Alison Lyons is Head of Finance for Dublin City Libraries 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. Before taking on the Finance role she was Director of Dublin UNESCO City of Literature.
Alison Lyons joined the board of Literature Ireland on the 29th of June 2018.
Anne Barrington was Ambassador of Ireland to Japan from 2014 to 2018 until her retirement. In 2018, she was appointed by the government as Special Envoy for Ireland’s United Nations Security Council Campaign 2021–22. She served as Joint Secretary in the North South Ministerial Council in Armagh, Northern Ireland, was Ambassador to Tanzania, served at Ireland’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York and in Ireland’s Embassy in Washington DC. When in Dublin, her positions included Director General Europe Division and Director of the National Forum on Europe. She also worked for three years in the Department of the Taoiseach on European Union affairs.
Anne Barrington joined the board of Literature Ireland on 4 October 2019.
Lisa Coen is founding co-publisher at Tramp Press. Tramp is a Dublin-based publisher committed to discovering exceptional new writing. Lisa graduated from NUI Galway and holds a PhD from the School of English, Trinity College Dublin.
Lisa Coen was appointed to the Board on 1st July 2022.
Danielle McLaughlin is a writer based in Cork, Ireland. She is the author of the short story collection Dinosaurs on Other Planets, and her stories have appeared in the New Yorker, The Irish Times, the Stinging Fly, and various anthologies. Danielle has won the Windham Campbell Prize and the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award. Her first novel, The Art of Falling, was published in 2021.
Danielle McLaughlin joined the board of Literature Ireland in July 2022.
Lebanese-born Dr Rita Sakr is Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Postcolonial and Global Literatures at Maynooth University, Ireland. She is the author of two monographs and many journal articles/book chapters, co-editor of two collections of essays, and co-director of an ESRC-funded documentary.
Rita is a member of the jury for the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, commissioning editor for the Arab and Middle Eastern Literatures volumes of the Literary Encyclopedia, co-founder of the Irish Network for Middle Eastern and North African Studies and serves on committees, public engagement initiatives and international funded research projects focused on forced displacement, especially from the MENA region.
Rita Sakr joined the board of Literature Ireland on the 20th of January 2022.
Martín Veiga is a lecturer in Hispanic Studies at University College Cork, where he is also the director of the Irish Centre for Galician Studies and one of the convenors of the research cluster ‘Translation and Creative Practice’. He is the co-editor of Galicia 21: Journal of Contemporary Galician Studies and has published six award-winning collections of poetry and academic work in areas such as contemporary poetry, travel writing and literary translation. In 2017, he received the prestigious Pedrón de Honra award for his sustained dedication to the international promotion of Galician culture.
Martín Veiga joined the board of Literature Ireland on the 29th of June 2018.
Charles O’Regan is Company Secretary and Head of Finance in the Economic and Social
Research Institute. He is a qualified accountant and a fellow member of the Association of
Chartered Certified Accounts. He holds a B.Comm from UCD. He has over 40 years’
experience in financial and governance roles. He also provides assistance to the Irish
Economic Association, Economic and Social Studies, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council and he
is a member of the forum for the implementation of Impact 2030, Ireland’s Research and
Innovation Strategy.
Charles joined the Board in August 2023.
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