Shirley-Anne McMillan

Shirley-Anne McMillan’s books deal with the pressures and problems of finding your way as a young person in our society. Her most recent book, Grapefruit Moon, tells the story of Drew.  a boy from a council estate, and Charlotte, a girl from the posh part of town. Looking at the interplay of gender and toxic masculinity with poetry, it is inspired by the life and work of Federico Garcia Lorca and drag art in Belfast.

Shirley-Anne McMillan has worked as a teacher and as a youth worker for LGBTQ young people, and she is the current Children’s Writing Fellow for Northern Ireland. Join her for a conversation with Wendy Erskine about her work and about the books that were formative in her reading and writing life.

This event is held in partnership with the Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast.