Our Board

Noel Fahey is a former diplomat. He served in the Department of Foreign Affairs from 1970 to 2011. During his service with the Department, he was mainly involved with European issues and was Head of the European Union Division in Dublin from 1991 to 1997. His service abroad included postings in New Delhi and in Brussels (EU). He was Irish Ambassador to Germany from 1998 to 2002, to the United States from 2002 to 2007 and to the Holy See from 2007 to 2011. 

Noel Fahey joined the board of Literature Ireland on the 19th of June 2013.

Frank Callanan is a senior counsel practising in Dublin and a historian.  He is author of The Parnell Split and T.M. Healy.  He has written the Dictionary of Irish Biography entry on Conor Cruise O'Brien, as well as on Parnell and others. He is currently completing a work entitled James Joyce in Ireland: A Political Life.

Frank Callanan joined the board of Literature Ireland on the 29th of June 2018.

Gerald Dawe is an Irish poet who has published twenty books of poetry and prose since his first collection, Sheltering Places, appeared in 1978. Professor of English and Fellow Emeritus of Trinity College Dublin he was founder-director of Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre (1998–2015). He has held academic and writing positions in Ireland, Britain and USA and given readings and lectures in many parts of the world. He lives in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin.

Gerald Dawe joined the Board of Literature Ireland on the 4th of August 2019. 

Martin Doyle is Books Editor of The Irish Times, which he joined in 2007. He is a former editor of The Irish Post and edited A History of The Irish Post in 2000 to mark its 30th anniversary. He has also worked for The Times of London and the Irish Daily Mail. He has an MA in French and German from the University of St Andrews.

Martin Doyle joined the board of Literature Ireland on the 27th of October 2017.

(joined 26 Apr 2016)
Ciara Higgins is Head of Artistic Programming at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She holds an honours music education degree from Trinity College Dublin and was director of the Great Music in Irish Houses Festival in 2016. 

Alison Lyons is Director of Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and is a librarian by profession. Following a BA in English and Classical Civilisation from Trinity College Dublin, she completed a Higher Diploma in Library and Information Studies in University College Dublin and has worked with Dublin City Libraries throughout most of her career, including for the Dublin Prison Library Service, where she managed services to prisoners in all seven of Dublin’s prisons.

Alison Lyons joined the board of Literature Ireland on the 29th of June 2018.

Declan Meade is publisher and founding editor of The Stinging Fly literary magazine, which he established in 1997 to publish and promote the best new Irish and international writing. Declan also runs The Stinging Fly Press through which he has edited and published debut short-story collections by Colin Barrett, Kevin Barry, Claire-Louise Bennett, Wendy Erskine, Nicole Flattery and Danielle McLaughlin. He has also edited several highly acclaimed short-story anthologies, including These Are Our Lives (2006), Let's Be Alone Together (2008) and Stinging Fly Stories (with Sarah Gilmartin, 2018). 

Declan Meade joined the board of Literature Ireland on the 14th of December 2015.

 D. Meade © John Minihan

John Roche is Head of Affordable Nutrition with Glanbia Ireland DAC. He holds an MA in Economics from Trinity College Dublin and has 35 years’ experience of managing exports of food and drink products to global markets.

John Roche joined the Board of Literature Ireland on the 27th of October 2018.

(joined 29 June2018)
Martín Veiga is a lecturer in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies in University College Cork, where he is also director of the Irish Centre for Galician Studies. He is also a poet and a literary translator.