President Michael D. Higgins secured the largest number of votes in Irish presidential election history in 2018. He is an academic and poet, as well as a public representative, pioneering prior Minister for the Arts and founder of the Irish television channel, TG4. The President has also campaigned worldwide for human rights and climate sustainability.

Dr Mary McGill is a media studies lecturer, journalist and author. Her first book, The Visibility Trap: Sexism, Surveillance and Social Media, was published in July 2021 by New Island Books.

Dr. Al-Qadri is a renowned Islamic scholar based in Ireland and a leading Muslim cleric in Europe who promotes an inclusive and plural society. He is the Chairperson of the Irish Muslim Peace & Integration Council and the Chief Imam of the Islamic Centre of Ireland.

Turtle Bunbury is a historian who brings the past to life through podcasts, public exhibitions, social media, and books such as ‘The Irish Diaspora’, ‘Ireland’s Forgotten Past’ and the award-winning ‘Vanishing Ireland’ project. turtlebunbury.com

Sinéad Gleeson’s essay collection Constellations: Reflections from Life won Non-Fiction Book of the Year at 2019 Irish Book Awards and the Dalkey Literary Award for Emerging Writer. It was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. She is the editor of The Long Gaze Back: An Anthology of Irish Women Writers, The Glass Shore: … Read More

Zadie Smith was born in North-West London in 1975 and holds a degree in English Literature from the University of Cambridge. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has twice been listed as one of Granta’s 20 Best Young British Novelists. Her first novel, White Teeth, was the winner of The Whitbread First Novel Award, The … Read More

Nick Laird: Born in County Tyrone in 1975, Nick Laird is a poet, novelist, screenwriter and former lawyer. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Betty Trask Prize, the Somerset Maugham award, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, and a Guggenheim fellowship. His most recent books are the poetry collection, Feel Free, the novel Modern Gods, and the … Read More