VISITING WRITERS 2010

	DAVE LORDAN was born in Derby, England in 1975 and grew up in Clonakilty, Cork. He was the winner of the Patrick Kavanagh Award in 2005. His first collection, THE BOY IN THE RING (Salmon Poetry, 2007) won the Strong Award for best first collection by an Irish writer and was shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Prize. His second collection, INVITATION TO A SACRIFICE (Salmon Poetry) was published in 2010. His play, JO BANGLES was presented at the Mill Theatre, Dundrum, in 2010. He now makes his home in Greystones, Co. Wicklow.
	CARLO GEBLER was born in Dublin in 1954 and is the son of the writers Edna O'Brien and Ernest Gebler. He was brought up in London and studied at the University of York and the National Television and Film School. He is the author of several novels, travel books, a play, works for children and received a Royal Television Society award for his documentary PUT TO THE TEST. His presentation at the 2010 Dromineer Literary Festival will focus of his accalimed memoir, FATHER & I which recounts his growing up with Ernest Gebler after his parents divorced. It has been said that "It is impossible to find fault with this book no matter how hard you try". Carlo is a member of Aosdana and lives in Enniskillen with his wife and five children.
	HUGO HAMILTON (www.hugohamilton.net) was born in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin in 1953 to a German mother and an Irish father. He is the acclaimed author of seven novels, a collection of short stories and two outstandingly successful memoirs. THE SPECKLED PEOPLE (Fourth Estate, 2003) has been translated into 20 languages, has been awarded to Priz Femina Etranger in France, the Berto Prize in Italy and was included on the New York Times notable books list. It was shortlisted on the Irish Book Awards 50 Best Irish Books of the Decade. A subsequent memoir, THE SAILOR IN THE WARDROBE (Fourth Estate, 2006) continued the story of his complex upbringing in a household where the children were only allowed to speak German or Irish. All of his work adresses the issues of cultural division and identity. Hugo continues to live in Dun Laoghaire.
	OISIN McGANN (www.oisinmcgann.com) was born in Dublin in 1973 and spent his childhood there and in Drogheda. He started to write and illustrate stories when he was six. After school, he studied design and print in Ballyfermot Senior College and animation at DunLaoghaire School of Arts and Design. After college he worked as a freelance illustrator and as an animator of the ZORRO series. Following a stint in London as a security guard and copy writer he returned to Ireland in 2002 and had his first books published in 2003. Oisin now works as a full-time writer/illustrator and lives "somewhere in the Irish countryside".

	DAVID RICE was born in Newry and is a distinguished writer of fiction and non-fiction and was a syndicated columnist in the US. He is also a renowned teacher of writing and editing skills and has been the head of the Rathmines School of Journalism. He is the founder and Director of the Killaloe Hedge School of Writing. Having been invited to China ten years ago to train writers for Xin Hua, the Chinese national news agency, he witnessed the Tiananmen Square massacre. His novel, SONG OF TIANANMEN SQUARE was based on that harrowing experience.
	MAEVE O'SULLIVAN is a leading Irish haiku poet and teacher whose work has been widely published. DOUBLE RAINBOW, her first collection co-authored with Kim Richardson, was published in 2005 by Alba Publishing (www.albapublishing.com). Maeve and Kim also present a workshop, Writing From Within: Haiku and the Spiritual Dimension at the Anam Cara Writer's and Artist's Retreat, Eyeries, West Cork (www.anamcararetreat.com). The haiku workshop and associated ginko (a compositional voyage and stroll) is being run in association with Haiku Ireland, of which Maeve is a founder member.
	SANDRA LEFROY is William Wordworth's great-great-great-great niece so it is only natural that she is herself an accomplished writer whose poetry and prose has appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies. She has been a regular contributor to RTE Radio 1's SUNDAY MISCELLANY and to Lyric FM's THE QUIET QUARTER. Although born in Dublin, Sandra has lived for many years with "her feet in the Shannon" at Portumna and Killaloe in fairly conventional houses but she and her family spent some memorable years living aboard 'The Phoenix' , a 19th century gentleman's steam yacht. She will tell us of the delights of life afloat in the session WATER MARKED on Sunday afternoon aboard 'The Spirit of Killaloe'.
	REGGIE GOODBODY is a retired boat yard owner and boat builder, He is now a marine model maker and luthier ( a maker of stringed instruments). In that role he has produced violins, a viola and cello to professional standards. He is a life-long member of the Lough Derg Yacht Club, where he has served as Commodore, and is still a fiercely competitive sailor in the Shannon One-Design Class. At age 10, Reggie lived aboard 'The Phoenix' for a period of three years, the only family living on a boat on the Shannon at that time. Reggie will join with Sandra Lefroy in the WATER MARKED session to give us a different perspective on life aboard.
	MARY ARRIGAN has written and illustrated over 30 books for children. . Her book Esty's Gold, set in Ireland during the Famine and in an Australian goldfield, is shortlisted 2010 West Sussex Children's Book Award and is listed as a Pick of the Year Book for Older Children in the UK. She studied and taught art for 18 years before becoming a full-time writer. Mary has been the judge of the Dromineer Literary Festival Children's Poetry Competition for the past seven years. Her insightful and sympathetic comments are always a delight to hear and are a most popular part of the prizegiving event. Mary lives in Roscrea.
	GERARDINE WISDOM was born in Waterford and now lives on the shores of Lough Derg near Terryglass. Since taking up rushwork in 2000 she has created a number of floating installations for Dromineer Literary Festival ('The Reeder') and Terryglass Arts Festival. Gerardine is an award-winning photographer whose work appears regularly in the local press.