Carlo Gébler in conversation with Olivia O'Leary

Carlo Gébler was born in Dublin in 1954 and lives outside Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. He is a writer, novelist and occasional broadcaster, most recently Escape from the Maze, a ten-part series for BBC R4 about the 1983 IRA escape from the Maze Prison, which he wrote and presented. His memoir A Cold Eye: Notes from a Shared Island 1989 – 2024 was published in September 2024. In October 2026 New Island will publish No One Tells You, a memoir about the death of his mother, the writer Edna O’Brien. He teaches at the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing at Trinity College, Dublin, HMP Hydebank and Loughan House Open Centre, a low security prison. He is a member of Aosdána.

Olivia O’Leary is a journalist and broadcaster.  She has presented current affairs programmes for RTE, BBC and ITV. In recent years she presented RTE Radio One’s ‘The Poetry Programme’and has presented a number of programmes in ‘The Essay’ slot for BBC Radio 3 including one on the poetry of the late Michael Longley, and another on Irish traditional music with virtuoso fiddle player, Martin Hayes. The O’Brien Press  has published two collections of her radio columns for RTE’s Drivetime-‘Politicians and Other Animals’ , and ‘Party Animals’.  She has won three Jacob’s awards for her work with RTE and a Sony Award for the BBC Radio 4 series, ‘Between Ourselves’.

Age & Opportunity is the national organisation working to enhance wellbeing for older people through participation in sport and physical activity, arts and creative engagement, personal development, community collaboration and active citizenship.

The Bealtaine Festival, an Age & Opportunity Arts initiative, is one of our flagship events. The festival continues to grow with the support and collaboration of our partners and hundreds of organisers throughout the country, as well as all those who attend a Bealtaine event. We are grateful to all those who organised events and look forward to another creative and inspiring year of Bealtaine Festival.

Bealtaine Festival is an Age & Opportunity arts initiative funded by the Arts Council and the HSE.