Pacy plots, contemporary issues and teen protagonists. In a ‘golden year’ for NI YA fiction, join Byddi Lee in conversation with two of Northern Ireland’s leading, Carnegie shortlisted writers to discuss their latest novels and writing YA. 

Sue Divin is a Derry-based writer with Armagh roots. Writing with wry humour and emotional punch, her critically acclaimed novels are popular with teens and adults alike. Published in May 2026, Runaway Road (First Ink, Macmillan), is on the Irish Times ‘Best fiction of 2026’ list. Her debut, Guard Your Heart, described as ‘A Romeo and Juliet set in Derry 2016,’ won the Great Reads Award Ireland and was Carnegie shortlisted. Her 2nd novel, Truth Be Told, ‘Parent-trap meets Derry Girls’, was shortlisted in the Irish Book Awards, CBI awards and is on Ireland’s National Curriculum. 

Kelly McCaughrain is a YA author from Belfast. Her debut novel, Flying Tips for Flightless Birds, won a hat-trick of Children's Books Ireland awards, as well as the Northern Ireland Book Award. Her second, Little Bang, was shortlisted for the 2025 Carnegie Medal and won the Children’s Books Ireland Honour Award for Fiction and the Junior Juries Award. Her new book, Just Another Dead Boy, is a high stakes love and death romance set in a world where everyone knows their own death date. Kelly was the QUB Children’s Writing Fellow 2019–2021 and mentors teen writers for Fighting Words NI.