Fionn – an cailín a lasann
mar lóchrann
achan uair a labhrann sí os ard.

The Story – A Novel in Verse

Fionn is very passionate about many things in life – her friends, her youth club, human rights – but she has one major problem: she can’t seem to put that passion into words.

Whenever she tries to speak in front of other people, she lights up like a tomato and her voice fails her. It’s mortifying. But as she and her friends become more involved with the language rights movement in Belfast, she makes a decision: she has to be stronger, she has to be braver, she has to overcome this and find her own voice. This journey turns out to be more difficult than Fionn could have possibly imagined and she soon learns just how strong and brave she truly is – and just how powerful her voice is when she finally manages to use it.

• Content warning: sexual assault (SA).
• Recommended age: 15+

The Author

Máire Zepf is an award-winning writer, a leading voice in the recent
renaissance of children’s publishing in the Irish language. She has
written 18 books for children to date, including picturebooks, novels for independent readers and YA verse. She has also translated a number of books into Irish, including The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy.

Her book Nóinín was winner of the KPMG
Children’s Book of the Year 2020 – a rarity for an Irish Language
novel to scoop this top award. She has also won an IBBY Honour
Award, LAI Children’s Book Awards and 2 White Ravens, her books
appear in 10 languages worldwide.

The Cover

Lauren O’Neill, professional illustrator since 2015, designed the cover of Dearg.

PB

Pages: 346