Owen Dudley Edwards is Honorary Director of the William Carleton summer school. He has been a regular contributor since it began in 1992. An Honorary Fellow in the School of History at the University of Edinburgh, Owen is a contributor to all major historical joumals. In keeping with that University's treasured tradition of 'generalism', he is very much a polymath. Dudley Edwards' natural brio and mastery of words confer on his most scholarly contributions a spirit of entertainment. He was born in Dublin and educated at Belvedere College and UCD, where he was auditor of the illustrious L+H debating society. He has been acknowledged as 'a distinguished Irish scholar and man of letters, whose pan-Celtic spirit comprehends a Welsh name, a university post in Scotland and several important books on Irish history’.