Representing the interests of Irish writers

OUR COMMITTEE

the EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE of the IRISH WRITERS UNION is ELECTED to RUN the AFFAIRS of the UNION for TWELVE MONTHS

Any member who is fully paid up may be elected to the committee at the Annual General Meeting each March. If you are a member and would like to serve on the committee then send us an email expressing interest.

/ Irish Literature / our committee
/ Irish Literature / our committee

Lindsay J Sedgwick

Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the IWU

Lindsay J Sedgwick is an award-winning screenwriter, playwright and author based in Dublin and Galway; most recently author of the Wulfie series with Little Island, the fourth of which (Wulfie: A Ghostly Tail) was published in March 2022. She has written across genre for film and TV in live action and animation, for children and adults, and also for games and apps, and is currently adapting her first novel, Dad’s Red Dress for TV. She created Punky, the first mainstream animation series in the world in which the central character has special needs (Down’s syndrome) and in 2017 published Write That Script, Ireland’s first comprehensive character-driven screenwriting guide.

Conor McAnally

Secretary

Conor McAnally is an award-winning investigative print journalist who transitioned to television writing, producing, and directing. He retired from TV to concentrate on writing and has completed his first novel, Bullets In The Water — a thriller set in Texas. Conor and his wife Kay divide their time between homes in Austin, Texas and Portumna, County Galway, Ireland. His short story The Psychiatrist’s Window was recently published in the Ramblings and Reflections anthology from SouthWest Writers.

Helen Dwyer

Executive Committee Member

Helen’s first collection of poems, Still-Faire, in English and Irish was published in 2010. Her second collection of poems, Beyond, was launched in the Irish Writers Centre, Dublin, in 2011. Helen’s third collection of poems, No Surrender in Irish, English and Romanian, was launched in Timisoara, Romania in 2014. Helen has read her work at festivals throughout Europe and in India. Helen has just completed a novel, Secrets, a coming-of-age story set in Dublin, Paris, Italy and New England. Her fourth collection of poems, Leaning Against the Sky, is at the final draft stage. She is now working on her next novel, Last Letters.

Katherine Mezzacappa

Final Draft Editor and Email Coordinator

From Carrickfergus, Katherine Mezzacappa is currently based in Italy. Writing as Katie Hutton, she has published The Gypsy Bride and The Gypsy’s Daughter with Bonnier Zaffre, with Annie of Ainsworth’s Mill to follow in July 2022 and a further title in 2023. As Katherine Mezzacappa, The Virgin of Florence will be published by Impress Books in September 2022. Her short fiction has been published worldwide. Katherine works as a manuscript assessor for The Literary Consultancy and is a reviewer for the Historical Novel Society. Katherine holds degrees from the University of East Anglia, Durham University and Canterbury Christ Church University.

See also katherinemezzacappa.ie

Roy Hunt

Treasurer

Roy Hunt is the author of the eco thriller Mutation, set on the Irish midlands lake, Lough Ree. An indie (self published) author, Roy has written on PLR and Self Publishing. He loves writing and researching stories set in Ireland and in and around Athlone in the 1980s. He is currently working in two distinct genres, men’s adventure and psychological thrillers. You can find more information on Roy Hunt’s progress and his books here. Roy is also on Amazon.

Roy is the treasurer of the Irish Writers Union.

Jonathan Saint

Executive Committee Member

Jonathan spent 20 years in educational publishing in New Zealand where he grew up, UK, South Africa and in Ireland since 2000. Eventually he realised that the truth lies in writing and since 2015 has been writing fiction and poetry for children and adults with some small publishing credits. He has been a board member of the Irish Copyright Licensing Agency since 2008 and is currently its Chair.

Conor Kostick

Disputes Officer

Conor Kostick is an author of both fiction and non-fiction and he has won awards for his writing in both categories including a place on the International Board of Books for Youth for Epic. At their 2009 awards, the Reading Association of Ireland gave him the Special Merit Award. Conor was a board member of the National Library of Ireland from 2015. As Disputes Officer for the Irish Writers Union, Conor has garnered a great deal of experience, particularly in regard to publishing contracts.

Click here for Conor Kostick’s writings.

Audrey Mac Cready

Audrey Mac Cready

Executive Committee Member

Audrey is published in ‘The Dublin Historical Record’ (2015) with her article.
“The Yellow Lion Inn – one building, 260 years of Irish history”, and on the
online womensmuseumofireland.ie, about 1798. She will appear in ‘Breifne
Journal’ in 2024, writing about Patrick McCabe Fay and has blogged on her
genealogical website, ‘Rebels and Rogues’ since 2010.
Audrey has worked as an archaeologist, a librarian and an EU official in
Brussels, and is finally a writer. She has two unpublished novels under her
belt and is embarking on a third. ‘The Acrocorinth Incident’ was a runner-up in
the Novel Fair 2022. Always hopeful!

Gerald M Kilby

Executive Committee Memmber

Gerald M. Kilby grew up on a diet of Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clark, and Frank Herbert, which developed into a taste for Iain M. Banks and everything ever written by Neal Stephenson.
Understandable then, that he should choose science fiction as his weapon of choice when entering the fray of storytelling. CHAIN REACTION is his first novel and is very much in the old-school techno-thriller style while his latest book series, MOON BASE DELTA,  COLONY MARS and THE BELT, are all best sellers, topping Amazon charts for Hard Science Fiction and Space Exploration. He lives in the city of Dublin, Ireland, in the same neighbourhood as Bram Stoker and can be sometimes seen tapping away on a laptop in the local cafe with his dog Loki.

geraldmkilby.com

Glenda Cimino

Executive Committee Member

Glenda Cimino is a director and writer, whose works includle the films Vale Road (2008), One Night in Dublin (2017) and Down by the River (2011).

Lenore Hart

Executive Committee Member

Lenore Hart is the author of nine book-length works of fiction – including the critically acclaimed Waterwoman, a Barnes & Noble Discover selection – and numerous short works of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She’s series editor of The Night Bazaar fantastic fiction anthologies, and also writes as Elisabeth Graves. Hart has received awards, grants, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Oberpfalzer Kunstlerhaus in Germany, and several US state arts councils and universities. She lives in Virginia, serving as fiction editor at Northampton House Press. She teaches at the Ossabaw Island Writers Retreat near Savannah, Georgia.

SP McArdle

Executive Committee Member

SP McArdle’s background is in journalism but her first love is creative writing (she tried never to confuse the two!). A former Books Editor with the Evening Herald and – for over 20 years – a Sunday Independent book reviewer. Currently working on a magical quadrology for eight- to 12-year-olds. The first two books are out of print and being rewritten. The third manuscript is in reasonable shape. Number four may have to wait a little while. She’s finally learning to pace herself and that self-care is liberating – once you can ditch the guilt. New motto: Put on your own oxygen mask first.

John O’Brien

Executive Committee Member

John O’Brien is a writer from Co Cork. His first book is called Christianity and Social Democracy – an exploration of Christian socialism. He is currently working on a second book which will be a science fiction story.

John Waring

Executive Committee Member

John taught languages, and drawing and design. He has a Masters in social and political matters and has written on these subjects.

At present John is writing a work involving Hiberno-English, with which he is ‘up to his oxters’.