Angeline King Biography
Novels & Poetry
Angeline King is a novelist from Larne in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. She was Writer in Residence of Ulster University from 2020 to 2023.
Angeline's novels blend coming-of-age drama with genealogical adventure and international perspectives on Northern Ireland. The Irish Times has described her work as 'delightfully funny'.
Ruth McKee wrote of Angeline's first historical novel, Dusty Bluebells, 'Angeline King brings a rich, cultural history to life in a family saga spanning 50 years...Pithy with Ulster Scots, old rhymes, cures and sayings, there is a sense of magic to it all.'
Her poems and short stories have been published in a range of national and regional publications, including the Community Arts Partnership poetry anthologies, Honest Ulsterman, The Irish Times and Bangor Literary Journal.
Early Work
Angeline King's debut novel, Snugville Street (2015), heralded the arrival of a confident and entertaining novelist and immediately attracted the attention of The Irish Times, Libraries NI, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland & the Linen Hall Library.
Tony Macaulay, author of Paperboy, described Angeline's early work as 'uniquely, authentically and enjoyably Belfast.'
Innovation
Having previously had a career in Publishing & Educational Technology, Angeline is a modernising author and an advocate for change. Embracing IT advances, Angeline, alongside several peers within the Northern Irish writing community, has led the way in self-publishing and independent publishing in Ireland: critically-acclaimed novels, such as Dusty Bluebells (2020) and The Secret Diary of Stephanie Agnew (2024) have been rated equal to the work of contemporaries in national reviews.
Ulster Scots Writing
Concurrent with Standard English work, Angeline has made a significant contribution to Irish and Scottish literature through her Ulster Scots writing.
Background
Angeline’s background is in business and languages — she worked in publishing for McGraw-Hill in the Netherlands and as a senior manager for Texthelp Ltd before establishing her writing career in January 2015.
Angeline was born in Larne, County Antrim, in 1975. She comes from a working class, Protestant background. As an adult, she lived in France, the Netherlands and America and also spent a significant portion of her twenties and thirties travelling with work or living abroad. She adopted her maiden name, King, for her writing career in 2015. (There was another writer in the south of Ireland using Kelly at that time). However, she sometimes appears as Angeline Kelly.
Academic Writing
Angeline's academic work includes a chapter on Seamus Heaney HomePlace and Ballymacombs More Woman for the Routledge Companion to Seamus Heaney (forthcoming) and an English Review (A-Level publication) essay on Heaney, Plath and Sheers (forthcoming). She has also written for the journals Fortnight and Familia.
Please feel free to use aspects of this third-person review in your publication. Below is a little more information about my writing activities.
Angeline King is a novelist from Larne in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. She was Writer in Residence of Ulster University from 2020 to 2023.
Angeline's novels blend coming-of-age drama with genealogical adventure and international perspectives on Northern Ireland. The Irish Times has described her work as 'delightfully funny'.
Ruth McKee wrote of Angeline's first historical novel, Dusty Bluebells, 'Angeline King brings a rich, cultural history to life in a family saga spanning 50 years...Pithy with Ulster Scots, old rhymes, cures and sayings, there is a sense of magic to it all.'
Her poems and short stories have been published in a range of national and regional publications, including the Community Arts Partnership poetry anthologies, Honest Ulsterman, The Irish Times and Bangor Literary Journal.
Early Work
Angeline King's debut novel, Snugville Street (2015), heralded the arrival of a confident and entertaining novelist and immediately attracted the attention of The Irish Times, Libraries NI, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland & the Linen Hall Library.
Tony Macaulay, author of Paperboy, described Angeline's early work as 'uniquely, authentically and enjoyably Belfast.'
Innovation
Having previously had a career in Publishing & Educational Technology, Angeline is a modernising author and an advocate for change. Embracing IT advances, Angeline, alongside several peers within the Northern Irish writing community, has led the way in self-publishing and independent publishing in Ireland: critically-acclaimed novels, such as Dusty Bluebells (2020) and The Secret Diary of Stephanie Agnew (2024) have been rated equal to the work of contemporaries in national reviews.
Ulster Scots Writing
Concurrent with Standard English work, Angeline has made a significant contribution to Irish and Scottish literature through her Ulster Scots writing.
Background
Angeline’s background is in business and languages — she worked in publishing for McGraw-Hill in the Netherlands and as a senior manager for Texthelp Ltd before establishing her writing career in January 2015.
Angeline was born in Larne, County Antrim, in 1975. She comes from a working class, Protestant background. As an adult, she lived in France, the Netherlands and America and also spent a significant portion of her twenties and thirties travelling with work or living abroad. She adopted her maiden name, King, for her writing career in 2015. (There was another writer in the south of Ireland using Kelly at that time). However, she sometimes appears as Angeline Kelly.
