Board of Management

Chairperson

Elizabeth O’Connell

Appointed to board 2018; appointed Chairperson 2022

Recording Secretary

Edward Fahy

Appointed Recording Secretary 2013

Edward Fahy has worked in the National Library of Ireland and University College Cork, and also as a consultant in the development of library and information services. He has been involved in developing a number of community activities in social services and the arts.

Members

Beverly Parayno

Appointed to board 2024

Beverly Parayno was born in the Bay Area and raised in East San José by immigrant parents from the Philippines. Her fiction, memoir, essays and author interviews appear in Narrative Magazine, Bellingham Review, The Rumpus, Warscapes, Kuizache, and Southword, among others. Her work has been translated into Mandarin and published by World Literature, a journal of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Her debut short story collection WILDFLOWERS is published by PAWA Press (2023).

Sarah Harte

Appointed to board 2022

Sarah Harte is a prize-winning author. She has won or been placed in short story competitions in both Ireland and the UK including The Bridport Short Story Prize and The Manchester Fiction Prize. She has two novels published. In 2021, she was nominated to the Literary Peer Panel of the Arts Council of Ireland.

Dan Boyle

Appointed to board 2018

Dan Boyle is a former Green Party TD and Senator. He is an experienced practitioner in community development, voluntary organisations, and public affairs, with over 30 years experience in community and voluntary work and 20 years experience in elected public office. He is also a lifelong environmental activist, regular media contributor and public speaker, author of books on political history, and writer of regular opinion pieces.

Pádraigín O’Donoghue

Appointed to board 2018

Pádraigín O’Donoghue is a teacher of Languages (Russian, German, French) and English lit. She has promoted writers & musicians as co-performers with students in school as part of school culture and has scripted for RTÉ TV and Radio. Founder & co-director The Galway Garden Festival for five years, she introduced poetry readings and  botanical art to the festival. She designs gardens & lives in Cork.

Marc O’Sullivan

Appointed to board 2015

Marc O’Sullivan Vallig is an artist, writer and curator. He worked as Arts Editor of the Irish Examiner from 2008 to 2014. In 2015 he curated the exhibition Seán Scully: Figure Abstract at the Crawford Art Gallery. In 2020 he published his first book, People of the Sea: A Maritime History of Beara.