Marita Conlon-McKenna

In 2020, Conlon-McKenna published The Hungry Road, a historical novel set in Skibbereen, Co. Cork during the Great Famine. Published 30 years after Under the Hawthorn Tree, The Hungry Road was inspired partly by the diaries of Dr Daniel Donovan, a dispensary doctor in the Skibbereen Workhouse during the 1840s.

Her debut novel for adults, The Magdalen, was a number-one bestseller in 1999, telling the story of a young pregnant woman sent to a Magdalene Laundry in 1950s Ireland. Conlon-McKenna said that she naturally made a shift from children to adult's writing when she decided to write a story about the Magdalene Laundries. This subject interested her because of her personal adoption story.

Conlon-McKenna went on to write more books for young readers. Her characters are often depicted in challenging situations or life events. Among her historical children's books are Safe Harbour, set during World War II, which was shortlisted for the Bisto Book of the Year Award, and two follow-up books to Under the Hawthorn Tree: Wildflower Girl and Fields of Home, which completed the Children of the Famine trilogy. Other children's books include The Blue Horse, which won the Bisto Irish Book of the Year Award and reached the top of the bestseller's list in 1993, No Goodbye, and A Girl Called Blue.

Marita Conlon-McKenna (born 5 November 1956) is an award-winning Irish author of children's books and adult fiction. She is best known for her Famine-era historical children's book Under the Hawthorn Tree, the first book of the Children of the Famine trilogy, which was published in 1990 and achieved immediate success. Praised for its child-accessible yet honest depiction of the Great Famine, Under the Hawthorn Tree has been translated into over a dozen languages and is taught in classrooms worldwide. Conlon-McKenna went on to be a prolific writer and has published over 20 books for both young readers and adults. Her debut adult novel Magdalen was published in 1999.

Conlon-McKenna carried out extensive historical research for her 1916-era novel Rebel Sisters. Based on real-life Gifford sisters Nellie, Muriel and Grace, who were involved in the 1916 Rising in Dublin, Rebel Sisters became a number-one bestseller when it was released in 2016 on the centenary year of the 1916 Rising.