Mícheál de Barra was born and reared at the edge of the Burren – his spiritual home – in Co. Clare. After qualifying as a primary school teacher at Coláiste Mhuire, Dublin, he completed a BA Degree and a Higher Diploma in Education at UCD and a Masters Degree in Education at Trinity College. Having spent almost 40 years in education, he is now retired, dividing his time between Spain and Ireland. He has dedicated part of his retirement to writing.
His first book – An Bóthar go Santiago – is the diary of his 900 km walk along the ancient pilgrimage route from Southern France across Northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela and Finisterre. The Camino is one of the three great pilgrimages of the Middle Ages and there are records of intrepid Irishmen and women making this perilous journey going back to the 13th century. James Rice, Mayor of Waterford, made the pilgrimage twice, in 1473 and again in 1483.
‘An Bóthar go Santiago’ – the topic of his presentation – is described by Veritas as ‘an Irish pilgrim’s perspective on an ancient journey. A personal contemporary account of the physical and human landscape which he encounters along the way.’ This book won the Glen Dimplex Irish Language Award.
His second book – Gaeil I dTír na nGauchos – narrates the story of Irish emigrants to Argentina. It was born out of conversations with elderly Irishmen at the Hurling Club in Buenos Aires many years ago. These men spoke with strong Westmeath and Wexford accents
Details of this year’s festival programme can be found elsewhere on this website.
Avi McGourty – originally from Templemore, Co. Tipperary first discovered her love for singing and entertaining her audiences in Johnny Walsh’s Pub, Lyon, France where she was working as an English Language Assistant. It was from there that her passion grew and took her to more Music Venues and Celtic Festivals in France and further afield, her fondest memory being that of travelling to Norway, Trondheim and Steinkjer. It was journeys like these and more that inspired her to write songs along the way – her songs telling stories of where her paths have taken her.
Mark Graham discovered his love for festivals while hanging around with various ne’er-do-wells playing music at many of them, a habit he hasn’t managed to kick just yet. As well as publishing the tale of his quest to attend three festivals in Ireland every week for a year, he writes a weekly festival column in The Ticket with the Irish Times every Friday and has been a regular contributor to the John Murray Show on RTE Radio 1. His Year of Festivals Blog has won a couple of awards, but more importantly, during his Year of Festivals he won both the All Ireland Bucket Singing Championship and The All Ireland Conker Championship. It’s quite likely that he’s addicted to festivals, Buckfast and crisps.
Born in 1967, Tim Butcher was on the staff of the Daily Telegraph from 1990 to 2009 serving as chief war correspondent, covering all major conflicts across the Balkans, Middle East and Africa. His first book, Blood River, an account of his 2004 journey through DR Congo overland from Lake Tanganyika and down the Congo River, reached Number 1 in the Sunday Times bestseller list and was the only non-fiction title in the Richard & Judy Book Club 2008. It was also shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Dolman Best Travel Book Award and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Best Book award. Tim’s second book, Chasing the Devil, describes a 350 mile trek through Sierra Leone and Liberia following a trail blazed by Graham Greene and recounted in Greene’s Journey Without Maps (1936). Tim is currently based in Cape Town with his family and is a frequent contributor to the BBC radio programme ‘From Our Own Correspondent’ and writes regularly for the international press.
Michael is an international expedition leader and mountaineer with 25 years experience, climbing major peaks on 4 continents. He grew up in Waterford City where he trained as a carpenter. On completing his apprenticeship he set out on his adventures which would develop into a passion for mountaineering and a desire to visit remote places Having lived and worked abroad for many years (West Africa, Saudi Arabia, and the UK), Michael returned to Ireland in 1997. Since then he was an active member of the Comeragh Mountaineering Club for eight serving two terms as PRO. In 2006 Michael became the first Irish person to climb The North Face of Mt Damavand Iran.
Alannah Hopkin lives in Kinsale, Co Cork. She grew up in London and studied at Queen Mary College, University of London and the University of Essex. She has published two novels (Hamish Hamilton, London) and her non-fiction books include Eating Scenery: West Cork, the People & the Place (The Collins Press, Cork). Her stories have appeared in the London Magazine and the Cork Literary Review, among others.
Michael Fewer was born in Waterford City in 1946. After his studies, he enjoyed thirty years as a practicing architect based in Dublin, winning a number of awards both in Ireland and abroad. He also lectured in the Bolton Street School of Architecture, and was a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland when he changed direction more than a decade ago to spend more time travelling and writing. Since his first book was published in 1988 a further seventeen have appeared, dealing with walking, travel, history, architecture and the environment, including The New Neighbourhood of Dublin with Dr Maurice Craig, Doorways of Ireland, Rambling Down the Suir, and Michael Fewer’s Ireland.
At school, it was the enthusiasm of my geography teacher, which made the world seem a magical and exciting place, and it was without a doubt, under her tutelage, that the seeds were sown for my wanderlust and curiosity about other peoples and places.
Manchán Magan is a writer and documentary-maker. He wrote the Magan’s World travel column for Saturday’s Irish Times Magazine for 6 years and currently hosts the Right Hook travel slot. His travel documentaries focusing on issues of world culture for TG4, RTE & Travel Channel were shown in 25 territories around the world. No Béarla, his documentary series about travelling around Ireland speaking only Irish sparked international debate. He has written numerous travel books in English and Irish, including, include ‘Angels & Rabies: a journey through the Americas’ (Brandon, 2006), ‘Manchán’s Travels: a journey through India’ (Brandon, 2007) and ‘Truck Fever: a journey through Africa’ (Brandon, 2008). His Irish books include Baba-ji agus TnaG (Coiscéim 2006) and Manchán ar Seachrán (Coiscéim 1998). He has written for the Guardian, LA Times and Washington Post.