Academic Writing
Angeline's academic work includes a chapter on Seamus Heaney HomePlace and Ballymacombs More Woman for the Routledge Companion to Seamus Heaney (forthcoming) and an English Review (A-Level publication) essay on Heaney, Plath and Sheers (forthcoming). She has also written for the journals Fortnight and Familia.
Please feel free to use aspects of this third-person review in your publication. Below is a little more information about my writing activities.
Seamus Heaney HomePlace (2024 & 2025)
I recently had the pleasure of completing two temporary contracts at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy. As well as organising hundreds of educational events and facilitating workshops on Heaney's poetry, I had the chance to write a chapter on Seamus Heaney HomePlace for the Routledge Companion to Seamus Heaney. Among other highlights, I also developed an educational documentary on the the theme of bog bodies alongside film-maker Tristan Crowe.
Arts Council of Northern Ireland SIAP (2025)
In December 2024, I received the Arts Council of Northern Ireland SIAP award for the research and development of a new novel, which I worked on throughout 2025.
The novel, now completed in draft form, is set in the Netherlands and alternates between the 2000s and 1680s, touching on the intricate links between the Dutch, Scots, Ulster Scots, Huguenots and Jewish inhabitants of enlightened 1600s Leiden.
The novel, now completed in draft form, is set in the Netherlands and alternates between the 2000s and 1680s, touching on the intricate links between the Dutch, Scots, Ulster Scots, Huguenots and Jewish inhabitants of enlightened 1600s Leiden.
Poetry Jukebox - Scotch Fragments (2025)
In 2025, I was commissioned to write a poem in response to Robert Burns and his Ulster contemporaries for a unique audio poetry project based on the Linen Hall Library's Gibson Collection. The project was organised by poet Maria McManus, who is known across Ireland for her Poetry Jukebox work. I was among the four poets who joined Maria for an afternoon of readings in the Linen Hall Library in October.
We then travelled to the Edinburgh poetry library in December. Pàdraig MacAoidh /Peter Mackay (current Scottish Makar) Kathleen Jamie (former Scottish Makar), Anne McMaster, Angela Graham, Stephen Dornan, Morna Sullivan, Lolly Spence, Charles Lang and Alan Millar all contributed to the Poetry Jukebox recordings.
We then travelled to the Edinburgh poetry library in December. Pàdraig MacAoidh /Peter Mackay (current Scottish Makar) Kathleen Jamie (former Scottish Makar), Anne McMaster, Angela Graham, Stephen Dornan, Morna Sullivan, Lolly Spence, Charles Lang and Alan Millar all contributed to the Poetry Jukebox recordings.
University Writer in Residence
The Writer in Residency at Ulster University from September 2020 to September 2023 was one of the most enjoyable adventures of my career. I had the chance to do lots of outreach as well as teach at the university, all while being a PhD researcher. (I could have spent 60 hours a week researching the Kilwaughter and Lochnaw Agnews — in fact, I often did!) I'll be forever grateful to the university, particularly as news came through in the middle of the 2020 lockdown, when freelance life suddenly didn't seem like a sustainable idea!
PhD: Creative Writing
(September 2020 to September 2023)
Composition of a contemporary diary novel, The Secret Diary of Stephanie Agnew (originally Dear William)
Research areas:
Dialect in diary novels,
The Ulster Scots family history of the Agnew/Ó Gnímh family,
Female novelists writing in Scots and Ulster Scots.
Publications / Talks on PhD
Publication of article 'The Agnews of Kilwaughter: hereditary sheriffs, hereditary bards' in Familia: Ulster Genealogical Review, No. 39, 2023.
Publication of the novel The Secret Diary of Stephanie Agnew, Leschenault Press, 1 July 2024.
Keynote presentation, 'Female novelists, Ulster Scots and Ulster English', Ulster Vernacularities: Interdisciplinary Perspectives conference, Ulster University, 6 June 2024.
Presentation, 'Agnew Hereditary Sheriffs and Hereditary Bards' at the Preserving Local History in the Causeway Coast and Glens and Beyond Conference, Ulster University, 8 May 2024.
Presentation, 'Creative Writing for the Earth' at the Writing for the Earth Symposium, Ulster University, 26 May 2022.
Facilitation of workshop 'Scullion Speak: Writing in dialect', Seamus Heaney HomePlace 2022.
Panel on language & workshops on Ulster Scots writing, Frances Browne Festival, 2021.
Publications:
2026: Betrothed to Forbidden Ground: Seamus Heaney Homeplace, The Routledge Companion to Seamus Heaney, Editors, Eugene O’Brien & Ian Hickey, Routledge. [Forthcoming]
2026: Poets go a blackberrying, English Review [Forthcoming]
2025: Fortnight, Issue 497, Review of Short Story anthology 'Take Six', Six Irish Women Writers, edited by Tanya Farrelly.
