Grace Tierney

Grace Tierney writes in rural Ireland. Her award winning Wordfoolery blog about unusual English words has been running for ten years exploring everything from “pooka” to “friggatriskaidekaphobia”. She has published four books about word history - "Words Christmas Gave Us" (festive words from advent to yule and grinch to scurryfunge), "Words the Vikings Gave Us" (Norse and Viking words from akimbo to berserk and yule), “Words The Sea Gave Us” (English nautical words, phrases, and sailors’ yarns) and “How To Get Your Name In The Dictionary” (soldiers, inventors, stars, and villains who gave their names to English). She also broadcasts a monthly slot about the history of words on LMFM radio.

Grace has serialised three novels on the online reading platform Channillo, is a columnist in her local paper and regularly publishes articles and short fiction. Grace mentored writers in via National Novel Writing Month for 16 years. When not writing you’ll find her reading, crafting, or hiking up a hill.