Ruth Johnson, the current city archaeologist for Dublin City Council, is a former curator of Dublinia and an internationally recognised expert on the Viking Age.
Bob Joyce is a grand-nephew of James Joyce, and is on the board of the James Joyce Centre in Dublin.
James Joyce (1882–1941) is regarded as one of the most influential and important authors of the twentieth century. After graduating from University College Dublin, Joyce went to Paris. During World War One, Joyce and Barnacle, and their two children, Giorgio and Lucia, moved to Zurich where Joyce began Ulysses. He returned to Paris for two decades, and his reputation as an avant-garde writer grew. Joyce’s works include the short story collection Dubliners (1914); novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Ulysses (1922) and Finnegans Wake (1939); two poetry collections Chamber Music (1907) and Pomes Penyeach (1927); and one play, Exiles (1918). Every year on 16 June, Joyceans across the globe celebrate Bloomsday, the day on which the action of Ulysses took place, proving Joyce’s importance to literature.
Chris Judge is an award winning author and illustrator from Dublin. His picture books include The Lonely Beast series, The Great Explorer and TiN. He is the author of Brian and the Vikings and Brian and the Giant. Chris illustrated Roddy Doyle’s children’s book Brilliant and collaborated with comedian David O’Doherty on the smash hit, Danger is Everywhere!
John Brendan Keane, who died in his native Listowel in 2002, remains one of Ireland’s most popular writers. He was the author of many awardwinning books and plays, including Big Maggie, Sive, The Year of the Hiker, Sharon's Grave and his masterpiece, The Field.
Michael Kelly is a freelance contributor to The Irish Times. He writes columns including ‘My Big Week’ and ‘What’s On’ for the Irish Times Magazine, ‘A New Life’ in the Health supplement and ‘The Irishman’s Diary’. His column ‘Giving Up’ in the Irish Times Magazine saw him forsake each week some of the essentials of modern life electricity, mobile phone, shaving, coffee etc. He also writes for The Gloss magazine (the Urban Farmer column and Restaurant Spy). He has appeared on The Dave Fanning Show, Mooney Goes Wild and Seoige and O’Shea. He previously worked in the I.T. industry.
The late Owen Kelly was one of Northern Ireland’s best-loved humorists, known predominantly for his two long-running columns for The Irish News – Kelly’s World and The Saturday Column. He was the author of two volumes of autobiography (Tales Out of School and Hens’ Teeth), two volumes of Ulster humour (Kelly’s Country and Kelly’s World) and a wealth of newspaper, radio and magazine work. Owen sadly died in 2008.