Kate Barry is a writer and secondary school teacher who lives in Cork City. Her work has appeared in the Sunday Tribune, Social & Personal, and Metropolitan, and been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She has twice been shortlisted for a Hennessy New Irish Writing Award, and longlisted for the Colm Tóibín Short Story Award.

Shane Coleman is the presenter of Newstalk’s The Hard Shoulder, Virgin Media’s The Tonight Show and the popular podcast Top Five Books. He is a former Political Editor and Business Editor of the Sunday Tribune newspaper. A regular columnist for the Sunday Independent, he is also the author of four books on Irish politics, including Bertie Ahern and the Drumcondra Mafia and Scandal Nation: Key Events that Shook and Shaped Ireland.
 

Vanessa Conneely is a former TV producer and presenter who now works as a Communications Manager with NASC, the Cork-based Migrant and Refugee Rights Centre. Before moving to Kinsale, she lived in Canada, Qatar, Turkey and Malta, working for organisations such as Al Jazeera, TRT World, and the Irish Times.

Tara Flynn is an actor and writer for theatre, radio and TV. Her one-woman shows Not A Funny Word and Haunted(THISISPOPBABY) were produced on the Abbey’s Peacock stage. She co-hosted BBC R4/ Sounds comedy podcast Now You’re Asking with author Marian Keyes and currently plays Emma Rafferty in RTÉ’s Fair City.

Matthew Geden was born and brought up in England and moved to Kinsale in 1990. He is a poet with numerous publications throughout Ireland and abroad. His most recent collections include Fruit (SurVision Books, 2020) and The Cloud Architect (Doire Press, 2022). He was the Writer-in-Residence for Cork County Library and Arts Service 2020-2022.

Mairéad Hearne is an Irish blogger from Cork with a passion for reading. Since establishing her blog, Swirl and Thread, in 2016, Mairéad has developed relationships with many authors, publishers and fellow book bloggers across the globe. She has hosted events both online and in-person. Her favourite genres are historical, contemporary, crime/psychological thrillers and literary fiction. Mairéad works for Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin and the Irish online literary website, writing.ie. Her reviews can be found on www.swirlandthread.com.

David Peare is a tour guide, actor and storyteller. He trained in the Gaiety School of Acting and has since worked on numerous and various productions, from street theatre (including the Kinsale Ghost tour) to theatre in education, touring Shakespeare around the schools of Ireland. He also works in pantomime with CADA, Chattyboo, and the Rampart Players.

Mary Wilson is a journalist and broadcaster. Until 2025 she presented RTÉ’s most listened-to radio programme, Morning Ireland. For 15 years, she was in the hot seat as presenter of the 4.30-7pm Drivetime programme on Radio 1, and before that she was the station’s award-winning legal affairs editor. Despite hanging up her presenting hat, she continues to be passionate about politics and news and is an avid reader and book festival regular. She is first and always a proud Drangan woman