Susan Meissner

Susan Meissner is a USA Today bestselling novelist with more than a million books in readers’ hands and in eighteen languages. Her critically acclaimed works of historical fiction have been named to numerous lists including Publishers Weekly’s annual roster of 100 best books, Library Reads Top Picks, Real Simple annual tally of best books, Booklist’s Top Ten, Book of the Month, and Amazon Editors’ Pick.

Susan lives in the Pacific Northwest in the United States with her husband and yellow Lab, Winston.

Audrey Mac Cready

A former archaeologist, librarian and EU official, Audrey has researched her family history for decades.

She has blogged on her website - maccready.eu - 'Rebels & Rogues - from my family’s history' - for 15 years and is now writing novels.

Audrey is on the Council of The Irish Genealogical Research Society.

Carol McGrath

Carol McGrath was born and raised in Belfast. Her first degree from Queen’s University Belfast, in Russian Studies and English, included Irish Medieval History. She received an MA in Creative Writing at The Seamus Heaney Centre, Queen’s University, and an MPhil in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, London.

She is the author of ten best-selling Medieval and Tudor novels published by Headline, and one non-fiction book: ‘Tudor Sex and Sexuality’, published by Pen & Sword.

She lives in an Oxfordshire village with her husband, Patrick, whom she met as an undergraduate at Queen’s.

Laura McKenna

Laura McKenna’s debut novel, Words to Shape My Name (New Island, 2021) was a IWC Novel Fair winner & shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award.

She co-edited the Cork Stories anthology with Madeleine D’Arcy (Doire Press, 2024) Twice nominated for a Hennessy Literary Award, Laura featured in the 2021 Poetry Ireland Introductions Series. She is the recipient of Arts Council literature bursaries, Tyrone Guthrie Bursaries (Cork CoCo) and a John Montague Mentorship from the Munster Literature Centre.

Laura has a PhD in creative writing from UCC where she teaches in Medical Humanities.

Anne M. McLoughlin

Anne McLoughlin was born in Dublin, Ireland. After spending most of her working life in television production with RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcaster, she went freelance, which left her time to pursue her interest in creative writing.

Highly commended in the Colm Tóibín International Short Story Competition in the Wexford Literary Festival, this was followed by finalist in a ‘Meet the Publisher’ competition. A three book contract with Poolbeg Press resulted in her Lives family sagas. This trilogy was inspired by her research into her own family history, emigration from Ireland to America in the late 1800s.

Her latest book Andy is the story of a solitary man, living in rural Ireland, with themes of loneliness, friendship and the importance of community.

Michelle Moran

Michelle Moran is the internationally bestselling author of eight historical novels. A native of southern California, she attended Pomona College, then earned a Masters Degree from the Claremont Graduate University.

During her six years as a public high school teacher, she used her summers to travel around the world, and it was her experiences as a volunteer on archaeological digs that inspired her to write historical fiction.

Her novels, translated into more than twenty languages, include NEFERTITI, THE HERETIC QUEEN, CLEOPATRA’S DAUGHTER, MADAME TUSSAUD, THE SECOND EMPRESS, REBEL QUEEN, MATA HARI, and MARIA.

Laura Morelli

Laura Morelli holds a Ph.D. from Yale University, where she held a Mellon Fellowship in art history and a Bass Fellowship for writing in the humanities. Laura has taught college students in the U.S. and Italy.

She is a USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling historical novelist, with book club picks at Target, Costco, and Hudson News.

Her books include THE NIGHT PORTRAIT, THE GONDOLA MAKER, THE LAST MASTERPIECE, and other novels that seek to bring art history to life. Her latest book is THE KEEPER OF LOST ART (HarperCollins / Morrow, 2025), set in 1940s Tuscany.

Laurence O'Bryan

Laurence O’Bryan has been in marketing for over thirty years and writing for more than twenty.

He had three novels published by HarperCollins and was translated into 11 languages. One novel has twice been optioned for the screen. His historical novels include a series set in the late Roman Empire, A Dangerous Emperor. His latest series, set just after the Norman invasion of England, starts with The Rise of Synne.

