Ciara Smyth

Born in the south of Ireland but now resident in Belfast, Smyth worked as a teacher and mental health trainer before becoming a social worker. Alongside her day job she wrote her debut YA novel The Falling in Love Montage (2020), a delightfully witty queer romantic comedy set during the long hot summer between the end of school and the start of university. The Falling in Love Montage won the Junior Juries category of the KPMG Children’s Book Ireland Awards in 2021 and was followed in 2021 by Not My Problem, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.