Born in Dublin in 1973, Oisín McGann spent his childhood there and in Drogheda, County Louth. He studied art at Ballyfermot Senior College and Dún Laoghaire School of Art and Design, and went on to work in illustration, design and film animation. He moved to London in 1998, where he eventually found work as an art director and copy writer for an advertising agency.

After three and a half years of advertising, he began to fear for his immortal soul. He returned to Ireland in the summer of 2002 much as he had left … with no job, no home and some meagre savings.

He now lives in Ireland and works as an author, illustrator and artist. You can find out more about Oisín at oisinmcgann.com.

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Oisin McGann’s Books

For Older Readers:

• A Short, Hopeful Guide to Climate Change (2021)
• Race the Atlantic Wind (2019)
• Kings of the Realm: Cruel Intentions (2015)
• Kings of the Realm: War’s Harvest (2014)
• Get Yourself Gone (2013)
• Rat Runners (2013)
• Merciless Reason (2013)
• The Evil Eye (2009)
• The Wisdom of Dead Men (2008)
• Strangled Silence (2008)
• Ancient Appetites (2007)
• The Goblin of Tara (2007)
• Small-Minded Giants (2006)
• Under Fragile Stone (2005)
• The Gods And Their Machines (2004)
• The Harvest Tide Project (2003)

For Confident Readers:

• The Wolfling’s Bite (2012)
• Wired Teeth (2008)
• The Evil Hairdo (2006)
• The Poison Factory (2006)
• Project X: The Last Dying Seconds
• Project X: The Starving Darkness
• Armouron: The Armoured Ghost
• Armouron: Lying Eyes

For Young Readers:

• Mad Grandad’s Flying Saucer (2016)
• Mad Grandad’s Robot Garden (2016)
• Mad Grandad and the Kleptoes (2016)
• Mad Grandad and the Mutant River (2016)
• Mad Grandad and the Wicked Pictures (2016)
• Mad Grandad’s Doppelganger (2010)
• The Baby Giant (2009)
• The Lord in the Lake in Limerick
• Viking Thunder in Dublin
• The Banshee Queen of Cork

Awards and Recognition for Oisin McGann

In 2005, The Gods and Their Machines and The Harvest Tide Project were both shortlisted for the Reading Association of Ireland Award, the first time an author has had two books on the same shortlist for this award.

In 2005, The Gods and Their Machines won a Bisto Book of the Year Merit Award.

In 2006, Under Fragile Stone was shortlisted for the Bisto Book of the Year Award.

In 2006, The Gods And Their Machines, published by Tor in the United States, was shortlisted for Locus Magazine’s Best First Novel Award.

In 2007, Ancient Appetites was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.

In May 2007, Small-Minded Giants was recommended by the Education Secretary, Alan Johnson and the School Library Association in the UK on a one-off list of Top 160 Books For Boys (No. 44).

In 2008, Small-Minded Giants was shortlisted for the Coventry Inspiration Awards, which are open to any book, rather than just those published in the relevant year.

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