To mark our 30th anniversary, this discussion looks back at the contribution of older people to the social and cultural history of Ireland over the last 30 years. The discussion will be chaired by RTÉ arts producer and editor Clíodhna Ní Anluain and will comprise distinguished voices from the arts and journalism sectors including archivist and activist Catriona Crowe, writer and journalist Martina Devlin, visual artist Alice Maher, poet Tom McCarthy, and writer Louise Nealon. This event will also be live-streamed.
Watch the Livestream Here
Biographies:
Catriona Crowe
Catriona Crowe is an Archivist and Broadcaster, and Curator of the First Thought Talks Programme at the Galway International Arts Festival, and the European Parliament Spring Talks at Europe House in Dublin. She is Chair of the SAOL Project, a rehabilitation, education and advocacy service for women with addiction issues in Dublin’s North Inner City. She is a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
Alice Maher
One of Ireland’s leading artists, Alice Maher works within the realms of nature and culture, subversion and transformation, mythology and memory. Her work spans drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and moving image. She has made many collaborative works in theatre, dance, film and social activism over a career spanning almost 40 years.
Louise Nealon
Louise Nealon is a writer from County Kildare. Her debut novel, Snowflake, released in May 2021, won Newcomer of the Year at the An Post Book Awards and was chosen for the One Dublin One Book campaign in 2024. Her second novel, Everything that is Beautiful, is due to be published in 2026.
Dr Martina Devlin
Dr Martina Devlin is an author and newspaper columnist. She has written nine novels, two non-fiction books, plays and a collection of short stories. Her latest novel, Charlotte, explores Charlotte Brontë’s Irish connections. Prizes include the Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Prize and a Hennessy Literary Award. She writes a weekly current affairs column for the Irish Independent, for which she was named National Newspapers of Ireland Commentator of the Year, among other journalism prizes.
Thomas McCarthy
Thomas McCarthy was born in Co. Waterford in 1954 and educated at University College Cork. He is a member of Aosdána. He worked for many years at Cork City Libraries. He has won many awards for his poetry, including The Patrick Kavanagh Award and the Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize. His first collection was published by The Dolmen Press, Dublin, in 1978, and his Prophecy was published by Carcanet Press in 2019. Carcanet UK published Plenitude in 2025. His Memory, Poetry and the Party: Journals 1974-2014, and Questioning Ireland were recently published by The Gallery Press.
