Dermot Bolger’s nine novels include The Woman’s Daughter, The Journey Home, Father’s Music , The Valparaiso Voyage and most recently The Family on ParadisePier .  His plays have received many awards and he is the author of seven volumes of poetry. He has been Playwright in Association with the Abbey Theatre and Writer Fellow in Trinity College, Dublin. Bolger has championed new Irish writers, firstly through Raven Arts Press, which he started in his teens and later through co-founding New Island Books. He devised the best-selling collaborative novels, Finbar’s Hotel and Ladies Night at Finbar’s Hotel and has edited many anthologies including The Picador Book of Contemporary Irish Fiction. He is a regular contributor to most of Ireland’s leading newspapers.