Autor/-in: C. J. Carroll

Cillian is an Irish teacher and writer based in Dublin, Ireland. He spent the first seven years of his teaching career in London, including time in Lambeth, South London. He spent many years working with vulnerable young people and their families on the fringes of society in a pastoral capacity. While teaching in the UK, he was shocked and angered by the daily challenges his students faced and the trauma they experienced on such an alarmingly regular basis. Cillian returned to Dublin in 2021 and in the same year, 30 teenagers were murdered on the streets of London, including a number of ex-pupils from the school he taught in. Spurred on by this and inspired by the incredible young people he worked with in London, he began working on what would become his debut novel. As an English teacher raised in a house of books, he always believed in the power of words to inspire change and hopes that his writing will inspire conversation and open up dialogue with young people about serious youth violence and the effect it continues to have on communities. When he is not writing, he can be found in at home in North Dublin with his beautiful wife and children.