Siobhán Parkinson took both her primary degree and her doctorate at Trinity College Dublin. She is best known as a writer for children and teenagers (though she has also written for adults) and she has received national and international awards for her books. Her work has been translated into several languages. She served as Ireland’s first children’s laureate (Laureate na nÓg) 2010-12.  

She has edited national and international journals on children’s literature, she writes occasional articles and she teaches writing on the master’s programme on children’s literature at St Patrick’s College (Dublin City University). She also translates children’s fiction from German.  

In 2010 she founded Little Island Books, a small independent children’s publishing house, and is its commissioning editor and publisher. Little Island’s list now stands at over forty titles. She is an outspoken advocate for children’s literature and a committed member of the Writers in Schools scheme (an initiative of Poetry Ireland) and takes a special interest in collaborative writing projects in schools. 

She is currently Visiting Writer Fellow at the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing at Trinity College Dublin.