"If you're the kind of kid who can't sit still in school... you still have a chance to be a hero." We had the joy of chatting with @daveruddenwrites.bsky.social, author of Conn of the Dead, which is shortlisted for the 2025 @specsaversie.bsky.social Children’s Book of the Year - Senior.

LOVE voting for my faves! If you do done fun / satisfying thing on the internet today this should be it

Just a few days left to get your vote in for the Irish Book Awards! Show your support for CONN OF THE DEAD and a whole host of gorgeous books at irishbookawards.ie...

Absolutely bursting with pride that the mighty #ConnOfTheDead is up for an #IrishBookAward! Written by @daveruddenwrites.bsky.social and illustrated by @aeadraws.bsky.social – vote early, vote often! www.irishbookawards.ie/2025-shortli...

So lovely to see a new prize celebrating a crucial bandwidth age in children's books - we so often lose young readers around 10/11, and this will hopefully reinforce the importance of books for that age. Plus, @frankcottrellboyce.bsky.social is amazing - what a pick!

So angry for the Bloody Sunday families and the people of Derry. Absolutely no justice in this at all.

Can't wait to read this!

Seeing as it's #IrishBookWeek, I've put together a Starter Pack of bricks 'n' mortar bookshops. Terrified I've forgotten someone obvious so please let me know of additions go.bsky.app/G4kmxVq

Come and sign up or even just support, your new favourite author may be about to take the stage!

An absolutely gorgeous time with these students - I am WRECKED but full of joy...

I was buying a hat for a friend in a Parisian shop and I couldn't find a mirror. When I asked for one, the elderly owner popped it on their head and did a perfect catwalk circuit of the shop for me. (I bought the hat)

‘96% of healthcare professionals said the model helps to reduce children’s anxiety, and 46% reported a lesser need to use sedation after the children played with the set.‘ ‘Lego doesn’t sell the sets and instead has donated more than 10,000 of the kits to hospitals around the world.’

This is just such a no-brainer win for everybody that I hope that it gets rolled out in a much bigger way.

I'm ignoring emails from one of those freelance book promoters, and they're really hitting me where it hurts - 'Dave, you're not good at communicating, just respond to say no.' Which I know is just a tactic, but man am I susceptible to GUILT

So sad to hear of Manchán's passing. His works are always on my desk, just reading a line or two is enough to lift you and remind you of the ground beneath your feet at the same time.

'They rode to the fugitives’ bed at Waermund Hill – a white stone square as flat and smooth as a quilt. In some tales the beds were for lovers, in others they were for thieves, and in a few they were for both, the besotted boys and heart-crazed girls who stole each other from disapproving hearths.'

The CONN OF THE DEAD audiobook has been released! This was such a blast to read so if you've got a horror-lover aged 9 - 11 (particularly one who's neurodivergent) this is the peril-packed few hours for them. There's even a sample here to check out! rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/97...

Somewhere in Iceland.

Film criticism is an environment where straight, white, cisgender, and male voices have dominated for over a century. Now we FINALLY have an influx of diverse voices who offer more context, expertise and analysis! And now, of course, people say critics are worthless now. What a fucking coincidence.

Politely withdrawing from a book prize isn’t cancelling anyone. When the Women’s Prize said it had no problem incl transgender women, the “gender critical” novelist Lissa Evans, for example, said she’d no longer allow her books to be submitted for it. I wonder where the substacks were about that?

I was in Edinburgh and saw a battered burger on JustEat. Reader, they had battered the buns. (you could also order cigarettes)

"He said: "Wouldn't it be great testament to [Sean Rocks] and to Michael D who's going to finish up this year, if there was a dedicated section in the six o'clock news for an artistic segment the same way as there is for sport."

Very sorry to have to cancel my gigs in Malahide Library today due to a wretched stomach bug - we are looking to reschedule and I'll yell about dates here when we do!

It's a target-rich environment if you're comparing JURASSIC PARK to its successors with an eye toward what's changed in blockbuster filmmaking, but a big one that stood out to me this time around is little things like Sattler collapsing against a fence and sobbing after an escape from the raptors.

One of the unexpected joys of parenting has been discovering just how many great books are now available for the confident middle grade reader, and indeed the useful existence of middle grade for labelling books with plenty of action/peril but not much emphasis on the relationships side.

