Cathal Mac Coille is a Dubliner. Educated at Coláiste Mhuire and UCD, he spent a brief but satisfying period as editor of Comhar before graduating with a BA in history. He worked as a researcher in RTE Radio before being appointed to the Nuacht desk in the Newsroom. He was a member of the station's Belfast staff between 1978 and 1984. A period as presenter of Morning Ireland followed before he left RTE to join the Sunday Tribune, where he was appointed assistant editor in 1992. When TG4 was established in 1996, he became the station's political correspondent. He returned to Morning Ireland in 2001 and has been one of the programme's regular presenters since then. He writes a weekly column on politics in Foinse.

Tomás Mac Siomóin was born in Dublin in 1938. He received his education at the Christian Brothers School, Westland Row, Dublin and at University College Dublin. He has a doctorate from Cornell University, New York. He has served as editor of Comhar and Anois. Published work includes a short story collection, three novels, four poetry collections and four polemic and critical booklets, and in addition to this he has translated novels and poetry from Spanish and Catalan. Awarded Oireachtas short story prizes in 1974 and 2005. An Tionscadal, one of his novels, was awarded the main Oireachtas literary prize in 2006. He has four children and five grandchildren. He currently lives in Sant Feliu de Guixols near Girona in Catalonia.

Michael Cronin was born in Dublin in 1960 and was educated in Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin. He was co-editor of Graph: Irish Cultural Review from 1986 to 1999 and a founding member of Dáil Uí Chadhain. He is the author of works such as Translating Ireland: Translation, Languages and Identity (1996) Translation and Globalization (2003), Time Tracks: Scenes from the Irish Everyday (2003), Irish in the New Century/An Ghaeilge san Aois Nua (Dublin, Cois Life, 2005), Translation and Identity (2006), The Barrytown Trilogy (Ireland into Film series, 2007). He is co-editor of Tourism in Ireland: A Critical Analysis (1993); Anthologie de nouvelles irlandaises (Québec, L’Instant même, 1997); Reinventing Ireland: Culture, Society and the Global Economy (2002); Irish Tourism: Image, Culture and Identity (2003); The Languages of Ireland ( Dublin, Four Courts Press, 2003). He holds a Personal Chair in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dublin City University and is a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He is co-editor of The Irish Review and a Member of the Board of Poetry Ireland.

Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, one of Ireland's foremost women poets writing in Irish, was born in 1952 in Lancashire. Over the years, Nuala has gained prestige and recognition for her works which focused on Irish folklore, myth, and culture. She has won numerous international awards for works which have been translated into French, German, Polish, Italian, Norwegian, Estonian, Japanese, and English. Her works include Cead Aighnis, The Astrakhan Cloak, Pharaoh's Daughter, Selected Poems and Spíonáin is Róiseanna. Nuala has the distinction of being one of the few women Irish poets who writes exclusively in Irish and has been praised for her efforts to revitalize the Irish language in modern poetry. She is a member of Aosdána and the recipient of the 1988 O'Shaughnessy Award for Poetry and the 1991 American Ireland Fund Literary Award.

Nuala chose to write in Irish as she feels that Irish is a language of beauty, historical significance, ancient roots and an immense propensity for poetic expression through its everyday use.. Her literary upbringing was peppered with exposure to classic Greek and Roman myths, of which she still writes. Her myth poems express an alternative reality which is as much a part of our world as it is alien. She speaks of her reasons for writing about myths as those that are an integral part of the Irish language and Irish culture and therefore must not be ignored.

Gabriel Rosenstock is a poet and haikuist, author/translator of over 100 books. He is a member of Aosdána. He has taught haiku at the Schule fuer Dichtung/ Academy of Poetry in Vienna. He has worked in journalism, broadcasting and publishing and now writes fulltime in Irish and English. Some of his poetry can be viewed on the websites of Poetry Chaikhana and Poetry International.

Dr. Niall Brady is a graduate of UCD (BA 1983, MA 1986) and of Cornell University (PhD 1996). His research interests include agrarian technology, with a particular emphasis on arable cultivation during the medieval period; and maritime archaeology. Niall has achieved scholarships to study at Etnologiska Institutionen, Åbo Akademi, Finland (1987), and at Merton College, Oxford (1994), and has held the position of Visiting Assistant Professor at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut (1996-97), where he was appointed as a lecturer in the History Department. Since returning to Ireland in 1997, Niall has been very involved with private sector archaeology, and in 2000 co-founded The Archaeological Diving Company Ltd, which is Ireland’s leading underwater archaeological consultancy. In 2002, Niall joined the Discovery Programme. He lectures widely both at home and abroad, and is a regular participant at the International Congress of Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan. His current projects in addition to the core Discovery Programme MRSP publications include, as editor and contributor, On and Under Water: the Archaeology of Irish lakes and Inland Waterways, due to be published shortly. Niall is a council member of the Society for Medieval Archaeology (2005-2008) and of the Royal Irish Academy's Working Group on the Humanities and Social Sciences (2005-6).

Born in Ballaghaderreen, where both her father and mother were teachers, Mairéad Ní Nuadháin lived in Galway for many years. She was a founding member of Druid Theatre and she was  also involved in  Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe,  Raidió na Gaeltachta and Macnas Theatre. While still living in Galway she worked as a presenter  on many Irish Language television shows, most notably “Cúrsaí” which was broadcast live every weeknight on RTÉ 2. As a television producer she initiated the popular “Léargas” series which  is still running.  

