Introducing our 2026 New Voices panel

Alan Carrigan

Alan Carrigan is a novelist and screenwriter with quadriplegic cerebral palsy who worked as a script editor for Ink and Light Films and D11 Stories. His own work focuses on character-driven, witty, and nuanced stories, most of which feature the types of authentically disabled characters he needed but rarely saw growing up. His début YA novel Then We'll Be Happy was published by Chicken House in July 2026.

Stephen Daly

Stephen Daly is a queer writer from Belfast. He is drawn to writing about the social and cultural issues young people experience mixed with the darker forces of myth and folklore. The Last Death Poet , his début novel published by Oneworld Publications in April 2026 has personal resonance. Stephen grew up as a queer young man during the Troubles and left the country at eighteen to try and be himself. He believes it’s time to tell more queer Irish stories and is proud to be the first ever LGBTQ+ author to write a queer Young Adult book about Northern Ireland.

Claire M Dunne

Is scríbhneoir í Claire M. Dunne atá ina léachtóir comhlach in Institiúid Oideachais DCU. Tá a céad leabhar, Coiscéim, Coiscéimín, maisithe ag Anita Foley agus foilsithe ag LeabhairCOMHAR, ar fáil anois.

Claire M. Dunne is a writer and an associate lecturer at the DCU Institute of Education. Her first picturebook, Coiscéim, Coiscéimín, illustrated by Anita Foley was published by LeabhairCOMHAR. 

Philip Elliott

From Dublin, Philip is a regular volunteer at Fighting Words, helping to develop young creative minds. He is a member of Illustrators Ireland. He has exhibited much of his work and illustrated for advertising campaigns, children's books and his own print series. He is into all things creative – writing, making models and painting in watercolours. Cá dTosaíonn an Spéir? was published in January 2026 and is Philip’s first book with Futa Fata.

Christopher Galvin

Christopher Galvin is an Irish author based in Dublin. A passion for film and TV led him to study scriptwriting, acting and directing, with several of his short films being presented in festivals around the world. Earlier drafts of The Thing About Giants were shortlisted for the WriteMentor Children’s Novel Award and the Guppy Middle Grade Open Submission Competition. Chris currently works in television as a presentation editor. The Thing About Giants was published in June 2026 by Walker Books and is his first novel for young people. 

Emily Hourican

Emily Hourican was born in Belfast and grew up in Brussels, later studying English and History and earning a Masters in English Literature in Dublin. She has been an award-winning editor and journalist with the Sunday Independent and lives in Dublin with her husband and three children. Emily is the author of several Irish bestselling novels for adults, including The Glorious Guinness Girls and A Kennedy Affair. Several of Emily's novels have been short-listed for the Best Popular Fiction Award at the Irish Book Awards, and her fourth novel, The Outsider, is being developed as a six-part TV series with Treasure Films.

Murder at the Ivy Hotel is her children's debut and was published by Scholastic in February 2026. 

Laura Keohane

Laura Keohane grew up in the West of Ireland, reading about magic and fairies. When she was older, she decided it was time to write her own stories. She is an active member of Writepace Writing Cooperative in Limerick City, and of the INIS creative writing group in Ennis, Co. Clare. In 2024, she was awarded the Betty and Jenny Bursary by Children’s Books Ireland. She is currently undertaking a Masters in Education. She lives in Co. Clare with her family. Secret of the Selkies is her debut children’s novel published by O'Brien Press in May 2026. It is a thrilling tale steeped in folklore, as bored Lana makes a shocking discovery about her family’s legacy while on holidays with her grandparents by the sea.

D.T Moorhouse

D.T. Moorhouse is a teacher and author from Ireland. With a degree in English and Linguistics and a Master's in Education, he loves creating stories for young readers that are all about blending entertainment with meaningful messages. Away from the page he can usually be found somewhere with a book or in front of the TV shouting answers at a quiz show. Grebs and Co. is his first book for children and will be published on 3rd September by Everything with Words. 

Ciara O'Connor

Ciara O’Connor is from Blackrock in Co. Louth, where she lives with her family. In 2023, her poem ‘Hints of an Adventurer’ was chosen by Michael Rosen for the Caterpillar Poetry Prize. Her début middle-grade novel The Skidderwolves about a pack of misunderstood electric wolves, was published by Gill in April and is illustrated by Sarah Horne.

Johnathan Sung 

Johnathan Sung is an author, illustrator and animator based in Belfast. He enjoys pizza, paddle boarding, being bad at chess, but mostly he loves exploring who we are through drawing characters, ideas and stories. Moon Moon Can’t Sleep! is his début picturebook published by Bad Book Press in March 2026.