A native of Belfast, RB Kelly has a PhD in Film Theory and published her doctoral thesis, Mark Antony and Popular Culture, with IB Tauris in 2014. Her short fiction and non-fiction articles have appeared in magazines and journals across the world, and her short story, Blumelena, was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize in 2012. The Edge of Heaven, her first novel, was a joint winner of the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair Award, and was published by Liberties Press in 2016.
Dr Esther MacCallum-Stewart is a researcher who examines player narratives and communities in games. She has written widely on sex, sexuality and love in games, and is currently working on an edited collection of essays about the developing role of board-gaming in geek culture, and a single authored text about boardgaming narratives. Her latest book; Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Fantasy (with Jude Roberts), was published in June. She’s also the Secretary for the Dublin 2019 Worldcon Bid and organises gaming events around the UK.
Jo writes science fiction and fantasy, either in her Space Opera world of Abendau or on the streets of her native Northern Ireland. She’s also a prolific writer of short stories and enters regular flash fiction competitions. She blogs – and occasionally rants – on www.jozebwrites.blogspot.co.uk.
As well as writing, Jo runs her own consultancy, shepherds not-so-young children and has several pets – and a husband, buried in the chaos. She is keen to see cloning technology move on or, failing that, housekeeping robots.
More about her, including links to several free-to-view short stories can be found on www.jozebedee.com and she can be followed on Twitter under @joz1812.
Author of the Grenshall Manor Chronicles, Russell A. Smith has enjoyed many an adventure both with pencil, paper and dice, and also in real life. Each has been a formative experience for him. A keen petrolhead, he has a long list of things he wants to drive, and the list grows longer every day.
Russell has enjoyed an eclectic career so far, with more interesting past jobs including editing newsletters and magazines, and spending a small part of the year as a Tudor soldier and time traveller.
These days Russell spends a lot of time on tour across the UK investigating various houses and even more drinking tea. As well as writing, he enjoys a semi-regular presence on the Book Worm podcast on Fab Radio International.
Russell currently resides in Manchester, UK, and can be lured out of the house with the promise of fun conventions, great music or exciting teddies.
Nigel Quinlan
Nigel Quinlan is an Irish author whose stories have appeared in Albedo 1 and whose short story collection, This Way Up, was published by Aeon Press. His children’s fantasy novel, The Maloneys’ Magical Weatherbox, was published last year by Orion Children’s/Hachette (there was a takeover just before Weatherbox came out, it was a whole thing), and a paperback edition will be out in the US this Autumn from Roaringbrook Press. His next book will be The Cloak Of Feathers, out sometime next year from Orion Children’s. Follow him on Twitter @Nigellicus
Peadar Ó Guilín
Peadar is the author of four YA novels, including The Call, which is a bit like a Harry Potter book where everybody dies. He has also published dozens of short-stories. You can find him at peadar.org, or on Twitter as @TheCallYA.
Maura McHugh lives in Galway, and began her career in academia. Her first Masters examined Irish nineteenth century supernatural fiction (making her a life-long Dracula nerd). After a sojourn in IT she later explored her love of cinema through a Diploma in Film Studies followed by a Masters in Screenwriting. Her dark fantasy and horror short stories and non-fiction essays have appeared in magazines and anthologies in America and Europe. Her two collections – Twisted Fairy Tales and Twisted Myths – were published in the USA, and she’s written award-winning comic book series, including co-writing Witchfinder with Kim Newman for Dark Horse Comics.
She’s also a playwright and screenwriter, and has appeared on RTÉ Radio 1’s culture programme Arena talking about Popular Entertainment. She’s helped organise conventions, curated programming for events such as WorldCon in London and the Hay Festival in Kells, and has served on the juries of international literary, comic book, and film awards. Her short story “Bone Mother” is currently being adapted into a stop-motion short film by See Creature in Canada.
Her web site is http://splinister.com and she tweets as @splinister
Oisín McGann started off working in illustration, design and film animation, later moving into advertising as an art director and copy writer. He now works full time as a writer and illustrator. He has produced numerous books for all ages of reader in a range of genres, including eleven novels. He teaches the Science Fiction and Fantasy Course at the Irish Writers’ Centre. His illustration work has been exhibited in venues such as the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the European Parliament in Brussels and the Festival of Young Readers, Palais Auersperg, Vienna. Oisín is a winner of the European Science Fiction Society Award, and his books have been shortlisted for numerous other awards, including le Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire in France and Locus Magazine’s Best First Novel Award in the US.
Celine Kiernan’s critically acclaimed work combines fantasy elements with the exploration of political, humanitarian and philosophical themes. She is best known for The Moorehawke Trilogy, a dark, complex YA fantasy trilogy set in an alternative renaissance Europe. In 2009 the first book of the Moorehawke Trilogy, The Poison Throne, won The Readers’ Association of Ireland Award for best book; it was included in the White Raven Collection and shortlisted for the 2009 Irish Book Awards in two categories. In 2010 it was long-listed for an Australian Silver Inky Award.
Celine’s fourth novel, Into the Grey – a YA ghost story set in 1970′s Ireland – won the 2012 CBI Book of the Year (formerly The Bisto award) and the CBI Children’s Choice Award. It is the first book to have won both categories. It won the RAI Book of the Year 2013, and was shortlisted for the Sakura Medal 2014. In 2013 the Irish Times named it as one of the best children’s books of the past 25 years.
Celine’s fifth novel Resonance, a Victorian gothic with Lovecraftian undertones, was released late 2015. She is currently writing a children’s fantasy trilogy, the first book of which is due for global release Autumn 2017.
Ruth Frances Long writes dark young adult fantasy, often about scary fairies, such as The Treachery of Beautiful Things, A Crack in Everything, A Hollow in the Hills and the forthcoming A Darkness at the End. (O’Brien Press, 2016). As R. F. Long, she also writes fantasy and paranormal romance.
She lives in Wicklow and works in a specialized library of rare, unusual & occasionally crazy books. But they don’t talk to her that often.
In 2015 she won the European Science Fiction Society Spirit of Dedication Award for Best Author of Children’s Science Fiction and Fantasy.