Dave Rudden

Born in 13 February 1988 in County Cavan, Rudden is from Bawnboy, where he attended St Mogue's College.[4][5] He studied a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in St Patrick's College, Dublin,[6] and graduated from University College Dublin, obtaining Master of Arts degree in creative writing in 2013.[5][7] As a young author he won the Fantasy Book Review short story competition (2011)[8] and one of Literary Death Matches in Dublin (2014).[9]

Rudden debuted as a novelist in 2016 with Knights of the Borrowed Dark,[10] described by the Internet Speculative Fiction Database as juvenile fantasy.[11] The book was reviewed by The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books,[12] School Library Journal,[13] The Irish Times[14] and The Guardian, in which S. F. Said called it "a magical debut".[15] It won the 2016 Irish Book Award for Best Senior Children's Book[16] and the 2016 Great Reads Award for "Most Read" title.[17] It was selected by the city of Dublin for its UNESCO-affiliated 2017 Citywide Reading Campaign for Children.[18] According to figures compiled by Public Lending Remuneration the novel was one of top 20 books borrowed from public libraries in Ireland in 2017.[19]

The Irish National Council for Curriculum and Assessment chose Knights of the Borrowed Dark for the Junior Cycle English Indicative First Year Text List (2021–2023).[20] It is the first part of the series continued with The Forever Court (2017), shortlisted for the 2017 Irish Book Award for Best Senior Children's Book, and The Endless King (2018).[11][21] The trilogy is currently being developed into a film by Arvind Ethan David.[22]

Since 2018, Rudden has been writing science fiction books set in the Doctor Who universe, at the invitation of the franchise's custodians at Puffin Books and the BBC.[2] Combining various elements of the Doctor Who universe, they were initially two collections of short stories.[2][23] Doctor Who: Twelve Angels Weeping, released in October 2018, was the first Doctor Who book to feature the Thirteenth Doctor from the television series.[2][24] It was shortlisted for the 2018 Irish Book Award for Best Teen & Young Adult Book.[25] Rudden's third Doctor Who book, Doctor Who: Wannabes: A 1990s Story, featuring the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble, is a novel in the six-book Decades Collection celebrating the 60th anniversary of the series.[26] It is scheduled to be released in October 2023.[27]

Rudden was Writer-In-Residence at Marino Institute of Education in Dublin in 2018–2019[28] and was appointed Writer-In-Residence at Dublin City University for 2022.[3] During the COVID-19 pandemic, he regularly collaborated with the educational television programme RTÉ's Home School Hub, bringing writing tips and motivation to a national audience.[3][29] He mentors emerging writers through Irish Writers Centre's National Mentoring Programme[30][31] and serves as one of "Ireland Reads" campaign ambassadors.[32][33][34]

• Official website
• Dave Rudden at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Dave Rudden on Tardis at Fandom, an external wiki

• "Dave Rudden, 1988–". In DiMercurio, Catherine, ed. (2017). Contemporary Authors. Vol. 403. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale, a Cengage Company. ISBN 978-1-4103-2279-1.
• "Dave Rudden, 1988–". In Ferguson, Elizabeth, ed. (2019). Something About the Author. Vol. 338. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale, a Cengage Company. ISBN 978-1-4103-8768-4.