Carol Rooney is a Meath based Dublin born emerging playwright with caring responsibilities. She originally trained in performance before working as a director and also producer. Through her work as a drama facilitator and artist in residence she has workedacross many artistic and social environments from schools to prisons. She has written 23 plays for children and young people.

As part of their new drama initiative ‘The Special Event’ was staged as a public work in progress last Autumn in Droichead. Her play ‘Home’ was commissioned as a radio play which aired in October 2025.

Carol has been researching and developing ‘Biting Hard’ with support from MCC Arts and Creative Ireland which follows a family navigating Tara Mines closure in 2023.A founding member of 'Shifting Stages', a collective of carers and theatre artists dedicated to supporting each other’s practices with residencies in MoLI and DCC Incubation Space with 'Shifting Stages'.

In 2016 Georgina Sherlock joined Leixlip Writers Group and began creative writing. She received a first-class honours Certificate in Creative Writing from Maynooth University in 2017. She is currently undertaking a writing course with the Hedgeschool on the Moone, in Co Kildare. Georgina had a short story published in Coffee Shorts A Leixlip Writers’ Group Anthology.

Georgina has a degree in Media Management and Media Production, Diploma in Radio Production and a Certificate in Journalism from Thames Valley University. Previously, she worked as a television researcher for Tyrone Productions. She is currently working on a family memoir and is interested in exploring the world of podcasts. Georgina lives with her family in Leixlip, Co. Kildare and has cat called Marvin and a dog called Monty.

Joe has been involved in amateur theatre for over forty years as both actor and director and now lives in Leixlip, Co. Kildare. In 2018, he completed a “Directing for the Theatre” course at Maynooth University. Many of his short plays have been performed at numerous Short+Sweet festivals worldwide: Dubai, Canberra, Manilla, Hollywood, Sydney and Essex. His play “Interplay” won best script at the Claremorris Fringe Festival in 2018.

In 2019, supported by a Creative Ireland grant, he joined with three other Kildare-based writers to create and produce "Fractured", a drama series based around the Irish War of Independence in north Kildare which became a 43 part podcast.In 2023, his play "There's always Tomorrow" was performed by Barnstorm Theatre as part of a trilogy of plays "Bench Tales" for Kilkenny Arts Festival.

Originally from Co Galway, I have lived in Dublin for many years. I completed a Certificate in Creative Writing at NUI Maynooth in 2016. More recently I have completed creative writing courses in The Hedge School, Moone.

I usually write fiction and am currently working on a collection of short stories. I had a memoir piece published in the Ireland's Own Anthology of Irish Short Stories and Memories 2021. This piece I am reading today is a memoir piece.

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.

Richard Fallon is a retired civil servant having served at home and abroad. He has rekindled his love of creative writing in completing the Maynooth Certificate, further nurtured by the Hedge School at Moone. Delighted to be back at this year's Salon, his current focus is on poetry, autobiography and bringing his advanced work on a novel to completion.

Aideen completed a Certificate in Creative Writing in Maynooth University in 2023 and since then has been part of the Hedge school in Moone. This has allowed her to continue writing, mostly short stories and memoir pieces. Over the last year, Aideen has been writing a novel and will be reading a short excerpt from her book. She read a short story last year at the Vanessa Swift Salon and is very much looking forward to sharing her work again this year.

Aideen is from Dublin and lives with her husband, three boys and one grumpy cat. She is an Apheresis Nurse Mangager and works in St. James’s Hospital, Dublin.

From a very young age, Amanda Durkan has been writing. As a child, she filled notebooks with stories about foxes in their dens, falling asleep under the stars, and the land of the even socks. While she’s drawn to many creative disciplines, writing has always been her anchor.

She studied Sculpture at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin and graduated with a first-class honours in Interactive Media (MSc) from University College Cork. After ten years working in a corporate role, she started her own creative business, hand-making products for sale and teaching craft workshops. Since 2023, she has explored her writing and voice through the Hedge School on the Moone’s fantastic programme. She is currently drafting her debut novel, a speculative fiction work with Irish influences.

You can see a sample of her work on her website: amandadurkan.com

Originally hailing from Limerick, Gina has lived in Naas for many years with her family. Having gained a qualification in Creative Writing in Maynooth University in 2022, she has continued her writing studies at the Hedge school in Moone.

Gina enjoys writing fiction ( sometimes with a touch of humour) and poetry and is currently working on a themed book of short stories. She is very much looking forward to taking part in the Swift Salon for the first time.

Andrew Keeling is a composer, flautist and guitarist whose music has been broadcast and released throughout the world. He also writes books and album sleeve-notes about rock music. www.andrewkeeling.co.uk

Penny Smith, cello
Maeve Kerney, viola
Hanneke Foley, recorder

Having discovered our common love of music, we have been playing together for nearly twenty years, as a Quartet, a Trio, a Duo, depending on who is available on the day. ‘Arietta’ means ‘little aria’ or ‘little air’. We are about ‘little airs’ and we do hope that you will enjoy the music we have chosen to play this afternoon. 

Jacques Paisible (ca. 1656 – 1721) was a French baroque composer and recorder virtuoso who lived and worked in London for about forty years. We are playing the Prelude, Aire and Rondeau from his Suite in C minor.

Johann Christoph Schultze was a German composer active in the eighteenth century. We are playing the Sarabande and Rondeau from his Suite in D minor.

Turlough O’Carolan was an almost exact contemporary of Jonathan Swift and well known to Irish audiences. We will play ‘The Princess Royal’ and ‘Abigail Judge’.

Clare Kinsella lives near Gorey, Co. Wexford. She is a member of the writing group Hedgeschool on the Moone and likes to write memoir and poetry. She completed a Certificate in Creative Writing in Maynooth University in 2023 and a Certificate of Poetry in Carlow College in 2025.

Clare was the 2023 winner of the Personal Essay in the Write by the Sea Literary Festival and the 2024 winner of the Annual Ireland’s Own Writer’s Competition.

This is her second year to be part of Swift’s Salon, and she is very much looking forward to it and also participating in the many interesting activities on offer during the festival.