Meet the #DBF2020 Children’s Programme Authors!

Peter Donnelly is an Irish author and award-winning illustrator. His debut picture book The President’s Glasses (Gill Books) was a No. 1 bestseller and his second book The President’s Cat (Gill Books) won the Children’s Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. Peter lives and works in Dublin.

Councillor Hazel Chu was elected the 352nd Lord Mayor of Dublin at the Annual Meeting of Dublin City Council held on 29th June 2020 in the Round Room at the Mansion House. Councillor Mary Callaghan was elected the Deputy Lord Mayor. In 2019, she became the first Green Party councillor to be elected in the local elections for the ward of Pembroke and topped the poll with over 4,000 first preference votes. In the same year she was elected Chair of the Party. She studied politics and history in UCD and trained to be a barrister at Kings Inns. While studying she worked as a fundraising consultant for non-profits and as a production manager for music festivals. After being called to the Bar in 2007 she worked in Sydney, Hong Kong and Guilin. Upon returning home she was offered a Fellowship by UCD Smurfit and worked in New York for Bord Bia. She has worked in various management roles and in 2013 became Diageo’s Head of Brand, Corporate and Trade Communications. Hazel Chu is the 9th woman to hold the office of the Lord Mayor of Dublin.

Áine Ni Ghlinn is Ireland’s 6th Laureate na nÓg (Children’s Literature Laureate). She is the first artist working solely in the Irish language to be awarded the honour. Laureate na nÓg is an initiative of the Arts Council, managed on the Council’s behalf by Children’s Books Ireland, with the support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and Poetry Ireland. The lecture was commissioned by Words Ireland as part of their first Lecture Series.

Marian Keyes is the international bestselling author of Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Rachel’s Holiday, Last Chance Saloon, Sushi for Beginners, Angels, The Other Side of the Story, Anybody Out There, This Charming Man, The Brightest Star in the Sky, The Mystery of Mercy Close, The Woman Who Stole My Life, The Break and Grown Ups. Her journalism, collected under two titles, Making It Up As I Go Along and Under the Duvet: Deluxe Edition, containing the original publications Under the Duvet and Further Under the Duvet, are also available from Penguin. Marian lives in Dublin with her husband.

Darragh McCullough is a journalist, broadcaster and farmer specialising in agricultural and rural affairs. He is the longest-serving presenter on RTÉ television’s Ear to the Ground programme. He lives on a family farm in Co. Meath.

Úna Woods is an illustrator and author who lives in Dublin. Her work has been published in books, magazines and websites. She loves working with bright colours and patterns in her illustrations. She grew up in Clontarf, very close to where Bram Stoker was born. Her first children’s picture book Have You Seen the Dublin Vampire? will be published by The O’Brien Press in September 2020. Find more about Úna and her work at unawoods.com