Laura McKenna

Laura McKenna is a writer of fiction and poetry. Her debut novel, Words to Shape My Name, (New Island, 2021), was shortlisted for the Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year Award and was a winner at the 2020 IWC Novel Fair. Laura has been awarded several Arts Council literature bursaries, two Tyrone Guthrie Bursaries from Cork County Council and a John Montague Mentorship from Munster Literature Centre. Twice nominated for a Hennessy Literary Award, Laura was chosen for the 2021 Poetry Ireland Introductions Series. Laura has a PhD in creative writing from UCC where she teaches in Medical Humanities. Along with Madeleine D’Arcy, she is the editor of Cork Stories, an anthology published by Doire Press in 2024.