Lauren Booth is an internationally recognised journalist, public speaker and broadcaster.
Her articles have been published across UK national newspapers and magazines including The sunday Times, GQ, Hello Magazine, Mail on Sunday and the New Statesman.
In 2005 she travelled to Palestine to report on elections taking place. The visit changed the direction of not only her work, but her political outlook and eventually her faith. She joined the movement to end the illegal occupation of Palestine, breaking the siege of Gaza by sea with the Freegaza Movement in 2008 and by land with Viva Palestina in 2009. She created and presented ground breaking TV series ‘Diaspora’ and ‘Remember Palestine’ for Press TV hi lighting Israeli human rights abuses from the Nakba to today.
She is now a sought after public speaker on issues relating to faith, Islamophobia and inter community relations, regularly guesting on mainstream TV and radio.
Lauren is currently UK correspondent for aboutislam.net. and hosts DriveTime on Heritage Radio, Manchester.
Her memoir ‘Finding Peace in the Holy Land’ was published in September 2018
Skyler Jett is an award-winning, Grammy Recognized vocalist and one of the most sought after Singer/Songwriter and Background Vocal Producers in the Music Industry. Skyler’s impressive resume includes some of the biggest recording artists of our times. His accolades include receiving a Grammy Award-embossed plaque from NARAS for singing with Celine Dion on the Grammy-winning hit song “My Heart Will Go On” from the blockbuster hit film “Titanic.” This was also Record Of The Year (1998) and is still the highest grossing movie theme song of all time. Skyler’s other movie credits include Background Vocal arrangement on “I’m Every Woman” from the blockbuster hit film “The Body Guard”, also Movie Of The Year (1992), featuring Whitney Houston; “Tap” with Gregory Hines and Sammy Davis Jr.; “A Smile Like Yours” with Greg Kinnear; Disney’s “Hercules”; James Bond 007 “License To Kill”; “Big Bully” with Rick Moranis and Tom Arnold; and “Ghostdad” with Bill Cosby. From 2003-2007 Skyler also played a pivotal role in reintroducing Sly Stone back to the World Stage for a European tour. Skyler performed with Sly in such venues as: The Montreux Jazz Festival; North Sea Jazz Festival; Cannes; Olympia, Paris; The Love Box Festival in London and the George Wallace Show, Las Vegas.
Henry McDonald has been a journalist covering the Northern Ireland Troubles and the peace process as well as conflicts in the Middle East for nearly three decades. He has written for among others The Irish News and spent more than 20 years as Ireland Correspondent firstly for The Observer then latterly The Guardian.
Henry has also worked for The Sunday Times, the BBC as Northern Ireland Security Correspondent and been published in a number of media outlets from The Spectator to GQ magazine.
An author of eight non-fiction books including an extended photo-essay about the life of Martin McGuinness he published his first novel 'The Swinging Detective' in 2017. His next novel set in Troubles-marred Belfast in the 1970s and 80s is due to published in 2019.
FRANK Ormsby was born in Enniskillen in 1947 and has lived in Belfast since 1966. A graduate and post graduate of Queen's University, he taught for thirty- nine years at Royal Belfast Academical Institution, retiring in 2010.
His seven collections of poems include, most recently: ‘Goat's Milk and The Darkness of Snow’, published by Bloodaxe Books. ‘The Rain Barrel’ will appear from the same publisher in 2019. He has edited ten anthologies, most notably Poets from the North of Ireland: ‘A Rage for order: Poetry of the Northern Irish Troubles’ and ‘The Collected Poems of John Hewitt.’ He also edited ‘The Selected Poems of John Hewitt’, with Michael Longley. He was an editor of 'The Honest Ulsterman' magazine and (with Leontia Flynn) 'The Yellow Nib!
John Sheahan is one of Ireland’s best known musicians. Born in Dublin in 1939, he was a member of The Dubliners from 1964 to 2012. He has played with musicians the world over and has guested on numerous folk, traditional and rock recordings. His own compositions, among them, The Marino Waltz and Autumn in Paris, have become essential elements of the Irish musical repertoire.
Over the years, he has been in demand as a studio musician, and has contributed to the recordings of such artists as Kate Bush, Rod Stewart, Dolly Parton, Terence Trent D'Arby, and The André Rieu Orchestra.
In 2013 he was conferred with an honorary doctorate in music from Trinity College, Dublin.
In 2014 the television documentary John Sheahan – A Dubliner received two IFTA awards. In 2015, his debut collection of poems and lyrics 'Fiddle Dreams' was published by Dedalus Press.
Richard's story is an example of where triumph overcomes adversity.
He was shot and blinded by a rubber bullet fired by a British soldier in 1972 in Derry when as a ten-year-old he was on his way home from school. This was an experience which resulted in his life changing forever.
Richard founded the charity `Children in Crossfire' in 1996. Based in Derry it is involved with projects in Africa, Asia and South America focusing on issues affecting children such as providing access to clean water, food, health and education.
Amazingly in 2006 Richard, at the urging of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, met and later became friends with the British soldier that shot him.
In 2009 Richard published his autiobiography `Can I Give Him My Eyes.' He was awarded an honourary degree of Doctors of Laws from the University of Ulster for his services to reconciliation and children's rights.
Richard is described by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as `His Hero and Friend'.
Colin Flinn is a retired solicitor, and the inaugural Chair of Belfast City of Sanctuary which aims to promote and build a culture of Welcome and Hospitality for people seeking sanctuary and a home in Belfast. He is a member of Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers where he tutors English.
He also sits on the boards of Age NI, Shopmobility Belfast and Cara-Friend, having also served for five years as a trustee of Community Change and two years as the inaugural Chair of Helplines Network NI, a network of almost 30 helplines. He is also Chair of The Hummingbird Project which relates to mental health recovery.
Colin brings to his strands of work a lifetime of experience in advocacy for the rights of others, grounded in hearing their voiced needs throughout his professional career and through his continuing work in human rights and equality.
Amongst his other interests are international politics, current affairs, local history and biography, in addition to hill walking and photography
Nessa O’Mahony is a Dublin-born writer. She has published four books of poetry, the most recent being Her Father’s Daughter (Salmon Poetry 2014). She is a recipient of three literature bursaries from the Arts Council. She was Writer Fellow at the John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies in UCD in 2008/09. She produces and presents a monthly podcast for writers called The Attic Sessions. The Branchman (Arlen House 2018) is her debut crime novel. Set in East Galway in 1925, it features Detective Michael Mackey, ex-British Army and Civil War veteran and one of the first members of the Free State’s new elite Special Branch. Mackey is assigned to a Garda Barracks in Ballinasloe and uncovers a plot by subversives to disrupt the fragile peace.
Political Journalist and festival lead organiser William Graham will join the panel discussion on refugees.