Shona Kinsella is a Scottish author of fantasy, horror and non-fiction. Her works include mythic Scottish fantasy novels Rise of a Witch Queen, Daughters of Nicenvin, and The Heart of Winter; dark Scottish fantasy novella Petra MacDonald and the Queen of the Fae; industrial fantasy novella The Flame and the Flood; and non-fiction Outlander and the Real Jacobites: Scotland’s Fight for the Stuarts. Her short fiction can be found in various magazines and anthologies. She served as editor of the British Fantasy Society’s fiction publication, BFS Horizons for four years and as Chair of the British Fantasy Society for five years.
Shona is an avid reader with a love for language and is most often to be found with her nose in a book. She has worked in varied industries, from acting to the civil service, and has a degree in law from the University of Strathclyde. As well as writing, she currently works as a freelance editor with authors and publishers across the globe. She lives on the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond with her husband and children.
Awards
2026 - Daughters of Nicnevin, shortlisted for Best Fantasy Novel, British Fantasy Awards
2024 - Professor Flotsam’s Cabinet of Peculiarities, shortlisted for Best Short Fiction, British Fantasy Awards
2023 - Outlander and the Real Jacobites: Scotland’s Fight for the Stuarts, shortlisted for Best Non-Fiction, British Fantasy Awards
2023 - The Call of El Tunche, shortlisted for Best Short Fiction, British Fantasy Awards
2021 - The Flame and the Flood, shortlisted for Best Novella, British Fantasy Awards
Shona Kinsella is a Scottish author of fantasy, horror and non-fiction. Her works include mythic Scottish fantasy novels Rise of a Witch Queen, Daughters of Nicenvin, and The Heart of Winter; dark Scottish fantasy novella Petra MacDonald and the Queen of the Fae; industrial fantasy novella The...
Readers of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander will love this fantasy tale of folklore and witchcraft from Scotland.
Mairead and Constance, two powerful witches, meet in the early days of the 1745 Jacobite uprising. While the men of the village are away fighting, the villagers face threats from both the Black Watch and raiders, and the women are...
Readers of Sistersong by Lucy Holland, Cast Long Shadows by Cat Hellisen and The Pendragon Cycle by Stephen Lawhead wil love this fantasy tale of folklore and myth from Scotland.
When Brigit is faced with a forced marriage to Aengus, god of Summer, she flees into the highlands in search of the Cailleach, the Queen of Winter. There, she hopes to...
Outlander has brought the story of the 1745 Jacobite uprising to the popular imagination, but who were the Jacobites, really? Explore this pivotal moment in Scottish history, visiting some of the key locations from Jamie and Claire’s travels. Discover what clan life was really like, read about medicine in the 1700s and find out whether the red...
I took part in Mary Robinette Kowall's regular blog feature, My Favourite Bit where authors talk about their favourite bit about writing their recent release
A fiercely independent heroine and a fascinating pantheon of gods [...] Brigit is an admirable protagonist.
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Publishers Weekly
Quite simply the best fantasy novel I have read in a long, long time and, quite honestly, an instant classic in the genre.
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A Reviewer Darkly
Sweeping and evocative, Daughters of Nicnevin is lush, earnest, and painfully heartfelt. Every word etches truth in your soul: when it comes to Scottish history tinged with magic, there is no greater authority. Compelling and bone-shakingly real, Kinsella is a beautiful and singular voice.
This week has been fairly disrupted and has somehow flown past without my notice. I spent Saturday afternoon building a new bed for the 9yo and most of Sunday recovering, as well as visiting my mother-in-law. The kids had an in service day on Monday and were off school, then Tuesday included a funeral for my much-liked neighbour. The service itself was in the morning, but it sat heavy on me for the rest of the day.
Around life, I've been working on Chasing the Dawn, a secondary world fantasy...
Read: 1 poem, 1 short story, 1 essay every week. Write: 1 short story every month. Blog about it. To find out more about the challenge and why I'm doing it, you can find the first post about it here: The Blackthorn Challenge - Week 1 | Shona Kinsella
I am, frankly, appalled that it's Thursday again already. This week has been quite disrupted and has disappeared when I was looking elsewhere.
Read: 1 poem, 1 short story, 1 essay every week. Write: 1 short story every month. Blog about it. To find out more about the challenge and why I'm doing it, you can find the first post about it here: The Blackthorn Challenge - Week 1 | Shona Kinsella
I can't quite believe that we've made it round to Thursday already this week! I had been aiming for Tuesdays for this weekly post, but as you can tell, I have not settled into that rhythm yet. Maybe we'll get there. Or maybe it'll just be whatever...
