In the limitless realms of fantasy fiction, teenagers can be the heroes, they can download knowledge directly to the brain through a microchip in their necks and they can scale mountains to defeat evil dragons.

The fantasy genre is one of the best-loved genres in YA fiction, with obvious favourites such as Harry Potter and His Dark Materials living on in the imagination into adulthood. Often, in these books, it is up to a young hero or heroine to save the day.

This event brings together three novelists at the cutting edge of YA fantasy. Sarah Mussi’s The Snowdonia Chronicles follow one girl’s monumental fight against the evil forces tearing her home apart, while Peadar Ó Guilín’s The Call and Kate Griffin’s Magicals Anonymous series bring dystopian visions of the future into chilling reality where young people are the only hope for change.

Join event chair, Kevin Duffy, and our expert panel for this fantastic foray into fiction and discover the world as you’ve never seen it before.

About The Speakers

Sarah Mussi

Sarah Mussi lives in Brixton in South London. She has won the Irish Writers Children’s Book Award and the BBUK Award for contemporary YA fiction. She has been nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal and has been shortlisted for the Banford Boase award and Lewisham Book Award, amongst others.

Claire North

Claire North is the pen name for the Carnegie-nominated Catherine Webb, who also writes under the name Kate Griffin. Her recent novel The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August was selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club, the Waterstones Book Club and the Radio 2 Book Club. Catherine currently works as a theatre lighting designer and is a fan of big cities, urban magic and graffiti-spotting. She lives in London.

Peadar O’Guilin

Peadar O’Guilin is a powerful and original new voice in YA Fiction but has been writing curious stories for as long as he can remember.  He attended the same boarding school as James Joyce in Co. Kildare and since then, he has written plays, published short stories, and performed as a stand-up comedian. Language, landscape and the history of ancient Ireland are important themes for Peadar. His latest YA novel is The Call.

About The Chair

Kevin Duffy

Kevin Duffy worked in sales and marketing in publishing houses for 25 years. Kevin and his wife Hetha started Bluemoose Books in 2006. Their authors have been shortlisted for and have won several national and international literary prizes. Bluemoose books have been translated into several languages and are now sold in over 42 countries.