Organisers
The conference is being organised and managed by Kerry natives, Dr Mary McAuliffe, Bridget McAuliffe and Owen O’Shea, who are a team of professionals with extensive experience in conceptualising, developing, presenting and showcasing history and historical events to a wide audience. The three organisers have comprehensive experience in research, writing, publishing, broadcasting, event management and public relations.
As part of the Decade of Centenaries Programme in Kerry, in 2016 they published the highly praised book, Kerry 1916: Histories and Legacies of the Easter Rising – A Centenary Record. They hosted extensive talks, lectures and events to complement the publication, which tells the story of the Rising in Kerry, sets the context for the event nationally, and examines its legacy for the people of Ireland. Between them, they have written and published several books and articles on the history of this period in Kerry and in Ireland.
Dr Mary McAuliffe
Dr Mary McAuliffe is a Historian and Director of the Gender Studies Programme at UCD, holds a PhD from the School of History and Humanities, Trinity College Dublin. Her latest publication is a biography of Margaret Skinnider (UCD Press, 2020). Other publications include We were there; 77 women of the Easter Rising (co-written with Liz Gillis) and Kerry 1916; Histories and Legacies of the Easter Rising, on which she was co-editor. Currently she is working on a major research project on gendered and sexual violence during the Irish revolutionary period, 1919-1923, to be published in 2023. She has organised several Decade of Centenaries events, including a three-day commemoration of the centenary of the foundation of Cumann na mBan, with funding from the then Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. M recently, she organised a symposium on the Cumann na mBan 1922 Treaty split, in collaboration with the WHAI and Oireachtas TV, with funding from UCD Decade of Centenary seed funding.
Owen O'Shea
Owen O’Shea is from Milltown, Co. Kerry, is a historian and author of several books on history and politics in his native county. A former press adviser to the Labour Party and a journalist for many years, he is the author of No Middle Path: The Civil War in Kerry (Merrion Press, 2022). Other books includeBallymacandy: the Story of a Kerry Ambush (Merrion Press, 2021), Heirs to the Kingdom: Kerry’s Political Dynasties (O’Brien Press, 2011) and co-author of A Century of Politics in the Kingdom: A County Kerry Compendium (Merrion Press, 2018). He was co-editor of a history of Kerry and the Easter Rising in 2016. He currently works as Media, Communications and Customer Relations Officer with Kerry County Council as is an Irish Research Council-funded PhD student at University College Dublin, researching electioneering and politics in Kerry in the decade after the Civil War. See www.owenoshea.ie
Bridget McAuliffe
Bridget McAuliffe is from Duagh, Co Kerry, is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and Dublin City University. As the founder of Red Hen Publishing, she has edited and published over fifty titles, as well as ghost-writing a number of books. Along with Owen O’Shea and Dr Mary McAuliffe, she was co-editor of Kerry 1916: Histories and Legacies of the Easter Rising. She is co-founder and director of event organisation company, Quest and Thrive Limited: www.questandthrive.ie