I've added another Publishing Information Session as the first one has been snapped up - your support is greatly appreciated and I'd love to help your book find a home! Find out more at the link below. www.ruthennis.com/irish-kidlit... @rurooie.bsky.social @sineadohart.bsky.social

My new book with @facetpublishing.bsky.social is out soon! It’s aimed at new D&D dungeon masters, especially school staff that have less time than they’d like! You can pre order here! facetpublishing.co.uk/page/detail/... #ttrpg #ttrpgcommunity

Show your support: buy Queer as Folklore by Sacha Coward, Bloodsongs by Mae Diansangu, Impossible Heat by Ciara Maguire, Revolutionary Acts: Love & Brotherhood in Black Gay Britain by Jason Okundaye, Spoilt Creatures by Amy Twigg

By my count this makes 5 out of 12 authors on the Polari First Book longlist who have withdrawn. It's hard to understate the moral courage this involves, esp for folk launching their first book into the world. As so often, those with the most to lose end up showing the most moral fibre. Solidarity x

Washington Post: “Is fascism bad? The answer may surprise you” Teen Vogue: “Here are three fun tips you can use this summer to disable an armored personnel carrier”

Really lovely to see that my signed books and my one-on-one writing/publishing consultation have already gone, so I'm adding another consultation - let me nerd out about your book/project to support medical aid in Palestine! www.ruthennis.com/irish-kidlit... #irishkidlitforpalestine

I saw #FantasticFour yesterday and it was... great? Admittedly it couldn't be more for me (a comic book movie about a neurodivergent dad worried he can't solve everything? how dare they) but it's also the first Marvel movie in years to have an banger of a theme. Stylish, fun - I liked it a lot.

The lovely folk at @hodderscape.bsky.social showing off the gorgeous proof for SISTER WAKE! It's on Netgalley now and the pre-orders are open below if you, like me, have always been of the opinion that the Nine Years War needed more Kaiju... lnk.to/SisterWake

I'm delighted to see that one of my offerings for this has already gone, but if you're looking for more signed copies of my books or even a sit-down chat where we discuss your creative project and how to get it out in the world, this is a way to do it while supporting an incredibly important cause

Here is how it works:

▪️Manuscript / query letter critiques for emerging writers ▪️Information sessions and masterclasses for authors and illustrators ▪️Original artwork and prints ▪️And more

In the fundraiser you can find lots of bookish items available in return for donations to our chosen charity, MAP. These include: ▪️Signed and annotated books for young readers ▪️Class sets for your school / library ▪️School visits from local authors and illustrators

Today we are launching the Irish KidLit for Palestine Fundraiser in support of Medical Aid for Palestinians (@medicalaidpal.bsky.social‬) Running from 4th August to 17th August 2025. You can check out the fundraiser at www.ruthennis.com/irish-kidlit-for-palestine @sineadohart.bsky.social

Standing up for the smallest of minorities is important because when you accept the premise that one group are expendable because small or ‘insignificant’, you have accepted the idea of the expendability of human life in general, and the enemy will use your acquiescence to pick off yet more.

You can't call yourself "a prize for LGBTQ+ literature" and longlist a self-proclaimed terf. Anyone can give any prize to anyone they like, of course. But don't pretend you're a prize for my community when you're platforming someone who's actively fighting against it.

“The ‘grown women’ of Ireland remember very well what erasure and control and lack of bodily autonomy feel like and it’s for this very reason that we stand so passionately with the trans community today” #TransRightsAreHumanRights @independent.ie

I'm torn between Buffy and The Americans because Buffy has a patchy last two seasons and The Americans is consistently incredible but also Season 3 of Buffy is the best season of TV ever made fight me

I met an author once who was so proud of spending a month living in a wolf sanctuary to write wolves correctly, but sniffed at sensitivity readers. Why would you ignore or retract from a system designed to make your work better, to catch mistakes or assumptions or guesswork? (I mean, I know why)

Please do support your local bookshops. They are esential for independent publishers and have been the patron saints of my writing career through their word-of-mouth support.

Sometimes I wonder why I stick around on r/writing, and then something like this comes along.

I don't forget things I have lists thousands of lists lists on every list app known to man so many lists I cannot remember where they are or what they contain

this is one of the worst crimes in human history and the entire global north and all of us in it share the responsibility

There were times when working on SISTER WAKE that I questioned my fictional empire's predilection for renaming things to suit their cult of colonial superiority, and then you come across 'The Rough Wooing.' en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_W...

It's already really challenging for places outside Dublin to access creatives for school visits - if they bring in this change, it'll shut them out entirely.