Guest Profiles

Guest Profile: Conor Kostick

Conor Kostick grew up in Chester, the county town of Cheshire in North West England in the early 1960s, and attended Queen's Park High there. In 1982, at the age of 19, he helped design the world's first live action role-playing game, Treasure Trap, at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire. He moved to Dublin in 1990, and studied for a history degree in Trinity College Dublin from 1997, which eventually resulted in a doctorate. He currently teaches medieval history at Trinity. Dr Kostick is also the editor of Socialist Worker, a reviewer for the Journal of Music in Ireland, and has twice been chairman of the Irish Writers' Union.

His first novel, Epic was published by O'Brien Press in 2004, and was awarded a place on the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Honours list for 2006. Its sequel, Saga, was published in 2006. His next book, provisionally entitled Move (O'Brien Press, 2007), attempts to synthesis quantum mechanical theories of alternate universes with Buddhism.

Conor has also written and edited other books, including Revolution in Ireland (Pluto Press, 1996), The Easter Rising, A Guide to Dublin in 1916 (O'Brien Press, 2000) (with Lorcan Collins), and Irish Writers Against War (O'Brien Press, 2003), (co-edited with Katherine Moore).

More information about Conor Kostick can be found at the Conor Kostick Blogspot.

Guest Profile by Pádraig Ó Méalóid