He founded BooksGoSocial, a service to help authors market their books. He also founded the International Dublin Writers' Festival to help authors to connect and learn about the craft of writing. He is a regular speaker at writers' events in the United States and Ireland.

Sophie Perinot

Sophie Perinot has enjoyed more than a decade-long publishing career, writing novels centered on strong women.

Additionally, she’s co-authored RIBBONS OF SCARLET: A NOVEL OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION’S WOMEN, and A DAY OF FIRE: A NOVEL OF POMPEII, with fellow historical fiction novelists like Kate Quinn and Ben Kane. Sophie’s latest incarnation, Evie Hawtrey, writes crime with a side of twisty history. AND BY FIRE—an “atmospheric, absorbing mystery,” (First Clue)—features the 1666 Great Fire alongside its modern storyline.

Sophie splits her time between Washington DC, and York, UK (as a grateful recipient of the UK Talent Visa).

Jonathan Putnam

Jonathan Putnam’s Lincoln & Speed Mystery series retells the story of the famous American president Abraham Lincoln as a young lawyer on the American frontier.

He is currently working on a historical novel, inspired by his own family history, about two sisters from the Russian Empire who are separated by ethnic violence and try to find their way back to each other.

Jonathan has degrees in History and Law from Harvard University. He was a partner in a large New York City law firm, specializing in Intellectual Property Law, before resigning his law partnership to pursue his writing career.

Marie Powell

Marie Powell's castle-hopping adventures across North Wales resulted in her medieval fantasy duology, Last of the Gifted: Spirit Sight and Water Sight, set in 13th Century Wales.

In 2026, her picture book Garden Song (Lilac Arch Press) joins her 40+ children's books with such publishers as Scholastic Education and Amicus. Her short stories and poetry appear in literary magazines and anthologies, and she edits the annual Opening Doors Through Stories chapbook for newcomer Canadian authors.

Marie lives on Treaty 4 Territory in Regina, Saskatchewan, where she experiments in gardening, medieval cooking, and cat whispering.

Frances Quinn

Frances is the author of four historical novels: The Smallest Man, That Bonesetter Woman; The Lost Passenger and The Troublemakers.

They're set respectively against the backgrounds of the English Civil War; Georgian London; Downton Abbey-era England, the Titanic and early 20th century New York; and the beginning of women's football in Victorian England.

While their settings vary widely, what her stories have in common are characters who are in some way outsiders and have to fight to make a place for themselves.

Frances lives in Brighton, with her husband and three very spoilt Tonkinese cats.

Steven Smyrl

Steven Smyrl has practiced as a specialist in legal and probate genealogical research for the past 30 years. In 1993, he founded Massey & King Ltd., Ireland’s only incorporated firm dedicated to legal genealogy. He was admitted to membership of Accredited Genealogists Ireland in 1991.

In the spring of 2012 'Dead Money', a six part series was shown on Ireland’s main TV channel, RTÉ, which was based exclusively on probate research undertaken by his firm.

He is Chairman of the Council of The Irish Genealogical Research Society (IGRS).

Fiona Veitch Smith

Fiona Veitch Smith writes Golden Age mysteries and historical fiction. Her debut crime novel, ‘The Jazz Files’ (re-republished as ‘A Front-Page Murder’ in 2024), was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger in 2016, while her latest book, ‘The Penford Manor Murders’, is out now. The ‘Poppy Denby Investigates’ series and the ‘Miss Clara Vale Mysteries' are both set in the 1920s & 30s and published by Embla Books.

When not murdering people on paper Fiona makes vintage fashion from original patterns and wears them during book promotion events.

Fiona Whyte

Fiona Whyte’s debut novel, 'Let These Things Be Written', was published with Eye & Lightning Books in October 2024. Her short fiction has featured in several awards and appeared in a wide variety of anthologies. She co-edited the inaugural edition of Quarryman, UCC’s literary journal.

Fiona holds a PhD in creative writing from University College Cork and has been awarded funding by the Arts Council of Ireland, Cork County Council and the Irish Research Council.

She lives in Crosshaven, Co. Cork.