I'm an award-winning Irish writer of books for children and young people.
In October 2022, I was hugely honoured to be nominated for the 2023 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of this award, which is among the most prestigious awards in the world for a children's author. For two decades, it has elevated and honoured some of the foremost figures in young people’s literature and is the largest award in the world for children's literature. The recipient of this year's award will be announced in March 2023.
You’ll find plenty here about me, my books, and about visits I make to schools, libraries or reading groups.
You can follow me on Twitter or contact me directly if you have a question or you want to organise a school or library visit.
Schools and teachers can find teaching guides to some of my books on the Teachers’ page. If I visit a book festival, school or library, I’m always happy to sign my books and answer questions. I don’t sign loose pages torn from notebooks or scraps of paper, nor do I sign hands, forearms or foreheads.
Wow - more fantastic news! In February 2023, Run For your Life was shortlisted for the 2023 KPMG Children's Books Ireland Awards. This is a huge honour for me! The awards are the most prestigious of their kind in Ireland and they provide a significant opportunity for national and international recognition of Irish children's authors and illustrators. The awards are made under six different categories, with excellence in children's being the over-arching criterion.
In February 2023, Run For your Life was selected as one of the books in the Empathy Lab's 2023 Read for Empathy collection. An expert panel selected 65 books to feature in the collection. Each book was chosen to do a specific job in building young people’s empathy, which is the ability to imagine and share someone else’s feelings and perspectives. I am thrilled that Run For Your Life is packed with enough empathy-building power to be included in this important collection! The Empathy Lab says that each book 'explores timely, powerful themes, including food poverty and homelessness; handling and sharing emotions; identity; understanding different cultures and changing society for the better.'
In January 2023, Run For your Life was shortlisted for the newly-launched Badger Book Award, designed to encourage reading for pleasure and to champion incredible books. This UK-based award shortlists fifty titles from 2022, splitting them into the top 10 titles for UK School Years 7 to 11. Each vote submitted gives a UK secondary school the chance to win £500 worth of books! The author of each winning category will also be given £500 worth of books to donate to a UK school of his or her choice. Vote for Run For Your Life before 30th June 2023!
Also in January 2023, Run For your Life was published in the US. Check out my webpage about it to find out more.
In November 2022, Run For your Life was longlisted for the UK's 2023 Redbridge Children's Book Award, which is run by the UK's London Borough of Redbridge Library Service. There are 2 categories: the Children’s Book Award for 10 to 12 year olds and the Teenage Book Award for 13 to 16 year olds. The awards process started in September 2022 and ends in June 2023.
In April 2022, Run For your Life was published in Ireland. Check out my webpage about it to find out more.