Des Ekin is a journalist and the author of four books. Born in County Down, he began his career as a reporter at age 16 and rose to become Deputy Editor of the Belfast Sunday News before moving to his current home in Dublin. He worked as journalist, columnist, Assistant Editor and finally as Political Correspondent of the Sunday World from 1982 until 2012. He has written two crime novels, Stone Heart and Single Obsession. His bestselling history book The Stolen Village (2006) was shortlisted for the Argosy Irish Nonfiction Book of the Year Award and also shortlisted for Book of the Decade in the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards. In 2014 The Last Armada, his account of the Spanish invasion at Kinsale, was nominated for Nonfiction Book of the Year. He is married with a son and two daughters.
Details of this year’s festival programme can be found elsewhere on this website.