Girls Who Slay Monsters is a retelling of refreshing tales of Irish/Celtic Goddesses, written by Ellen Ryan and illustrated by Shona Shirley Macdonald, and published by HarperCollins Ireland, October 2022. It won the An Post Specsavers Children's Book Award in the Senior category 2022, the KPMG Children's Book of the Year Award and KPMG Junior Jury 2023.
It has also been nominated for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for illustration
(Kate Greenaway Medal) 2024.
Above: Book cover illustration by Shona Shirley Macdonald, book cover design by Sarah McCoy.
There are 24 short stories in total in the book, with one illustration for each. Here are a few examples:
Above: Bríg, meaning 'Exalted One'. Known as the goddess of spring, healing music, poetry, and blacksmithing.
Above: Boann, goddess of the River Boyne.
Above: The Morrigan, Queen of Phantoms.
