Writer and poet Michael Coady was born in 1939. He lives in the town of his birth, Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary, and is a member of Aosdána. His publications by Gallery Press include All Souls (1998) and One Another (2003), each integrating poetry, prose and photographs. His prizes include the Patrick Kavanagh Award and the Lawrence O'Shaughnessy Award for Poetry.
Poet Paul Durcan was born in Dublin, in 1944. His publications include O Westport in the Light of Asia Minor (1975), The Berlin Wall Café (1985), Daddy, Daddy (1990), Cries of an Irish Caveman: New Poems (2001) and The Art of Life (2004). He has won numerous honours amongst them the Patrick Kavanagh Award, the Irish American Cultural Institute Poetry Award, the Whitbread Poetry Award and the Heinemann Award.