Mary O'Donnell is an Irish novelist and poet, journalist, broadcaster and teacher. She has written and published six novels, including The Elysium Testament and Where They Lie, and Sweep the Cobwebs off the Sky (Époque Press UK), ten collections of poetry (including Those April Fevers Arc UK 2015 and "Massacre of the Birds", Salmon 2020), and four volumes of short stories. She has produced many poetry collections, two of which, Reading the Sunflowers in September (1990) and Spiderwoman's Third Avenue Rhapsody (1993), earned Irish Times Literature Award nominations. Later works include September Elegies (2003), The Place of Miracles (2006) and The Ark Builders (2009).

Mary has taught creative writing at Maynooth University and has been a judge for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, the Hennessy Literary Award, the Strokestown International Poetry Competition, Poetry Now and the Irish Times/Mountains to Sea Poetry Prize. Mary is a member of Aosdána.

Dr. Shauna Gilligan is a writer and educator who has lived in Kildare for over 25 years. A graduate of University College Dublin (UCD), she also holds a PhD in Writing from the University of South Wales. Shauna facilitates creative writing workshops across community and academic settings and has given workshops in universities including Maynooth, UCD, and Vanderbilt (USA). She has received many awards for her writing including a Creative Ireland Bursary (2021), Brigid 1500 Arts Act Grant (2023) and the Jack Harte Bursary (2025).

Image credit: Ger Holland

Martina Murphy– writer and director.

Martina Murphy is the author of 22 novels. She is the author of the DS Lucy Golden crime series and has written under the names Tina Reilly, Martina Reilly and Martina Murphy. Her novel 'Something Borrowed', was long listed for an Impac award. Martina's books have been sold internationally and translated into a number of languages. Her 25th novel The Wrath, the fifth instalment of the DS Lucy Golden series was released in 2025.

Martina has also written a number of plays for stage and her play ‘The InBetween’ was read as part of the DunLaoghaire Play Platform. She was one of the producers and writers on the FRACTURED podcast - a limited series podcast telling the story of an Irish family during the Irish War of Independence.

Geraldine is a drama facilitator/writer/director who works mainly with youth. Currently, she is Artistic Director at Straffan Drama Club, a youth theatre for teenagers which she co-founded in 2020.  Prior to that, she founded PlayActing Youth Theatre in Celbridge in 2016 and served as Artistic Director until 2020. She was awarded a certificate in Youth Work Studies (NUI) in 2019, underpinning her commitment to using drama to teach life skills to young people.

During the COVID pandemic she starting writing and directing historical site-specific theatre in Celbridge.  These include The Ghosts of Tea Lane Graveyard, in Tea Lane Graveyard in 2020, Under Lady Louisa’s Bonnet in the grounds of Castletown Parklands in 2021, Celbridgians in the grounds of Kildrought House in 2022 and Swift’s Secrets for the Swift and Vanessa Festival in 2023/2024.

She is a recipient of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre Residency (KCC) and The John Hewitt International Summer School Bursaries in 2024. Most recently, she wrote and directed Moving Statues based on the Ann Lovett tragedy in 2025. She was shortlisted for Scripts: Ireland’s Playwriting Festival for her play Growing Olives in 2026. Last year was the first Swift’s Salon and we are very much looking forward to the second in 2026.