Sheena Wilkinson

Described in The Irish Times as ‘one of our foremost writers for young people’, Sheena Wilkinson writes novels for  children and adults, mostly historical fiction. She has won many awards for her work, including the Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year Award for Grounded (2012). Her short fiction and memoirs have won or been shortlisted in many competitions, including the Fish and the Bridport. In 2012 Sheena was granted a Major Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, its highest award, given to artists of national and international importance. She has been nominated three times for the Astrid Lindgren Award, the world’s largest prize for children’s writers. Sheena  tutors for Arvon as well as facilitating workshops in a variety of community settings.  She lives in rural Northern Ireland and travels extensively to work with readers and writers.

Sheena’s doctoral research explored the relationship between adult and children’s fiction, and she continues to contribute to discourse on children’s literature with a special focus on the girls’ school story. She teaches creative writing on Trinity College Dublin’s MPhil in children’s literature, but also loves working with schoolchildren, prisoners, and anyone who wants to write.

Described in The Irish Times as ‘one of our foremost writers for young people’, novelist Sheena Wilkinson has won five Children’s Books Ireland awards, including the Book of the Year Award for Grounded (2012), and most recently the Honour Award for Fiction for Star By Star (2017). In 2012 Sheena was granted a Major Award from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. She was writer-in-residence at the Church of Ireland College of Education, and Ireland’s first patron of reading. She tutors for Arvon and teaches creative writing in a wide range of settings. She was RLF Writing Fellow at Queen’s University Belfast from 2015-2018, and has piloted the RLF Bridge project in Northern Irish schools.