The Moon Seeker: My First Christmas as an Author
There’s something about this time of year that can make us particularly reflective. Perhaps it’s the candles. After lighting a round of tealights in my space at Richmond Road Studios, barely past lunchtime, I sit into my armchair and take in the sky lying heavily over Dublin 7. Beyond the O’Connell Tower in Glasnevin, planes come and go from the airport, tiny and silent at this distance. My fourth-floor seat offers a mesmerizing view, an ideal vantage point from which to look back on my journey with The Moon Seeker for a few moments while autumn deepens and darkens into winter.
Where did it all begin? I’m enthralled by words and storytelling. I began writing tales as a child and still have my first typewriter, a portable Olivetti gifted to me by my parents when I was about nine. I wrote the opening of a book at some juncture in my late teens. Life took me in other directions for quite a while, and those pages went into hibernation in a box. Some years later, my sister Laura gave me a notebook for Christmas, along with a reminder that I had always loved to write and a nudge to start again when I’d stopped holding space for creativity. In giving me a deadline by which to return the first chapters of a children’s book to her inbox, she set something in motion. This seedling book would go on to win the Staróg Prize and become The Moon Seeker, launched with great joy on a tropical day in the delightful Dubray Books on Grafton Street this summer.
The moon has fascinated me since childhood, and this was no doubt compounded by seeing it in new surroundings when my family emigrated. From silvering the tree outside my bedroom window in Kenmare to turning the Nafud desert an ethereal bluish white, the moon is embedded in my memories. It has often been a touchstone too, bringing a sense of closeness to faraway family and friends, a source of comfort as something shared. It’s wonderful to imagine readers of The Moon Seeker looking to the sky and all seeing the same magical satellite, wherever they happen to be in the world.
The Staróg Prize
Winning the Staróg Prize was a truly seismic surprise and so unexpected that it was a challenge to believe it was real. Even now when I visit bookshops and see the cover’s gorgeous foil accents catching the light, it still amazes me that The Moon Seeker is a tangible thing. One of the very best aspects about the win has been the opportunity to share it with those who mean the most to me, the kind of people who are selflessly happy when someone else’s wish comes true. I write from the heart and could not do so without those who fill mine. It’s been an extraordinary experience to be placed at the centre of and has opened a host of previously unimaginable pathways and opportunities, from chats with brilliant fans and booksellers, to participating in casting for the forthcoming audiobook, and being invited to speak at the Children’s Books Ireland Conference.
Since becoming a published author, I’ve been asked if I knew that I’d get there eventually, and the honest answer is no. Intuition, not faith nor belief, and a persistent little inner voice (maybe Bladderwrack’s) urged me to keep trying. That voice was joined by others, those of friends and family and members of the writing community who generously found time to tell me that there was promise in my writing. I practiced and attended courses, read and went to author events to learn. I spent time trying out different methods to write – the practicalities are something that writers must figure out for themselves as no one approach or schedule will work for everyone. My manuscript grew with me as I grew as a writer. Of course there were rejections along the way. I’ve lost track of how many, and over how many years. I can decisively say that The Moon Seeker became the book it was meant to be, and that this becoming took time. Although it could feel long, it was worth the wait for the stars, and moon, to align. My book found its perfect home with Walker Books, and I am honoured that it is part of their celebrated literary legacy.
The Moon Seeker: a life of its own
Since publication, The Moon Seeker has developed a life of its own, and I never know where Lampwick and Humphrey will turn up next. It’s both strange and marvellous to see this creation that I shaped and nurtured become somewhat independent of me. I’m continuously learning, not least that there will forever be more to learn. I am one of twelve recently published authors participating in the Evolution Programme with the Irish Writers Centre, an opportunity that has further underscored the importance and value of community. There is huge support, inspiration and simple enjoyment to be found in the company of people who know exactly what you’re talking about. In any profession, this is invaluable, and writing can be quite a solitary endeavour. I have an ever-growing awareness of just how much work organizations like the Irish Writers Centre and Children’s Books Ireland do for writers at all stages, and an understanding that Imposter Syndrome may be something I will continue to negotiate. I’m learning to better recognise cues to rest, and more slowly, to trust my ways.
Signing copies of The Moon Seeker is a cheery task and yet another reason, not that one is needed, to look forward to visiting as many fabulously festive bookshops as I can in the coming weeks. I would like to wish everyone a great Christmas season and a 2026 full of potential. Whatever you dream of, it’s in working towards what’s possible, that the possibility becomes a little more real.
(c) Dee Barragry
Instagram @deebarragry
About The Moon Seeker by Dee Barragry
The moon is missing. Can it be found before disaster strikes? A comic fantasy caper with magic aplenty from a sparkling new voice in middle-grade fiction.
Meet Lampwick, the keeper of the lighthouse at the top of the world. When the moon disappears, he and his faithful sheepdog Humphrey must embark on a wild adventure to find it. A fearsome storm is brewing and lives are at stake. Journeying under the sea and across the skies, it will take wits, magic and the help of unexpected friends to return the moon to its home. And all in time for breakfast!
“A sparkling story, bursting with imagination.” Amy Sparkes, author of The House at the Edge of Magic
Order your copy of The Moon Seeker by Dee Barragry online here.
And see here for more Meet the Authors of Children’s and Young Adult Books on Writing.ie.
