Artists: Dromineer Literary Festival 2011

Jennifer Johnston

Jennifer Johnston was born in Dublin in 1930, daughter of the playwright Denis Johston. She is acknowledgedto be one of Ireland’s finest contemporary writers. 

Jennifer Johnston is the author of numerous novels commencing with the outstanding The Captains and the Kings (London, Hamish Hamilton, 1972).  Her latest is Foolish Mortals (London, Headline Review, 2007).

Her plays include Indian Summer (Belfast, Lyric Theatre, 1983); The Desert Lullaby (Lyric Theatre, 1996); and Moonlight and Music (Dublin, Civic Theatre).

Her many awards include the Robert Pitman Award; the Yorkshire Post Award; the 1979 Whitbread Award for The Old Jest; the Giles Cooper Award for Best Radio play (1989). Her work was shortlisted for Daily Express best book of the year 1992 for The Invisible Worm, and Shadows on our Skin was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

She is a member of Aosdána and lives in Derry.
For further information go to: www.irishwriters-online.com/johnston-jennifer/
 

John MacKenna

John MacKenna was born in 1952 in Castledermot in Co Kildare. He still lives in the locality. His short story collections include The Fallen and Other Stories (Belfast, The Blackstaff Press, 1992) which won The Irish Times First Fiction Award; A Year of Our Lives (London, Picador, 1995); and The River Field (Dublin, New Island Books, 2007).

His novels are Clare (The Blackstaff Press, 1993); The Last Fine Summer (London, Picador, 1998); A Haunted Heart (London, Picador, 1999) and The Space Between Us (New Island Books, 2009).

Amongst his other works are The Occasional Optimist; The Lost Village (New Island Books, 1995); and a memoir, Things You Should Know (New Island Books, 2006).

He is also the author, with Jonathan Shackleton and Dejan Djokic, of Shackleton: An Irishman in Antarctica (University of Wisconsin Press, 2002).

Apart from the Irish Times First Fiction Award, he has won a number of awards for his writing, including a Hennessey Literary Award in 1983, the 1986 Leitrim Guardian Award and a C. Day-Lewis Award in 1989 and 1990.

He is also a well-known documentary maker and won a Jacob's Radio Award for his documentary series on Leonard Cohen, How The Heart Approaches What It Yearns.

 

Dermot Healy

Dermot Healy was born in Westmeath in 1947 and is an accomplished novelist, short story writer, playwright and autobiographer.

His short stories are collected as Banished Misfortune (London, Allison & Busby, 1984). His novels are Fighting with Shadows (London, Allison & Busby 1984); A Goat’s Song (London, Collins Harvill, 1994); Sudden Times (London, The Harvill Press, 1999); and Long Time No See (London, Faber, 2011).

His outstanding autobiography is The Bend for Home (Harvill, 1996.  Dermot Healy’s  poetry includes Neighbours’ Lights (1992); The Ballyconnel Colours (Loughcrew, The Gallery Press, 1995); What the Hammer (The Gallery Press, 1998); The Reed Bed (The Gallery Press, 2001); and A Fool’s Errand (The Gallery Press, 2010).

His awards include the Hennessy Award (1974 and 1976); the Tom Gallon Award (1983); the Encore Award (1995); and the AWB Vincent American Ireland Fund Literary Award, 2002.

He is a member of Aosdána and lives in County Sligo.

For further information go to: www.irishwriters-online.com/healy-dermot/
 

Kerry Hardie

Kerry Hardie was born in Singapore in 1951, and grew up in County Down. She is a noted poet and novelist.

Her poetry is collected as A Furious Place (Oldcastle, Co Meath, The Gallery Press, 1996); Cry for the Hot Belly (The Gallery Press, 2000); The Sky Didn’t Fall (The Gallery Press, 2003); The Silence Came Close (The Gallery Press, 2006); and Selected Poems (The Gallery Press, 2010).

Her novels are Hannie Bennet’s Winter Marriage (London, Harper Collins, 2000, and The Bird Woman (Harper Collins, 2006).

