Speakers

Yasmeen Ismail is an Irish author and illustrator, living in Bristol. She never imagined that she would be so fortunate to work in children’s publishing

Paul O’Flynn is an RTÉ News and Sports presenter and journalist. A graduate of DCU, he is an associated lecturer at his alma mater. He

In 2009, Jacqui became the first female anchor of Sunday Sport on RTE Radio One. She presents the daily sports bulletins on RTE’s 6.1 news

Nicola Colton is an Irish author-illustrator living in Bristol with her husband and black and white cat, Odysseus. Her debut picture book, A Dublin Fairytale,

Corkonian Sheena Dempsey has illustrated books for all ages, including The Magic Moment and Take Five by Bressie, and Mermaid School by Lucy Courtenay. She

Oliver Jeffers is another national treasure. He grew up in Belfast and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. A visual artist and author

Eoin Colfer is one of Ireland’s best-loved writers. Famous world-wide for his Artemis Fowl books, his first book was published in 1998 and he has

Andrew Whitson is a multi-award-winning artist and a Belfast native who likes to be called Mr Ando! He lives in an old house which nestles

Malachy Doyle was born in Carrickfergus and grew up in Whitehead, County Antrim, by the sea. The seventh of eleven children, he had the freedom

Tá trí pictiúirleabhar scríofa ag Sadhbh Devlin; Bí ag Spraoi Liom! (maisithe ag Tarsila Kruse), Beag Bídeach agus, a leabhar nua, Geansaí Ottó (iad maisithe

Máire Zepf is from County Down and has written eleven books for children, from picture books to YA verse-novels. She was the first Children’s Writing

Lindsay J Sedgwick is an award-winning screenwriter and creator of the ground-breaking series Punky, the first mainstream animation series worldwide in which the central character

Marianne McShane grew up on the shores of Belfast Lough in Bangor, Co Down. As a child, she loved getting lost in the magical worlds

Kieran Fanning is a primary school teacher who has written six novels for children. The Black Lotus, an action/adventure about time-travelling ninjas was published in

PJ Lynch was born in Belfast and over his career as a multi award-winning illustrator he has illustrated over twenty books, including modern editions of

Peter Donnelly is an award- winning picture book author and illustrator from Dublin. His much-loved ‘President’ books The President’s Glasses, The President’s Cat and The 

John Kane lives in Dublin and only began creating picture books a few years ago. He has a background as a creative in advertising, and

Oisín McGann is one of Ireland’s most prolific writer-illustrators, producing books for all ages. He is the author of the hugely popular Mad Grandad books,

Kim Sharkey is an award-winning illustrator who received the Children’s Books Ireland Eilís Dillon Award for her first children’s book, Mór agus Muilc. A multi-media

Bex Sheridan is an illustrator, writer and graphic designer. She has a great love of animals and is often commissioned to illustrate them. Bex and

Gerry Daly is an illustrator and an author. His first book, set around the Skellig islands, was Where Are You, Puffling? written by Erika McGann.

Catherine Doyle is from Co Galway, on the west coast of Ireland. Her multi award-winning début children’s novel, The Storm Keeper’s Island is set on

Celine Kiernan lives in rural Ireland surrounded by cows and cats and people she loves. She writes the kinds of books she wants to read,

Paul Howard is an author, journalist and comedy writer, best known as the creator of the Ross O’Carroll-Kelly series. He has won a record four

Gordon D’Arcy is a former Leinster, Ireland and Lions rugby player.  He received his first cap in 1999 and played inside centre for most of

Jennifer Farley is an illustrator and designer. She draws pictures for children’s books, maps, apps, websites and even t-shirts! Jennifer is the author and illustrator

Shane Hegarty is the bestselling author of Boot, a story about a toy robot with only two-and-half-memories. Boot was recently Dublin UNESCO City of Literature

Pádraig Kenny is an Irish writer who hails from Newbridge in County Kildare and now lives in Limerick. His debut novel Tin, published in 2018,

Author of the Skulduggery Pleasant series and the Demon Road trilogy, Derek lives in Dublin and is awesome. Seasons of War is the 13th Skulduggery

Margaret Anne Suggs was born and raised in the American deep South, but now lives in Dublin. When she is not drawing, painting and making

Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin is a writer and publisher, based in An Spidéal, Conamara. His children’s publishing house, Futa Fata, has more than 100 books in

Sallyanne Sweeney studied English at Trinity College before completing an MPhil in American Literature at Queens’ College, Cambridge. She is an agent with Mulcahy Associates

Lorraine Levis is a Key Account Executive for Penguin Random House Children’s Books and an The Irish Times columnist. She started her career as a

Chris Haughton is an Irish author/illustrator based in London. He was listed in Time magazine’s DESIGN 100 for the work he has been doing for

Chris Judge is an award-winning author and illustrator from Dublin. His picture books include The Lonely Beast series, The Great Explorer and Tiny and Teeny.

Judi Curtin was born in London, and grew up in Cork. She trained as a primary school teacher, but is now a full-time writer. She

Paddy Donnelly is an Irish author and illustrator living in Belgium. He has over fifteen years’ experience as an illustrator and designer, and especially loves

Gráinne Clear is a Commissioning Editor at Walker Books. Before this she was Publishing Manager and Art Director at Little Island Books, an independent Irish

Helen Carr is a Senior Editor at The O’Brien Press, an independent Irish children’s publisher. She has always been interested in the book world and

Anna Carey is a Dublin journalist and author. Anna’s first book, The Real Rebecca won the Senior Children’s Book prize at the Irish Book Awards.