Tony Kennedy, Director
Tony is a graduate of Loughborough and Ulster Universities. Between Aug. 1992 and Dec. 2008 he was Chief Executive, Co-operation Ireland, and in 2003 was awarded the OBE for services to North/South co-operation. In addition to his involvement with the John Hewitt Society, Tony is also: a Member and Chair of Policy and Communications Committee, N I Community Relations Council; on the Advisory Board for The Market Place Theatre, Armagh; Board member, Institute of British Irish Studies; Board Member for the Centre for Cross Border Studies; Deputy Chair, Ulidia Housing Association; and a Member of the Task Force on Active Citizenship, Republic of Ireland
Maureen Boyle
Maureen grew up in Sion Mills, County Tyrone and lives in Belfast. She studied at Trinity, East Anglia and London. She was runner-up in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Prize in 2004 for an unpublished collection. She was awarded Arts Council bursaries in 2006, 2007 and 2009. In 2007 she was awarded the Ireland Chair of Poetry Prize and the Strokestown International Poetry Prize. In the same year she received an Arts Council Travel Award to travel to Leuven in Belgium to research a long historical poem. She's completing a first collection and works as a teacher and a children’s bookseller.
C L Dallat
Cahal, a poet, musician and critic, was born in Ballycastle, County Antrim, in 1953. He studied statistics and operational research at Queen’s University Belfast, and has since worked in television, publishing and information technology. He has two poetry collections:
Morning Star (Lagan Press,1998), and
The Year of Not Dancing (Blackstaff, 2009). He lives in London, and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Review. He reviews literature and the arts for several publications including the
Times Literary Supplement. He's married to the writer Anne-Marie Fyfe; they have two children.
Eamon Delaney
Eamon is a commentator and editor of Magill magazine, which covers political and cultural affairs. He is also the author of A
n Accidental Diplomat, an account of his time in the Irish foreign service and
The Casting of Mr O’Shaughnessy, a novel about Irish art and history. Later this year, he will publish
Breaking the Mould – a Story of Art and Country. All books are with New Island Publishing.
Anne-Marie Fyfe
Anne-Marie (b. Cushendall, County Antrim) lives in London. She was Chair of the UK Poetry Society (2007-2010), and has organised the influential poetry reading series at London's Troubadour since 1997. She's a freelance teacher of Literature and Creative Writing, has published three collections of poetry, including
The Ghost Twin from Peterloo Poets. Her
New and Selected Poems is from Seren Books (2010).
Dr. Myrtle Hill
Myrtle is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Sociology Social Policy & Social Work, Queen's University Belfast. Formerly Director of the Centre for Women's Studies, she teaches in history, gender studies, disability studies and approaches to the NI Conflict. Reflecting her experience as a mature student, she co-ordinates the University's Access programme and is involved in educational initiatives with the wider community. Her research focuses on social, religious and gender history in Ireland and she's published widely in these areas.
Bill Jeffries
Bill is a self–employed Business Owner / Manager since 1966. My current business interest is “The Wordsmith’s Forge” a Literary Agency specialising in emerging writers with contacts in Publishing Houses in Dublin, London and worldwide. I am developing Audio Books for download through the Internet and promoting ‘Podcasting as the new Publishing’. I have been an active member of The John Hewitt Society committee for four years helping with Communications, PR and Marketing. I am a Regional Committee member of the Federation of Small Business, and hold Directorships in two charitable organisations – Institute for Personal Development and the Concerned Residents Association. On a personal level my interests include stargazing, photography, social networking on the web, current and political affairs and I am a regular contributor to business affairs on BBC and in Print Media. As an Actor I take part in local drama productions and pick up work as a Film Extra.
John Killen
John was educated at Queen’s University Belfast where he obtained a B.A. and two M.A.’s. He began working for the Belfast Public Library in 1975 and joined the Linen Hall in 1977 as Irish and Reference Librarian. In 1978 he became Deputy Librarian, a post he held until his recent elevation to Librarian. During his thirty-three-year stint with the Library he has published eleven books including the definitive History of The Linen Hall Library 1788 – 1988. His knowledge of the many collections held at the Library is unrivalled. Other books include:
John Bull's Famous Circus - A postcard history of Ulster 1904- 1984;
The Irish Christmas Book;
The Pure Drop, A Book of Irish Drinking;
The Decade of the United Irishmen 1791 - 1801;
The Famine Decade 1841 - 1851; and
Dear Mr McLaverty.
Paul Maddern
Paul was born in Bermuda. His undergraduate degree was in Film Studies (Queen's University, Ontario, 1983) and he then danced for the Colorado Ballet and Dancer's Stage (San Francisco). After living in London, he moved to Northern Ireland in 2000 and is completing a PhD at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen's University Belfast, for which he is building a digital online archive of poets reading their work in public. (See here: Seamus Heaney Centre Digital Archive) In 2009 he was a winner of the Templar Poetry Pamphlet Competition, with
Kelpdings, and his first full-length collection,
The Beachcomber’s Report (2010), is also from Templar. He is also on the Advisory Board of the Seamus Heaney Centre.
Paul McAvinchey
Paul taught at St Patrick’s Grammar School, Armagh, where he was Senior Teacher. He's been involved in the Arts in Northern Ireland, is a current member of FLGA, was Programme Co-ordinator of Armagh Arts Festival and the “Music in Armagh” chamber music series. He has served on the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and on the Boards of the Lyric Theatre, Belfast, The Market Place in Armagh, and the John Hewitt Society since 2003.
Brian Scott
Brian was educated at The Queen’s University of Belfast, University of Zambia, and Harvard University. He worked in Africa, Latin America, UK, and the United States in educational publishing and agribusiness management before developing in the Glens of Antrim the integrated aquaculture production facilities, branding, and distribution for Glenarm Organic Salmon. In 1997 he became the first chief executive of Oxfam Ireland, formed from a de-merger of Oxfam UK + Ireland. During more than ten years Oxfam Ireland grew from £4m net revenues and 19 staff to £12.2m and 115 employees. Brian Scott now serves on a number of public and voluntary sector boards in Northern Ireland.
Dr. Patricia Scott
Patricia was born Belfast, Northern Ireland. She worked as librarian in Zambia and Tanzania; for Longman Publishers as an editor in Mexico; and for Harvard Business Review, Harvard University. She has degrees from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a PhD from Harvard Graduate School, Harvard University in Social and Psychological Anthropology. On returning to Northern Ireland, Pat worked as a commissioning editor for Appletree Press, Belfast and latterly as a counselling psychotherapist for the Brook Clinic and for the Family Planning Association.
