I'm an award-winning Irish writer of books and short stories published for children and young people. My books and stories have been published in Ireland, Denmark, France, Germany, UK, the United States, Canada, Australia, and Georgia. You’ll find plenty here about me, my books and short stories, and about visits I make to schools, libraries or reading groups.
In October 2024, I was hugely honoured to be nominated again for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. This is the third consecutive year for me to be nominated for this prestigious award, which honours authors, illustrators, oral storytellers, and reading promoters. I was previously nominated in 2023 and 2024, and now in 2025. The Astrid Lindgren Award has elevated and honoured some of the foremost figures in young people’s literature for over two decades. The recipient of this year's award will be announced in March 2025.
You can contact me directly if you have questions about my books or about writing, or if you would like to organise for me to visit your book festival, school or library.
If I visit your school or library, I'd be 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.
Schools and teachers can find teaching guides to some of my books on my webpage of Teaching Resources.
In June 2024, Run For your Life was published in translation in Georgia.
In May 2024, Run For your Life was shortlised for the UK's PageTurners’ School Book Awards. Page Turners is an annual, themed, book award for teenagers and young adults in the South East of England, representing over 10,000 students. In 2025, the theme is Reading around the British Isles. Winning books and authors are announced at a gala evening in March 2025.
In April 2024, Run For your Life was published in translation in France.
In February 2023, Run For your Life was shortlisted for the 2023 KPMG Children's Books Ireland Awards. The awards provide a significant opportunity for national and international recognition of Irish children's authors and illustrators.
Also in February 2023, Run For your Life was selected as one of the books in the Empathy Lab's 2023 Read for Empathy collection. Each book is chosen to build young people’s ability to imagine and share someone else’s feelings and perspectives. 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 published in the US.
Also in January 2023, it was shortlisted for the UK's Badger Book Award, designed to encourage reading for pleasure and to champion incredible books.
Also in January 2023, Run For your Life was published in the United States.
©Jane Mitchell. Webpage updated 2025