OUR COMMITTEE

Conor McAnally is an award-winning writer, performer, producer and TV director. Irish-born he is a former investigative print, radio and television journalist.

Conor has produced thousands of factual and entertainment television shows for networks worldwide including BBC, ITV, Channel 4, DirecTV, AMC, Nickelodeon, RTE, SBS, Fuse. His TV shows have garnered 22 major awards including five British Academies and five from the Royal Television Society.

Love Spines was the 2024 winner of the Plaza Prize for Microfiction. His short stories Shattered Silence and The Bell Tolls were published in the anthology Stories of Place ///zinc.level.blindfold by Black Rose Writing in April 2025.

His novel Bullets In The Water, a thriller set in Texas, will be published in November 2025 by Stoney Creek Publishing.

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.

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

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 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 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!

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’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.

Lynda is a native of Glasgow and writes historical fiction, and is published by Ringwood, a small publishing house based in Glasgow. She is currently working on an eight series covering the first Scottish Wars of Independence termed The Independence Chronicles and has two books published, Raise Dragon and Revenge of the Tyrants, with a third ‘The Magic of the Sunstone’ out in June 2025. She splits her time between Oslo, Glasgow and Ireland where her family reside in Dublin, Downpatrick and Ballymena.

Outside of her writing she dabbles in IT and learning languages

Trish Groves lives in Kildare and is the author of historical biography ‘Petticoat Rebellion: The Anna Parnell Story’, exploring the role of the Ladies Land League during the Irish Land War of 1879-1882, published by Mercier Press. She is also a screenwriter, and her short film ‘Rapunzel: The Blonde Years’ went viral on YouTube. As with all screenwriters, she has written far more than has ever been produced, but still loves writing in this form. However, tired of reams of ‘notes’ from production executives, she turned to haiku (a form of Japanese poetry which conveys maximum insight with minimal syllables) and found out, somewhat ironically, that even haiku can generate extensive notes. Her haiku were included in the anthology ‘Between the Leaves: New Haiku Writing from Ireland’, published by Arlen House.

When not procrastinating on her latest work, you will find her knitting a fiendishly complicated garment that she will never wear.

Katie McDermott is a writer and English teacher from County Meath. Her short stories have been published in Banshee, Autonomy and Literary Orphans, among others. She has also been long listed for the Irish book awards and was a participant in the BIA pilot programme.

She is currently editing a novel, CHRONIC, and getting ready to query agents with it.