Tom Allon is an award-winning journalist, columnist, media executive, and publisher. He has written for The New York Times, the Daily News, New York Post, Huffington Post, Dan’s Papers, City & State, The West Side Spirit, Our Town, and many other publications. Allon is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, Cornell University, and Stuyvesant High School. He has taught opinion writing at Hunter College and journalism and American literature at Stuyvesant High School. He has four adult children, three cats, and is married to Rebecca Cohen. They live in Dumbo, Brooklyn, and East Moriches, Long Island.

Frank McCourt helped launch Mary Pat Kelly’s bestselling novel, Galway Bay, by calling it “Pure Magic.” She is one of many authors who are grateful to him for his encouragement and support. Kelly went on to complete a trilogy based on her own family history, writing Of Irish Blood and Irish Above All. As an author and filmmaker, Kelly has told various stories connected to Ireland. Her award-winning PBS documentaries and accompanying books include To Live for Ireland, a portrait of Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume and the political party he led; Home Away from Home: The Yanks in Ireland, a history of U.S. forces in Northern Ireland during World War II; and Proudly We Served: The Men of the USS Mason, a portrayal of the only African American sailors to take a World War II warship into combat, whose first foreign port was Belfast. She wrote and directed the dramatic feature film Proud, starring Ossie Davis and Stephen Rea, based on the USS Mason story. Kelly wrote the biographies Martin Scorsese: The First Decade and Martin Scorsese: A Journey; Good to Go: The Rescue of Scott O’Grady from Bosnia; and the novel Special Intentions. She is a frequent contributor to Irish America Magazine. Kelly worked in Hollywood as a screenwriter for Paramount and Columbia Pictures and in New York City as an associate producer with Good Morning America and Saturday Night Live, and wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Shirah of Bethlehem. She received her PhD from the City University of New York. She has twice been one of the Top 100 Irish Americans by Irish America Magazine and in 2009 appeared on the magazine’s list of the Top 100 Global Irish. Malachy McCourt invited her to become a founding board member of the Irish American Writers & Artists. She was awarded the group’s Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award in 2026. Born and raised in Chicago, Kelly lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side with her husband, Web designer Martin Sheerin from County Tyrone.

Colum McCann is the internationally bestselling author of the novels of Apeirogon and TransAtlantic, both of which were longlisted for the Man Booker Prize; Let the Great World Spin, for which he was honored with the National Book Award; as well as Zoli, Dancer, This Side of Brightness, and Songdogs. He is also the author of three story collections: Everything in this Country Must, Fishing the Sloe-Black River, and Thirteen Ways of Looking; and the nonfiction books Letters to a Young Writer and American Mother. Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, McCann has been the recipient of many international honors, including the International Dublin Literary Prize, a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French government, election to the Irish Arts Academy, the 2010 Best Foreign Novel Award in China, and an Oscar nomination. His work has been published in more than 40 languages. McCann is the co-founder and president of the global non-profit story exchange organization Narrative 4, which helps build empathy in young people, encouraging them to improve their communities. His latest novel, Twist, was published in 2025.

Frank McCourt (1930 – 2009) and Malachy McCourt (1931 – 2024) were born in Brooklyn, New York, to Irish immigrant parents, grew up in Limerick, Ireland, and returned to America as young adults. For 30 years, Frank taught in New York City high schools. His first book, Angela’s Ashes, won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Award. He was also the author of the memoirs ’Tis and Teacher Man. In the 1950s, Malachy opened New York City’s original singles bar Malachy’s. He went on to a long career in film, television, radio, and on the stage, and as a bestselling author of many books, including A Monk Swimming and Malachy McCourt’s History of Ireland.

Kate Mulgrew starred as Galina “Red” Reznikov, the tough Russian prison chef who is always keeping score, for seven seasons on the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black. For her work on the series, Mulgrew received a Critics' Choice Television Award and a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Mulgrew is internationally recognized as Captain Janeway, the first female captain in the Star Trek franchise in Star Trek: Voyager. She reprised this role on the Paramount+ animated series Star Trek: Prodigy. Her career spans film, television, and the stage. Classically trained, she received a Golden Globe nomination at the age of 23 when she portrayed Mrs. Columbo, the wife of the famous detective. Other notable television appearances include Kate Loves a Mystery, Cheers, Murphy Brown, St. Elsewhere, Ryan’s Hope, The Black Donnellys, Mercy, Warehouse 13, NTSF:SD:SUV for Adult Swim, Mr. Mercedes, the Showtime limited series The First Lady, and the Showtime series The Man Who Fell to Earth. Mulgrew most recently appeared in the drama series Dope Thief for Apple TV+. Her film roles include Throw Momma from the Train, Star Trek: Nemesis, A Stranger Is Watching, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, The Response, and The Magnificent Meyersons. Mulgrew has toured throughout the United States as Katherine Hepburn in her stage play Tea at Five, for which she was nominated for Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel awards. Other theater credits include The Half Life of Marie-Curie, Equus, The American Dream, The Sandbox, Iphigenia 2.0 (for which she won an Obie), Our Leading Lady, Black Comedy, Titus Andronicus, and Somewhere Fun, all in New York. She performed in The Exonerated in London and regionally in The Royal Family, The Film Society, What the Butler Saw, Hedda Gabler, Measure for Measure, The Real Thing, Another Part of the Forest, Major Barbara, and Antony and Cleopatra. She recently starred in The Beacon at the Irish Repertory Theatre. Mulgrew is also an author of two memoirs––Born with Teeth (Little Brown), a memoir about life lived to the fullest which made the New York Times bestseller list, and How to Forget: A Daughter’s Memoir (Harper Collins) published in 2019.

Ciarán O’Reilly was born in Virginia, County Cavan, Ireland. He emigrated to the United States in the late 1970s. and began his professional stage career in New York. He has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, film, and television. In 1988, O’Reilly co-founded the Irish Repertory Theatre with Charlotte Moore. He now serves as its Producing Artistic Director. His work includes The Hairy Ape, Ulster American, and is currently directing The Dead 1904. O’Reilly has been recognized with multiple honors for his contributions to theater and the Irish-American community. Alongside Charlotte Moore, he received the Eugene O’Neill Lifetime Achievement Award from Irish American Writers & Artists, and both were awarded the Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad by President Michael D. Higgins of Ireland. The New York Landmarks Conservancy named O’Reilly a New York Living Landmark. His direction and productions have been nominated for Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Obie, Drama League, and Off Broadway Alliance awards. In 2024, he received the Richard Seff Award from the Actors’ Equity Foundation. He has traveled extensively on solo motorcycle trips around the world and in North and South America, from Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego, writing for American Motorcycle magazine.