Máire Zepf
Máire Zepf is an award-winning author for children and young people. She has written 18 books for children, from picture books to YA verse novels. Her awards include the KPMG/CBI Children’s Book of the Year, five LAI Children’s Book Awards, two international White Ravens, a Réics Carló Award and an IBBY Honour Award for Writing, among many others. Her books have been published in 10 languages worldwide. Her most recent books are The Cloud Kingdom, Dearg and He Loves Me (Not).
Máire also writes for television and is writer and co-creator of Celtic anime series Lí Ban for Paper Owl Films. She was awarded a Zebbie by the Irish Writers’ Guild for Best Animation Script in 2025. Her Rita series of picture books with illustrator Mr. Ando has been adapted for television, with Máire herself as the TV presenter.
Máire has also worked as a Irish language translator for books and television. Her book translations include works by Oliver Jeffers, Charlie Mackesy, Torben Kuhlman and Malachy Doyle. Her television translation credits include The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That, Sol and Ladybird & Bee.
Máire was the first-ever Children’s Writing Fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen’s University Belfast. She lives in Holywood, Co. Down.