The WCHF is delighted to announce that Professor Marianne Elliott will be among the contributors to the Festival next year. Professor Elliott, who was born in Belfast, held the first Tony Blair Chair of Irish Studies from 2007 to 2014. She is the author of the multi-award winning biography Wolfe Tone: Prophet of Irish Independence, and has been internationally recognized for her role in the Northern Ireland peace process, most notably serving on the Opsahl Commission in 1993, co-writing its report, ‘A Citizens’ Inquiry’. In October 2000, she was awarded an OBE for services to Irish Studies and the Northern Ireland peace process.