Estelle Birdy was born in London and spent most of her childhood in Dundalk, Co Louth. She fell in love with Dublin’s Liberties when she moved there at the age of nineteen. She is a graduate of UCD’s Master’s in Creative Writing and has won or been shortlisted for the Dalkey Creates, Penfro Book Festival, Verve Poetry Festival and IWC Novel Fair competitions. The cornerstone of Birdy’s writing is the epic nature of the stories of the ordinary and often marginalised people around her. Short story and poetry publication credits include the Unbridled poetry anthology, Sonder Midwest, The Squawkback, Heartland Anthology and The Verve Poetry Festival Anthology. She is a preliminary judge for the RTÉ Francis MacManus Short Story Competition and reviews regularly for the Irish Times, Sunday Independent and the Irish Independent. Her debut novel, Ravelling, is published with The Lilliput Press in May 2024.