Kelly McCaughrain's debut, Flying Tips for Flightless Birds, won an unprecedented hat-trick of Children's Books Ireland awards, as well as the Northern Ireland Book Award. Her second YA novel Little Bang (2024) addresses topical concerns around teen pregnancy and the right to choose.

Kelly was the Children's Writing Fellow for Northern Ireland, and works at Belfast Met College as educational support for young adults with special needs. She says: "I get my best ideas from observing teens. I love their high ideals and natural barometer for injustice. I always want to write things that are worthy of their huge capacity to scrutinise the world and their place in it." When she isn't writing, she likes to travel with her 1967 classic campervan, Gerda, and her 1977 classic husband.