Oisín McGann facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Oisín McGann
Guest at Octocon, Ireland
Born	Oisín McGann 1973 Ireland
Occupation	Writer, illustrator
Nationality	Irish

Oisín McGann (born in 1973) is an Irish writer and illustrator. He writes many different types of stories for kids and teenagers. His main focus is on science fiction and fantasy books. Oisín has also drawn pictures for many of his own short story books. His most recent book, as of September 2022, is about climate change.

Who is Oisín McGann?

Oisín McGann was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1973. He spent most of his childhood living in Dublin and Drogheda, County Louth. From a young age, he loved writing and drawing.

He studied art at Ballyfermot Senior College in Dublin from 1990 to 1991. After that, he joined a course in animation at Dún Laoghaire School of Art and Design in 1991.

In 1992, he left college to work as a freelance illustrator. This means he worked for himself, drawing pictures for different clients. Later, in 1997, he became a Background Layout Designer for Fred Wolf films.

In 1998, Oisín moved to London. There, he worked as an art director and copywriter for an advertising company. After four and a half years, he came back to Ireland. He first worked as a freelance illustrator again. Now, he is a full-time author and illustrator. He is married and has three children.

Oisín McGann's Books

Oisín McGann started his writing career in 2003. His first two books were part of the Mad Grandad series. These books were for younger readers and were released by O'Brien Press in Dublin.

In 2004, he published his first young adult novel, The Gods and their Machines. More Mad Grandad books followed soon after. He also wrote two more young adult novels: The Harvest Tide Project and Under Fragile Stone. These two books are known together as the Archisan Tales.

The Harvest Tide Project was actually the first novel Oisín wrote. However, his publishers decided to release The Gods and their Machines first.

In 2006, a new illustrated series called the Forbidden Files was released. These books were for kids who were confident readers. In the same year, Random House bought the rights to publish his next novel. This book was a futuristic thriller called Small-Minded Giants.

In May 2007, Small-Minded Giants was recommended in the UK. It was on a special list of Top 160 Books For Boys. This list was put together by the Education Secretary and the School Library Association. In November 2010, a part of Small-Minded Giants was used in an English exam. This was for the GCSE paper in Northern Ireland.

Since 2006, Oisín has continued to publish books with Random House. In July 2007, he released Ancient Appetites. This was a steampunk story set in Ireland in the 1800s. It was the first book in his Wildenstern Saga series.

Strangled Silence, a mystery story set in London, came out in September 2008. The second Wildenstern Saga book, The Wisdom of Dead Men, was published in 2009. The third Wildenstern book, Merciless Reason, was released in March 2012.

In 2012, Oisín was asked to write a book for young children. It was called "The Wolfling's Bite". This book was part of "The Nightmare Club" series. He wrote it under the pen name "Annie Graves".

His novel, Rat-Runners, came out in March 2013. It is a crime thriller set in a future world with lots of surveillance. In 2014, Penguin published two more novels by Oisín. These were "War's Harvest" and "Cruel Salvation". He was asked to write them to go along with the online game "Kings of the Realm".

Awards and Special Recognition

Oisín McGann's books have won many awards and been recognized for their quality.

• 2005: The Gods and Their Machines won a Bisto Children's Book of the Year Merit Award.
• 2005: Both The Gods and Their Machines and The Harvest Tide Project were chosen for the Reading Association of Ireland Award shortlist. This was the first time an author had two books on the same shortlist.
• 2006: The Gods And Their Machines, published in the United States, was shortlisted for Locus Magazine's Best First Novel Award.
• 2006: Under Fragile Stone was shortlisted for the Bisto Children's Book of the Year Award.
• 2008: Ancient Appetites was shortlisted for the Waterstone's Children's Book of the Year Award.
• 2008: Small-Minded Giants was shortlisted for the Coventry Inspiration Book Award.
• 2009: Strangled Silence was shortlisted for Falkirk Council's 2010 RED Book Award.
• 2011: The French version of Ancient Appetites, called Voraces, was shortlisted for le Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire. This was in the Young Adult (Foreign) Novel category.
• 2011: Voraces was also shortlisted for the Prix Imaginales 2011 in the Jeunesse category.
• 2012: Voraces was shortlisted for les Mordus du Polar. This is a French award for mystery stories.
• 2012: "The Wildenstern Saga" series was long-listed for the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire. It was one of ten titles in the Young Adult (Foreign) Novel category.
• 2012: "The Wolfling’s Bite" was chosen for the UNESCO Dublin City of Literature Special Reading Programme.
• 2014: "Rat Runners" was shortlisted for Falkirk Council's 2015 RED Book Award.
• 2014: Oisín McGann received the European Science Fiction Society Award. This was for Best Creator of Children's Science Fiction and Fantasy Books. This award recognizes a writer's recent work, not just one specific book.
• 2014: The book "Stories of WW1", which included Oisín's story "The Murder Machine", was chosen by Booktrust in the UK. It was part of their Bookbuzz programme to encourage reading in schools.
• 2015: The book "Beyond the Stars", which included Oisín's story "Across the Cold Ground" (and his illustrations), was shortlisted for the CBI Book of the Year Award.
• 2015: The book "Once Upon a Place", featuring Oisín's story "Stream Time", was shortlisted for the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards. This was in the Senior Children's Book of the Year category.
• 2015: The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) chose "Once Upon a Place" as one of their best books of the year.