Porto. Image source syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu

His novels in Irish are Na Deithe Breige (Baile Átha Cliath, Coiscéim, 2007); and Seachran na Mic Uí gCorra (Coiscéim, 2008).

As well as a mini-anthology of two bi-lingual stories entitled Porto (Galway, Arlen House, 2010), Padraig’s short stories have been included in Lón Leitheoirachta 1 and 2, both edited by Philip Cummings, (Coiscéim, 2005 and 2006).

Seachran Na Mic Uí gCorra shared an Oireachtas na Gaeilge in 2009.

He lives in North Co.Dublin

Na Deithe Breige at Coscéim
Seachran na Mic Uí gCorr at Coscéim

Catherine Barry. Image source author

Catherine Barry was born in 1963 in Dublin.

Her novels are The House That Jack Built (London, Simon & Schuster, 2001); Null & Void (Simon & Schuster, 2002); and Skindeep (Simon & Schuster, 2004).

Her non-fiction is Charlie & Me (Dublin, New Island books, 2011).

She lives in Dublin.

Catherine Barry on Facebook

Catherine Barry: Charlie and Me: interview with Catriona Devery at writing.ie

Interview in Dublin People

Catherine Barry at The National Library of Ireland

John Kelly. Image source author.

John Kelly was born in Enniscorthy.

His debut collection is Gathering the Dead in the Garden (Scalta Media, 2013).

He lives and works in North County Dublin.

Other Things I Didn’t Tell. Image source scalltamedia.com

Maggie Breen was born in Monageer, Co Wexford.

Her debut collection is Other Things I Didn’t Tell (Enniscorthy, Scalta Media, 2013).

She divides her time between Sallins, Co. Kildare, and Dingle, Co. Kerry.

Maggie Breen at Scalta Media

Ciarán Collins. Image source ciarancollinsauthor.com/

His debut novel is The Gamal (London, Bloomsbury, 2013/New York, Bloomsbury, 2013).

He lives in Kinsale with his wife and has one daughter.

Ciarán Collins’ website

Madge Herron. Image source http://arassheaghainbhain.ie

She moved to London sometime during the 1940s or fifties. By the 1970s, as a poet she was regarded as something of a lost treasure by the younger generation of Irish writers including Shane Connaughton, Pearse Hutchinson, and Eddie Lindon who published her in his literary magazine Aquarius.

She was known for her love of animals, acerbic wit and her dark humour. In her later years she lived an itinerant life on the streets of Kentish Town and around Camden. She published little in her lifetime due to her distrust of commercial publishers but preferred to read and broadcast her work.

Her poetry is published in Aquarius, Pillars of the House, An Anthology of Verse by Irish Women. (Ed. A.A Kelly, Wolfhound Press, Dublin 1987), and Love Poems by Women: An Anthology of Poetry from around the World and through the Ages (edited by Wendy Mulford, Fawcett Columbine, New York, 2000).

Madge Herron died in a North London nursing home, June 19th 2002.

* contributed by Padraig O’Gallachoir

Brighid MacLaughlin’s tribute to Madge Herron in the Irish Independent.

Ita Daly’s response to Brighid MacLaughlin’s tribute in the Irish Independent about Madge Herron

Madge Heron Obituary, The Guardian

He studied in Oxford from 1915 but the following year year joined the British Army and served in France. On leave in Dublin in Easter, 1916, he was involved in the incident in the Irish Rising when Major Francis Vane had Captain Colthurst court-martialed for the murder of innocent citizens, including the pacifist Francis Sheehy-Skeffington. The strain of this experience coupled with his service in France seriously affected his health and he was invalided out of the army. He spent the next few years in the Isle of Jersey, later acquiring a PhD, his dissertation being on Æ (George Russell). He taught school from 1927-1939 and returned to Dublin in 1939.

His poetry includes The Tremulous String (London, Grayhound Press, 1926); The Branch of Hawthorn Tree, (Grayhound Press, 1927); For Daws to Peck at (London, Victor Gollancz, 1929); A Ballad (Grayhound Press, 1930); Seventeen Sonnets (London, Joiner and Steele 1932); This Insubstantial Pageant (London, Phoenix House, 1951); and The Velvet Bow and Other Poems (Hutchinson, 1972).

