Maura McHugh is a writer living in Galway, Ireland who specialises in writing science fiction, horror and fantasy stories across a wide variety of media, including prose, theatre, radio, film/TV, video games, and comic books, such as writing the iconic Judge Anderson and Judge Dredd for the British comic book weekly, 2000 AD.

She studied multiple times at the University of Galway and graduated with a M.A. in Irish Gothic, a diploma in Film Studies, and a M.A. in Screenwriting. She received the Gordon R. Dickson Scholarship to attend the Clarion West Writers Workshop, in Seattle, USA in 2006, and was a member of the Comics & Illustrators Residency in Angoulême, France, organised by Wom@rts, a European cooperation and non-profit project in 2018. She’s also been a recipient of a grant from the Galway County Council’s Artist Support Scheme.

Her recent collection, The Boughs Withered (When I Told Them My Dreams), was nominated for the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection and its title story was reprinted in Shadow Voices: 300 Years of Irish Genre Fiction, edited by John Connolly.

Her short story ‘Bone Mother’ was adapted into a stop-motion animated short film, and she’s the lead writer on the point-and-click game, Jennifer Wilde (based on the comic book she wrote), from Outsider Games in Belfast. She also writes non-fiction – including a book on David Lynch’s cult film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

Her radio play, The Love of Small Appliances, was broadcast on NearFM in June 2019, and she regularly appears on podcasts, radio and festivals, where she reviews and discusses pop culture. She has interviewed several high profile creators, including author/critic Kim Newman, games writer Rhianna Pratchett, comic book legend Posy Simmonds, and Game of Thrones creator George RR Martin.

Please subscribe to her Substack newsletter, Splinister, if you want regular updates and thoughts about navigating this splintered world.

If you wish to contact her you can drop her a note via her contact form.

A concise biography along with photographs is available on the Press page.