Since becoming Commissioning Editor, she has commissioned  many different types of  series’ including “Families in Trouble,” “21 st century Child,”  “No Place like Home,” “Far Away Up Close,” “George Lee in China,” “Science Friction,” as well  as “Scannal” and more recently the hit comedy series with Des Bishop “In the Name of the Fada.” She also commissions a broad slate of programming every year  for TG4, covering children’s,  entertainment , lifestyle and current affairs.

Mairéad is Commissioning Editor,  Irish Language,  Education and Multiculture in RTÉ Television.   

Pádhraic Ó Ciardha is Leascheannasaí (Deputy Chief Executive), of TG4 and a senior executive with the station since its inception in late 1994 and had been a central figure in the establishment and development of the Irish language television service.

He has extensive experience in broadcasting policy and journalism since 1979 and was engaged as full-time Irish Language Broadcasting Policy Advisor to two successive Government Ministers in the run-up to the establishment of the service. His responsibilities include corporate affairs and he is also the channel’s representative on a number of national and international bodies, including the Management Group and Executive Committee of the Celtic Film and Television Festival. He was a member of the Irish Government’s Think Tank on the future of the Film and Television Industry which reported its findings in mid 1999.

His background is in journalism and academics. He was a research scholar in the School of Celtic Studies in Dublin and lectured in Modern Irish at St. Patrick’s College Maynooth for two years. Subsequently he also established the Raidió na Gaeltachta bureau in Dublin where he served as correspondent for four years. He went on to become a member of the team which devised and established the flagship breakfast time radio news programme Morning Ireland on RTE Radio 1.

He is a native speaker of Irish from Cois Fharraige in Connemara, is married to Mary Hosty, a post-primary teacher and they have two sons who are being reared bilingually in Dublin.

A Belfast poet who takes much inspiration from the beauty of the North Coast, Medbh McGuckian publishes with GALLERY press who are even now  working faithfully on her next collection. Her work is considered difficult and dense but it can reward sustained attention as poetry is about the deepest things too deep for tears.She presently teaches creative writing at Queen’s University and has recently been the recipient of an honorary Doctorate from Aberdeen.

Pól Ó Muirí was born in Belfast in 1965. He was educated in St Mary’s Christian Brothers Grammar School and in Queen’s University Belfast. He was awarded a BA (Hons) in Celtic Studies and Classic Studies. He holds a doctorate in Celtic Studies. He is Irish language editor at the Irish Times. He writes a sports column for Foinse, a weekly column for the Belfast Telegraph and frequently contributes to the online magazine Beo! He is a creative writer and a poet and also writes novels for adult Irish learners

Darach Ó Scolaí is a novelist, playwright, and artist. His novel An Cléireach was awarded the Oireachtas Prize for Literature in 2007, the largest prize ever awarded to an Irish language novel. Two of his plays have been produced for the stage, Coinneáil Orainn , which won the Walter Macken Prize in 2005 and a BBC Stewart Parker Award in 2006,and An Braon Aníos , and two short screenplays have been filmed, Cosa Nite and An Leabhar .

Ríonach Ní Néill is a professional dancer and choreographer. From 2002 to 2006 she was a member of the internationally acclaimed Tanztheater Bremen, and has performed with many Irish dance companies, including Rex Levitates, Daghdha Dance Co., Catapult Dance, and Corp Feasa. Her choreographies for her company Ciotóg have been performed on stages and festivals throughout Ireland and Germany.

Morgan Cooke is a musician and actor, and has worked extensively with TG4 (FFC, Mieriligh, Maru etc.), Taibhdhearc na Gaillimhe ( Gaeilgeoir Deireannach Carna, Tine Chnámh, Coinneáil Orainn ) and with Branar Drámaíochta, a theatre in education company which tours primary schools and festivals. Morgan is a proud co-founder of the band Cuckoo Savante, who have been collaborating with Mary Coughlan since 2007. He is the rehearsal pianist for the Galway Baroque Singers, who are the subject of Bob Quinn's latest film "Notes on a Small Opera".

Now celebrating their 21st year of enthralling audiences with their eclectic brand of trad music. Attending a Kìla concert has been described by the BBC as one of the most brutally euphoric live experiences a music fan can enjoy.

Laoise Kelly, from Westport, Co. Mayo, is one of Ireland’s foremost traditional harpers. ‘Laoise has redefined the harp’s potential, moving it a step nearer its reinstatement as a traditional instrument’ The Rough Guide to Irish Music. She has won many harp titles including several All-Irelands and the Belfast Bicentennial Harp Festival competition, commemorating the great Harp Festival of 1792. She recorded two albums with the traditional group Bumblebees and is on over 50 recordings with the foremost artists in Irish music, as well as her acclaimed solo recording ‘Just Harp’.

Steve Cooney was born in Australia in 1953, and came to Ireland in 1980, where he has ancestral links with Tipperary & Cavan. He  maintains his Australian links with the Aboriginal people & culture, into which he was initiated in the Northern Territory. Described by the Irish Times as a "musical polymath", he is most known for the development of a widely-copied style of guitar accompaniment to traditional music, for which he won the National Entertainment Award in 1997. He has recorded, produced, or played on over 100 CD's of mainly traditional music. A poet and songwriter, his songs have been recorded by Mary Black among others. He is a visiting lecturer on music in a number of tertiary institutions. He has developed a new system of teaching music to children that he intends having introduced into the music curriculum in the near future, and is the development co-ordinator of FACÉ, an organisation supporting traditionally based musicians, singers & poets. www.face.ie