His novel is The Climate of Love (London, Gollancz, 1961).

He published the biographical work Netta (London, Routledge and Keegan Paul, 1960); and a critical memoir of Yeats, The Masterpiece and the Man: Yeats as I Knew Him (London, Rupert Hart-Davis, 1959).

His autobiographical works include The Seals (London, Jonathan Cape, 1935); Mount Ida (Jonathan Cape, 1948); Inglorious Soldier (London, Hutchinson, 1968) The Brahms Waltz (Hutchinson, 1970); and The Pupil: A Memory of Love (Dublin, Wolfhound Press, c. 1981).

He was an important critic, editor and introductory essayist. In 1963, Gibbon collaborated in the editing and publication of Michael Farrell‘s posthumous novel Thy Tears Might Cease.

He was a member of the Irish Academy of Letters and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

He died in Killiney, Co Dublin on October 29, 1987.

Monk Gibbon at Queen’s University Belfast Archives

Monk Gibbon at Emory University Irish Collections

Monk Gibbon at The National Library of Ireland

He studied Medicine at University College Dublin but was imprisoned in Mountjoy Jail for six months during the War of Independence. On release he embarked on a walking tour of Europe accompanied by young woman who had been a fellow medical student, and thereafter worked as a Marine Customs Superintendent under the Belgians in the Congo.

He resumed his medical studies on his return, this time at Trinity College, Dublin, but soon abandoned them to devote himself to literature.

He worked for several years for Radio Éireann and wrote under the pseudonym of Gulliver for Sean O’Faolain‘s journal The Bell.

In 1937 on O’Faolain’s recommendation his novel was accepted by a publisher in London. However, Farrell spent the next fifteen years in a failed attempt to edit the book and died before publication. The book was finally edited and submitted by his friend Monk Gibbon who reduced it by 100,000 words. Published as Thy Tears Might Cease (London, Hutchinson, 1963/New York, Alfred A Knopf, 1963), it became a best seller, and was translated into many languages.

He died on June 24th 1962.

Michael Farrell at The National Library of Ireland

Máiréad Ní Ghráda. Image source clarelibrary.ie

A member of Cumann na mBan, the women’s division of the Irish Volunteers, she was secretary to Ernest Blythe during the period of the first Dáil Éireann. From 1926, she was a pioneering producer of children’s and women’s programmes for 2RN (precursor of Radio Éireann) and later became Radio Éireann’s principal announcer.

Her proseworks include a collection of short stories, An Bheirt Dearbhráthar agus Scéalta Eile (Baile Átha Cliath, Oifig an tSoláthair, 1939); and a science fiction novel, Mannán (Oifig a tSoláthair, 1940).

Her plays include An Uacht (Oifig an tSoláthair, 1935), An Grá agus An Gárda (Oifig an tSoláthair,1937), Giolla an tSolais (Oifig an tSoláthair, 1954), Úll Glas Oíche Shamhna (Oifig an tSoláthair,1960), Súgán Sneachta (1962), Stailc Ocrais (Oifig an tSoláthair, 1966), and Breithiúnas (1978). An Triail, dealing with the fate of an unmarried mother, is her most famous work and had a successful run in the Dublin Theatre Festival of 1964.
It was published in a two-play volume, An Triail [agus] Breithiúnas:dhá dhráma (Oifig an tSoláthair, 1978).

She wrote extensively for children in Irish, and also translated stories for children into Irish.

Amongst her awards is an Abbey Theatre Award in 1933 for her play Micheál.

She died in Dublin in 1971.

Máiréad Ní Ghráda at Clare Library

Máiréad Ní Ghráda interview (audio)

Máiréad Ní Ghráda at The National Library of Ireland

Jonathan Dunne. Image source: author

His novels are Academic Octagon (London, Local Legend Publishing, 2008); and Fia The Envoy (Somerset, UK, Netherworld Books 2012).

He has published articles on various sportspeople, mainly martial artists and is currently a columnist with the Irish Fighter Magazine.

He lives in Dublin.

Jonathan Dunne on Facebook

Jonathan Dunne on Twitter