Margaret McDonald

Margaret McDonald is a Scottish author who lives in Glasgow. In 2025, she became the youngest winner of the Carnegie Medal for Writing for her young adult novel Glasgow Boys.

Early life and education Margaret McDonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland. She was raised in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire. She is from a working-class background and her family speaks Scots.

McDonald became passionate about creative writing through writing fan fiction and short stories as a teenager.

Career McDonald began writing her debut novel Glasgow Boys in 2017 while recovering from an operation related to her Crohn's disease. She began to work seriously on the novel after graduating from the University of Strathclyde in July 2020; the Covid-19 lockdown was underway, and McDonald used the time to focus on her writing as she was shielding due to being high-risk. She also won the Branford Boase Award and UKLA Book Award that year, and was shortlisted for the YA Book Prize and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.

McDonald's upcoming novel is about four friends volunteering at a summer Bible camp. It is set in the Scottish Highlands.

McDonald has previously worked in the NHS as a vaccine assistant and administrative assistant. '''