Gráinne is the bestselling author of A Limerick Fairytale, published by The O’Brien Press in 2023, and Solo, published by Little Island in 2025.
Solo won the 2025 An Post Book Award Teen and YA Book of the Year, and the 2026 KPMG Children’s Books Ireland Junior Juries’ Award. It was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Prize and the Books Are My Bag Young Adult Award and nominated for the 2026 Carnegie Medal for Writing. It was named a Kirkus Best Book of 2025.
She completed an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Limerick in 2018. In 2025, she was the literature applicant awarded the W.J.B. McCauley Award from the Arts Council of Ireland and received an Agility Award in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Originally from County Clare, she is now based in Limerick City with her husband and two cats. Alongside her writing career, she is part of the management team at Kennys Bookshop and Art Gallery in Galway, one of Ireland’s most established and respected bookshops.
Little Island will publish her second novel for young adults, Glass in Spring 2027. She is represented by Sallyanne Sweeney of the International Creative Agency.
“O’Brien accurately captures a time in a person’s life that is so fragile and overwhelming that it’s nearly impossible to get just right.”
“Limerella proves to be a sensible woman and the only romance going on here is Grainne O’Brien’s love for Limerick”
“Simply exquisite; beautifully wrought and rendered, raw, honest; a loving journey back from heartbreak and loss; glimmering with hope; a quiet triumph.”