2023: The Agnews of Kilwaughter, Familia: Ulster Genealogical Review, No. 39
Essays in Newspapers:
'A novel exploration of the shared Gaelic heritage of Ireland and Scotland', The Irish Times
'The British Army woman who was one of Ireland's greatest Irish dancers' (Irish Dancing: The Festival Story), The Irish Times
The Protestant in Irish Fiction, The Irish Times
The Protestant in Irish Fiction II, The Irish Times
Ulster Scots in Irish Fiction, The Irish Times
An author in Wonderland, The Irish Times
'When Orangemen and Soldiers Took to Irish Dancing, Belfast Telegraph
2026: Betrothed to Forbidden Ground: Seamus Heaney Homeplace, The Routledge Companion to Seamus Heaney, Editors, Eugene O’Brien & Ian Hickey, Routledge. [Forthcoming]
2026: Poets go a blackberrying, English Review [Forthcoming]
2025: Fortnight, Issue 497, Review of Short Story anthology 'Take Six', Six Irish Women Writers, edited by Tanya Farrelly.
2023: The Agnews of Kilwaughter, Familia: Ulster Genealogical Review, No. 39
Essays in Newspapers:
'A novel exploration of the shared Gaelic heritage of Ireland and Scotland', The Irish Times
'The British Army woman who was one of Ireland's greatest Irish dancers' (Irish Dancing: The Festival Story), The Irish Times
The Protestant in Irish Fiction, The Irish Times
The Protestant in Irish Fiction II, The Irish Times
Ulster Scots in Irish Fiction, The Irish Times
An author in Wonderland, The Irish Times
'When Orangemen and Soldiers Took to Irish Dancing, Belfast Telegraph
Education
Queen's University (1995-1999): BA Honours, French and History
Ulster University (1999 -2000): MA, Applied Languages & Business
Ulster University (2020-2023): PhD, English
Ulster University (1999 -2000): MA, Applied Languages & Business
Ulster University (2020-2023): PhD, English
Outreach
Irish dancing museum exhibition with Mid and East Antrim Council, 2017.
Seminars on the history of Irish dancing.
Facilitation of Creative Writing courses.
Talks on Ulster Scots writing.
Presentations with schools, NI libraries, NI regional councils, Irish Writer's Centre, Seamus Heaney Homeplace, Ulster University, Queen's University, National Museums NI, Scottish Libraries, Frances Browne Literary Festival, John O'Connor Festival, Irish Network in D.C, Irish American Heritage Museum.
Seminars on the history of Irish dancing.
Facilitation of Creative Writing courses.
Talks on Ulster Scots writing.
Presentations with schools, NI libraries, NI regional councils, Irish Writer's Centre, Seamus Heaney Homeplace, Ulster University, Queen's University, National Museums NI, Scottish Libraries, Frances Browne Literary Festival, John O'Connor Festival, Irish Network in D.C, Irish American Heritage Museum.
Awards & Recognition
Libraries NI, Emerging Author, 2017
Arts Council of Northern Ireland awards 2018, 2020, 2025
Writer in Residency, Ulster University, 2020-2023
Chairperson of Women Aloud NI, 2020
Bangor Poetry Competition - 5th place, 2020
Frances Browne Poetry Competition - Winner, 2021
Commissioned to write a poem alongside three schools for the ‘Looking Back, to Look Forward' centenary poetry project by Mid and East Antrim Council (2021-2022)
Frances Browne Poetry Competition - Spirit of Festival award, 2023
Facilitation of Winning School (Dunclug College) for the Seamus Heaney Poetry Competition, CAP Poetry in Motion facilitation, 2023
Frances Browne Festival (Donegal) Committee Member, from 2024
Commission for Linenhall Library Scotch Fragments Poetry Jukebox Project, 2025
Arts Council of Northern Ireland awards 2018, 2020, 2025
Writer in Residency, Ulster University, 2020-2023
Chairperson of Women Aloud NI, 2020
Bangor Poetry Competition - 5th place, 2020
Frances Browne Poetry Competition - Winner, 2021
Commissioned to write a poem alongside three schools for the ‘Looking Back, to Look Forward' centenary poetry project by Mid and East Antrim Council (2021-2022)
Frances Browne Poetry Competition - Spirit of Festival award, 2023
Facilitation of Winning School (Dunclug College) for the Seamus Heaney Poetry Competition, CAP Poetry in Motion facilitation, 2023
Frances Browne Festival (Donegal) Committee Member, from 2024
Commission for Linenhall Library Scotch Fragments Poetry Jukebox Project, 2025
*Pen name & maiden name Angeline King. Angeline Kelly for official purposes.