Ellen Ryan is a journalist and author who has contributed to the Irish Times and Irish Independent among other media. Her debut book, Girls Who Slay Monsters, won ‘Children’s Book of the Year: Senior’ at the An Post Irish Book Awards 2022 and was shortlisted for overall book of the year. It went on to win the Children’s Books Ireland KPMG 2023 ‘Book of the Year Award’. Girls Who Slay Monsters was the official inspiration for Ireland’s national 2023 St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Her second book, Gods Don't Cry, was shortlisted for the ‘Children’s Book of the Year: Senior’ at the An Post Irish Book Awards 2023 and was commended on the Late Late Toy Show 2023.
Ellen fell in love with magic around the time Willow came out as a witch, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But her understanding of the witch has evolved over time, and these days she learns less from pop culture, and more from old folk cures and herbal remedies.
Ellen lives with her family by the sea in County Wicklow, where she and her daughter collect special stones and experiment with seaweed concoctions.