She was joint winner of the Hennessey Award for Poetry in 1995, and in 1996 she won the UK National Poetry Award. She shared the Michael Hartnett Award with Sinéad Morrissey in 2005.
She lives in County Kilkenny.

 

Catherine Phil MacCarthy

Catherine Phil MacCarthy was born in 1954 in Crecora, Co. Limerick. Her poetry collections are This Hour of the Tide (The Cliffs of Moher, Clare, Salmon Poetry,1994); The Blue Globe, (Belfast, The Blackstaff Press, 1998); and Suntrap (The Blackstaff Press, 2007).

Her first novel is One Room an Everywhere (Belfast, Blackstaff Press, 2003).

She now lives in Dublin.

 

Vincent McDonnell

Vincent McDonnell is an award-winning author of books for adults and young readers. Born in County Mayo he now lives in County Cork with his wife and son.

He has previously written two adult novels and four novels for children. The Broken Commandment, his first novel for adults, was published after a recommendation by Graham Greene and won the GPA First Fiction Award in 1989.

Vincent gives readings and workshops all over Ireland, and has attended events such as the Listowel Writers Week and Wexford Arts Festival. He has served as Writer in Residence for County Cork and for County Limerick.

Vincent won the 2003 Francis McManus Short Story competition for his story Lemon Creams.
 

Mary Arrigan

Mary Arrigan studied art in Dublin and Florence and taught the subject in secondary schools in Ireland for many years. She left teaching to write and illustrate children′s books.

She has won The Sunday Times Short Story Award, the Hennessy Literary Award, and has been shortlisted twice for Bisto Awards. In 1997 she won the International Youth Library [Munich] White Ravens title for The Dwellers Beneath.

She has been the judge for the children’s poetry competition at the Dromineer Literary Festival since the first festival in 2004.  Her searching yet sympathetic analysis of the entries is a notable feature of the event.

For further information go to:  http://www.maryarrigan.com/index.html

 

David Shaw-Smith

Born in Dublin in 1939, he was educated in Dublin, Scotland and emigrated to the US before returning to Ireland in 1961 to work for RTÉ's nascent television division. Since 1970 he has, with his wife Sally, produced over 100 television documentaries, including the Hands series about traditional crafts for RTÉ.

His films are held in the collections of the American Museum of Broadcasting and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1984, he published Ireland's Traditional Crafts, which he revised through nationwide grassroots research for a new edition published in 2003.

In 1999, he founded Ceárta Inneona, Ireland's first blacksmithing school, and serves as its chairman. His awards include the Special Jury Selection at the Los Angeles International Film Festival (1993), the Jacob's Television Critics Award (1986) and the Golden Harp Award (1984) and an honorary doctorate from Trinity College, Dublin (1987). He recently received funding from The Heritage Council for an Audiovisual Irish Heritage Archive (2005). He lives in Co. Mayo.

 

The Poetry Divas

Under the inspired leadership of Kate Dempsey, the fabulous Poetry Divas Collective have read at festivals and cool events all over Ireland including Castle Palooza Festival, the Electric Picnic and Flat Lake Festival.  They regularly appear at the International Bar and the Centre for Creative Practices in Dublin.  
 

Ronan Dodd

A prize-winning member of the Nenagh Players, Ronan Dodd has appeared in The Hostage, The Lion in Winter and The Flight to Gosse.  He has adapted C.S. Lewis's Grief Observed,based on the author's experience of bereavement following the death of his wife, Joy Gresham, which he presents as a powerful monologue.  Ronan is a well-known journalist with the Tipperary Star.
 

Oisin McGann

Born in Dublin, he studied art at Ballyfermot Senior College and Dún Laoghaire School of Art and Design, and went on to work in illustration, design and film animation. He moved to London in 1998, where he eventually found work as an art director and copywriter for an advertising agency. He returned to Ireland in 2002. He now lives in Kells and works as an author, freelance illustrator and artist.

For further information go to:  http://www.oisinmcgann.com

 

George Hooker

George Hooker is in his final year of a Media Arts Degree at Dublin Institute of Technology. He has written and directed a number of short films, including 'Hazel Point', 'Return to Sender' and 'The Factory'. He intends to continue a career in the film industry after graduation.