Gráinne O’Toole has a background in literature, editing, social policy, community development and the law. She has worked in the community and voluntary and arts sectors for over 30 years at senior management level with communities and artists experiencing poverty, inequality, social and cultural exclusion. She is committed to equality and justice and seeks to ensure that the richness of our culture in all its diversity is shared in Irish society and beyond. She cofounded Skein Press in 2017 to publish and curate stories not commonly featured in Irish cultural life.

Nidhi Zakaria Eipe joined Skein as Commissioning Editor in 2021. A Next Generation Artist with the Arts Council of Ireland, she is a member of the Expert Advisory Committee of Culture Ireland and the board of the Dublin Book Festival. She has served as a member of the jury for the 2025 Dublin Literary Award and the 2026 Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize. Nidhi is the author of two collections of poetry, Auguries of a Minor God (2021) and Stay Winter (2026), both published by Faber & Faber. Prior to embarking on a literary career, she worked in partnership with key United Nations agencies on Sport for Development and Peace programmes, focusing on young people living in post-conflict regions.

Catherine Hearn joined Skein in 2025 as Communications and Impact manager. She holds an MA in Gender Studies from the University of Utrecht, where her research centred on postcolonial and anti-colonial feminism. Prior to completing her MA, Catherine worked in communications at the National Women’s Council and Music Network Ireland, as a freelance marketing consultant, and as a bookseller. In addition to her work at Skein, she serves as the founding editor of Tolka, a biannual journal of creative non-fiction that has been publishing since 2021. She is a passionate human rights advocate and believes in the power of the arts to shape a more equal, more tender society for us all.

Oein DeBhairduin is a writer, activist and educator with a passion for preserving the beauty of Traveller tales, sayings, retellings and historic exchanges. Oein is the author of the award-winning Why the moon travels. His other works are Weave, The Slug and the Snail and Twiggy Woman. He is the Curator of Traveller Culture with the National Museum of Ireland and seeks to pair community activism with cultural celebration, recalling old tales with fresh modern connections and, most of all, he wishes to rekindle the hearth fires of a shared kinship.

Dr. Philomena Mullen is Assistant Professor of Black Studies, and Programme Director of the MPhil, Race, Ethnicity, Conflict in the Department of Sociology, Trinity College Dublin. Her research examines the racialised experiences of children of African-Irish descent who grew up in the Irish industrial school regime. She also recovers the Black presence in Ireland, a history of blackness that has been long present but rarely recognised before the Celtic Tiger. She curates a podcast series In the half-light; Voices from Black Ireland, as part of the Conversations series by Skein.  She is a ministerial appointee to the Advisory Committee on the Restitution and Repatriation of Cultural Heritage, set up in 2023; a Trustee of the Association of Mixed-Race Irish; a director of the not-for-profit publishers Skein; a board member of LUAIL and a member of African Scholars Association of Ireland.

Noeleen Hartigan is an independent Arts and Human Rights Consultant.  With 25+ years experience in the domestic and international third sector, she supports organisations to respond to complexity with confidence, clarity and creativity. A lead consultant with Rethink Ireland and a member of the Expert Advisory Committee of Culture Ireland, she has held leadership roles across the Irish NGO landscape. She is particularly interested in projects and people that harness culture to advance human rights. Her work includes strategic planning, capacity building and moderating fora. With an early career in radio journalism, she holds a BA in Philosophy and English Literature (UCD), an MA in International Relations (DCU) and professional certificates in Executive Coaching (SETU), Climate Leadership (TCD) and Service Design (NCAD). She supported the development of Skein’s first two strategic plans and the evaluation of the ‘Play it Forward’ mentoring programme before joining the board in 2025.

Cauvery Madhavan was born in India and moved to Ireland 40 years ago. Her books Paddy Indian and The Uncoupling were published to critical acclaim. Her novel, The Tainted, was chosen by Laureate Sebastian Barry for his Laureate Picks 2020. It was one of A Post Irish Book Awards’ Top Summer Reads and was chosen by The Times for their list of top 40 Historical Fiction novels. Cauvery was served as a judge for the Irish Novel Fair 2022 and 2025. Her new book, The Inheritance, has been widely hailed as a sumptuous, moving evocation of landscape, history and the human spirit. She was the 2026 Charles Heimbold Chair of Irish Studies at Villanova University, Philadelphia. A very keen golfer and cook, she has three children and lives with her husband in County Kildare.