on Irish monastic sites of the Early Medieval period.

Award-wining poet and novelist and co-fonder of The Moth magazine and Poetry Prize. From Co Carlow.

Artist, actor and founder of The Moth Studios, and co-founder of The Moth magazine. Will takes the role of Oscar Wilde in Neil Titley's production of Work is the Curse of the Drinking Classes.

Caroline Redman Lusher is the Creator and Creative Director of Rock Choir and a successful singer, recording artist and award-winning musician. She is the business woman behind one of Britain’s biggest brands and has dramatically helped the British public improve their well-being and mental health by creating joy with the power of group-singing, friendship and support. Caroline is also an award-winning entrepreneur and was the subject of the hugely popular ITV1 Documentary series, The Choir That Rocks.

Bruce Campbell is a graduate of the Universities of Liverpool and Cambridge and for 40 years was a member of the academic staff at QUB. Since retirement in 2013 he has been working on aspects of Irish medieval history - economic, environmental and architectural.

John Goodall is the architectural editor of Country Life and has published a number of books including The English Castle (2011), Parish Church Treasures (2015) and English House Style (2019).