Dearg
Máire Zepf
A verse novel for teenagers and young adults.
Content warning: sexual assault.
Recommended age: 15+
Book description
Fionn is very passionate about many things in life, her friends, the Irish-language, human rights, but whenever she tries to speak in front of others, her courage fails her.
When she and her friends become involved in the language rights movement in Belfast, she makes a decision: she must find her own voice.
But something terrible happens to Fionn. Now, she will have to speak out – not just on behalf of the cause, but on her own behalf as well. She soon learns how courageous she really is, and how powerful her voice is when she manages to use it.
Máire Zepf
Máire Zepf is a well-known author in the world of young people’s literature and Irish language literature. Eighteen books by Máire have been published to date, ranging from picture books for the youngest readers, novels for independent readers and verse novels for teenagers.
Her debut verse novel Nóinín won the KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Book of the Year award in 2020.
Her books Rita agus an Dragun and Rita agus an tEachtrán from the Rita series have been featured as special books for World Book Day.
Máire has won numerous other awards for her work: an IBBY Honor Award, the Irish Literacy Society Book of the Year Award, and two White Raven awards. Her books are available internationally in ten different languages. Máire was appointed as the first Children’s Writing Fellow for the North, based at the Seamus Heaney Poetry Centre at Queen’s University, Belfast.
