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