Jo Zebedee (born 1971), is a

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

science fiction and fantasy writer, based in

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 28,141 at the 2021 census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...

near

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. She is considered one of Ireland's top Science fiction and fantasy writers. Her novels are often set in Northern Ireland. Zebedee attended Victoria Primary School and Carrickfergus Grammar School before completing a degree in English Literature. She has been chairperson for Women Aloud NI. She has taught at

Stranmillis College Stranmillis University College is a university college of Queen's University Belfast. The institution is located on the Stranmillis Road in Belfast. It had students in . The school offers the BEd, PGCE and TESOL, as well as other courses. ...

and for the Crescent Arts Centre where she runs creative writing classes. She is also a mentor with the Irish Writers' Centre. Zebedee was a guest of the Belfast Book festival and the

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...

festival. She was a guest for Titancon, the main Northern Ireland convention, and chair for the event in 2020. She's also been a guest of

Octocon Octocon, the National Irish Science Fiction Convention, first held in 1989, is held (almost) annually in October. It has mostly been staged in Dublin, but for four years was in the university town of Maynooth. It was not held in 2003, and in 2 ...

, Ireland's national convention. Zebedee also works for her own management consultancy. Zebedee founded OtherworldsNI, a group for speculative fiction writers. In 2024, she was awarded Arts Council Funding; she plans to write a sequel to ''Irish Carraig''.

Bookshop

Zebedee and her husband run a bookshop in Carrickfergus. In March 2024, the shop won the

British Book Award The British Book Awards or Nibbies are literary awards for the best UK writers and their works, administered by ''The Bookseller''. The awards have had several previous names, owners and sponsors since being launched in 1990, including the Na ...

for Independent Bookshop of the Year for the Island of Ireland.

Bibliography

;;Inheritance Trilogy * Abendau's Heir (2015) * Sunset Over Abendau (2016) * Abendau's Legacy (2016) ;Novels *Inish Carraig (2015) *Waters and the Wild (2017) *The Wildest Hunt (2021) *Into a Blood-Red sky (2022) ;Anthology *Flash! (2018) ;Contributor *''Ghosts in the Glass & Other Stories (Belfast Writers' Group Book #1)'' (2012) with Lynda Collins), Philip Henry and M. Rush *''Creatures & Curiosities (Belfast Writers' Group Book #2)'' (2017) with Lynda Collins, Kerry Buchanan, James Samuel McKay, Holly Ferres, Christopher Cousins, David Doherty-Jebb, Ellie Rose McKee, Kevin Connolly, Valerie Christie, Erin Burnett, M. Rush and Cathy Reilly *''The Last City'' (2018) with Robert M. Campbell, Juliana Spink Mills and Nathan Hystad *''Habworld 2420: TOME'' (2019) with Scott Jackson and Turlough Lavery *''Distaff: A Science Fiction Anthology by female authors'' (2019) with Rosie Oliver, Sam Primeau and Jane O’Reilly *''Femmes-Fae Tales: A Fantasy Anthology by Female Authors'' (2023) with Damaris Browne, E J Tett and Susan BoultonGoodReads website, ''Books by Jo Zebedee''
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References and sources

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zebedee, Jo 1971 births People from Carrickfergus Women writers from Northern Ireland Living people