Marita Conlon-McKenna

Marita Conlon-McKenna (born 5 November 1956) is an 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. Her debut adult novel Magdalen was published in 1999.

She married James McKenna at age 20 and had jobs in the family business, in a bank, and with a travel agency.

In 2020, Conlon-McKenna published The Hungry Road, a historical novel set in Skibbereen, County 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.

Marita and her husband James have four children and they live in Stillorgan in County Dublin. She is a promoter of the arts and was the chairperson of Irish PEN.

Works Children of the Famine series

Under the Hawthorn Tree (1990), illustrated by Donald Teskey Wildflower Girl (1991), illustrated by Donald Teskey Fields of Home (1996), illustrated by Donald Teskey

Children's novels The Blue Horse (1992), illustrated by Donald Teskey Safe Harbour (1995) No Goodbye (1997) In Deep Dark Wood (1999) A Girl Called Blue (2003) Love, Lucie (2012)

Novels

The Magdalen (1999) Promised Land (2000) Miracle Woman (2002) The Stone House (2004) The Hat Shop on the Corner (2006) The Matchmaker (2008) Mother of the Bride (2010) A Taste for Love (2011) Three Women (2012) The Rose Garden (2013) Rebel Sisters (2016) The Hungry Road (2020)

Novellas

The Snow Globe (2014)

Picture books Little Star (1993), illustrated by Christopher Coady The Very Last Unicorn (1995), illustrated by Christopher Coady Granny MacGinty (1999), illustrated by Leonie Shearing

Short stories Good Girl (2001)

Awards

Under the Hawthorn Tree International Reading Association Award (US, 1991) Reading Association of Ireland Award (1993) Frankfurt Book Fair Children's Choice Book Prize (Germany, 1993) 'Austrian Children and Youth Book Prize (1994) Shortlisted - City of Poitiers European Grand Prize for Children's Novels (France, 1994)

Wildflower Girl Bisto Book of the Year Award for Historical Fiction (1992)

The Blue Horse Bisto Book of the Year Award (1993)