Marita Conlon-McKenna (born 5 November 1956) is an Irish author of children's books and adult fiction. She is best known for her Famine-era historical children's book "Under the Hawthorn Tree", the first book of the "Children of the Famine" trilogy, which was published in 1990 and achieved immediate success. Praised for its child-accessible yet honest depiction of the Great Famine, "Under the Hawthorn Tree" has been translated into over a dozen languages and is taught in classrooms worldwide. Conlon-McKenna went on to be a prolific writer and has published over 20 books for both young readers and adults. Her debut adult novel "Magdalen" was published in 1999.