Orla McAlinden

"Thought-provoking, visceral, authentic..." Martina Devlin

"Superb...confident and stylish..." Sue Leonard, Books Ireland

"A remarkably mature depth of voice and narrative range .." Anthony J Quinn

"Feminist with a capital F..." Shane (S.A.) Dunphy

Award-winning debut novel The Flight of the Wren, published September 2018 by Red Stag/Mentor Books, as featured in the Sunday Times, BBC Radio, and RTE Radio One Ryan Tubridy show.

Winner of the Eludia Award for first fiction 2014

Winner of the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book awards SHORT STORY OF THE YEAR 2016

Winner of the Cecil Day Lewis award 2016

Winner of the Greenbean Novel Fair at the Irish Writers Centre 2016

Orla McAlinden is an emerging voice in Irish writing. Her first book, The Accidental Wife, won the 2014 Eludia Prize from Hidden River Arts in Philadelphia, PA, and is published on their Sowilo Press imprint. The fourth story from the collection, The Visit, won the Irish Short Story of the Year award, 2016.

Orla's third book Full of Grace was published in May 2019 by Red Stag Books, revisiting some of the most loved characters from The Accidental Wife and introducing a host of new ones.

Orla was sent to school at three years old, to prevent her from falling out of any more windows, and she has had a book in her hand ever since. She reads widely, with a strong emphasis on Irish authors, and grudges the time spent eating and sleeping, which interferes with her reading.

Orla's new novel, The Flight of the Wren, won the Cecil Day Lewis Emerging Writer Award from the Arts Service of Kildare County, Ireland, where she currently lives with her husband, four young children, five horses and dog.