International Reading Association Award Marita Conlon-McKenna (born 5 November 1956) is an Irish author of children's books and adult fiction.
[1][2] Praised for its child-accessible yet honest depiction of the Great Famine, Under the Hawthorn Tree has been translated into over a dozen languages and is taught in classrooms worldwide.
She credits Dr Pat Donlon, director of the Children's Literature course, with encouraging and supporting her to publish her work.
[1] Under the Hawthorn Tree was a worldwide success and sold over 250,000 copies in the Irish market alone, earning its status as a classic children's novel.
Published 30 years after Under the Hawthorn Tree, The Hungry Road was inspired partly by the diaries of Dr Daniel Donovan, a dispensary doctor in the Skibbereen Workhouse during the 1840s.