Cinders Zine

Author: Méabh McDonnell

  • Double Exposure – An Interview with Adrianne Finlay

    Double Exposure – An Interview with Adrianne Finlay

    People have dreams of reaching the moon, defeating death, achieving perfection. Those are the dreams that fuelled the community of Adrianne Finlay’s Your One & Only and led to the society of clones that now populates it. We spoke to Adrianne about her writing process, her clone society and her favourite science fiction. Have you…

  • Animating Parvana – Nora Twomey on the making of The Breadwinner

    Animating Parvana – Nora Twomey on the making of The Breadwinner

    Animator and inspirational woman Nora Twomey is one of the most impressive figures in the Irish film industry. After leaving school at just 15, Nora Twomey went on to graduate from the Ballyfermot College of Further Education animation programme and founded the incredible Cartoon Saloon animation studio with Tomm Moore, Paul Young and Ross Murray.The…

  • Recommended reading: Mary HK Choi, Jaime Questell, Catherynne M. Valente

      Emergecy Contact by Mary H.K. Choi  Emergecy Contact by Mary H.K. Choi is an absolute joy. Calling it a love story seems wrong, it’s more like a friendship story of two people who fall in love. And I enjoyed it so very much. Penny is an aspiring writer in her first year of college…

  • More than true – how fairytales defined me

    More than true – how fairytales defined me

    For Cinders Editor Méabh McDonnell, few things have been more influential in her life than her love of fairytales. Here, she looks at why the stories she heard as a child became lodestones for her as and adult, inspiring and empowering her along the way.   A boy and a girl, a glass slipper, and…

  • Recommended reads: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

    Recommended reads: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

    Fans have waited eagerly for Holly Black’s return to the realms of Faerie and the fae and The Cruel Prince doesn’t disappoint. Holly Black rightfully retains her crown as the Faerie queen in this new beginning to a trilogy that presents a faerieland that is just as bloodthirsty and cruel as we remember. Jude is…

  • Finding her voice – an interview with Louise O’Neill

    Finding her voice – an interview with Louise O’Neill

    In anticipation of the release of Louise O’Neill’s feminist retelling of The Little Mermaid, The Surface Breaks, we spoke to Louise about re-inventing fairytales, feminism, and the importance of owning your voice. Why did you choose The Little Mermaid as inspiration for The Surface Breaks?  Louise: Well, it was the summer of 2016 when the…

  • Faerie Queen – An Interview with Holly Black

    Faerie Queen – An Interview with Holly Black

    Over the last ten years, bestselling author Holly Black has rightly earned the title of ‘Faerie Queen’. She weaves a Faerie world that is dangerous and bloodthirsty, far from being a dream come true, these worlds are more like your darkest nightmares brought to life. Méabh McDonnell spoke to Holly about her experience writing her…

  • Dream Child: An interview with Irish Musician Sive

    Dream Child: An interview with Irish Musician Sive

    Sive is an Irish singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist , with a voice that sounds like the Irish sea. Her music is full of depth and haunting lyrics. Cinders was lucky enough to sit down with Sive and chat about her latest album, The Roaring Girl, the Irish music industry and what she hopes to see…

  • Recommended Reads: Frances Hardinge, Seanan Maguire, Joanne M Harris

    A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge Following on from the success of The Lie Tree, A Skinful of Shadows is Frances Hardinge’s next big hit. A Skinful of Shadows is a dark YA historical fantasy set in the early part of the English Civil War. Makepeace is an illegitimate daughter of the aristocratic Fellmotte…

  • Happy International Women’s Day! Cinders Reading List

    Happy International Women’s Day! Cinders Reading List

    Happy international women’s day to all of the friends, mothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, co-workers, inspirations and activists out there! You all inspire us daily and make us take pride in who we are and make us choose who we want to be. This year our thanks go out to all of the brave women…