Christopher Galvin introduces his sweeping adventure, The Thing About Giants
About Author
ReadingZone caught up with debut author Christopher Galvin to find out about his exciting and powerful children's novel, The Thing About Giants.
Christopher Galvin is an Irish author based in Dublin. With a passion for film and TV, he studied scriptwriting, acting and directing, with several of his short films being presented in festivals around the world. Chris currently works in television as a presentation editor.
Earlier drafts of The Thing About Giants were shortlisted for the WriteMentor Children's Novel Award and the Guppy Middle Grade Open Submission Competition.
Find Chris on Instagram @galvin.chris
Interview
June 2026
Author Christopher Galvin introduces giant hunters and forbidding foes in The Thing About Giants
In this story about giants, prejudice and hidden truths, Irish author and screen writer Christopher Galvin explores how two populations living side by side come to view the other as 'the enemy'. In The Thing About Giants, an unlikely friendship between a human girl and a boy giant leads to the hidden truth about giants and how humans exploit is revealed.
Exploring themes of colonisation, the environment and 'othering', this engaging adventure also shows how friendship and courage can help set things right in a world that has gone astray.
ReadingZone caught up with Christopher Galvin to find out what inspired his debut, how he created this world of giants, and what he hopes his readers will take from the story.
Review: "From the first page to the last, The Thing About Giants is a wonderful read." More about The Thing About Giants
Read a chapter from The Thing About Giants
Creative Challenge from Christopher Galvin: Okay, here's my challenge to readers: Imagine you woke up one morning and you had grown so big, you had smashed through the roof of your home!... Congratulations, you've turned into a giant! How do you feel? Are you scared or excited? Now that you're GIGANTIC, what's the first thing you're going to do? Will you use your new giant size and strength for good or for (dundundun) evil? Write a short piece to describe how you feel as a giant, and what you're going to do! Draw a picture of your giant self, if you feel like it 😊
Christopher Galvin's School Visits: I am bringing an exciting event together as we speak, and look forward to working with schools far and wide. For enquiries at this time, please get in touch via Publicity at Walker Books or via Instagram @galvin.chris
Q&A with Christopher Galvin: Exploring folklore, tolerance and world building in The Thing About Giants
"The things I always respond to in books and movies are kindness, empathy, and being brave in a world that does not
encourage people to take a stand. So those themes naturally end up in my stories."
1. Hello Christopher, thank you for joining us at Reading Zone to talk about The Thing About Giants. Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you started to write for children?
Thank you for having me. I'm originally from Co. Offaly in Ireland but have been living in Dublin for the past 25 years. I have a background in acting and writing and directing short films. I work as a presentation editor for Virgin Media Television.
Some of my favourite writers are children's authors! I was greatly inspired by people like Pádraig Kenny, Dave Rudden and Jonathan Stroud. When I got the initial idea for The Thing About Giants, and wrote the piece that is now the prologue, I thought 'this would make a great story for kids!'
2. The Thing About Giants is your debut children's book - what happens in the story, and what was your route into getting it published?
The Thing About Giants is set in a world where humans hunt giants for their bones. They use giant bones to build their homes, buildings, and even the walls that surround their city Fathach.
The story centres around 12-year-old Jacq, who is the daughter of famous giant hunters, and Corman, a giant of the same age, who has recently lost his father to giant hunters. When their worlds collide, they develop an unlikely friendship as they embark on an adventure to get home.
I entered Giants into a writing competition in 2021. The competition organiser reached out to those of us who were shortlisted and offered to send our stories to a few agents although by then, I'd already started submitting to agents myself and Christabel McKinely signed me up - I was delighted, and Giants ended in a five-way auction with some well-known publishers! The Thing About Giants is my debut children's book, and I'm currently working on the sequel.
3. Can you tell us what got you started on this story about giants, humans and injustice?
It all started at a writing workshop in Dublin in 2020 which was run by Dave Rudden (author of Knights of the Borrowed Dark). He began the workshop with a writing exercise, where he put some random words on the board and asked us to write a short paragraph based on them. I wrote about a city that was made out of giant bone. At the time it was a bit more of a humorous piece, but the idea stayed with long after the workshop ended. A few months later, I began writing about Jacq Dyer, the daughter of legendary giant hunters.
I recently came across a very short story I'd written years ago, long before the workshop, which I'd forgotten all about. Its title was 'The Heart of the City' and it described a giant being hit with a spear, falling to the earth and slowly, overtime, turning into a city. So, I guess the idea had always been in the back of my mind and the workshop brought it back to me.
4. The background story to The Thing About Giants is gradually revealed through the novel. Have you always been interested in folklore and stories about giants? How did you approach creating the giants in your story?
I suppose like a lot of kids, when I was growing up there were always tales about giants, the most famous giant being the BFG. I also liked Oscar Wilde's story, The Selfish Giant, which is quite a sad tale. I didn't really know much about giant folklore in Ireland at the time of writing The Thing About Giants.
I wasn't sure what type of giants were originally going to be in the story. I was asked once if these giants were just 'really tall humans' and I realised they weren't, so I started to develop different kinds of giants, with their own unique traits, skills and cultures for example, Under Hill giants, rock giants, mountain giants etc. There was a lovely freedom in creating these giants and I took inspiration from the landscapes in which they dwelt within the story.
5. Can you tell us about the two main characters, Corman and Jacq, and how they developed?
Blue-haired Jacq Dyer was the first character I could vividly see in my mind. Jacq is a kid who is sure of her convictions, and I wanted her to know right from wrong from the start. She is very clear eyed about not wanting to be a giant hunter, and believes it's a cruel way to live. But she also feels powerless, and is being forced into a role she doesn't want.
Jacq never really changed throughout each draft but Corman took a bit longer to develop, as the story wasn't originally a dual narrative. It was mainly Jacq chapters, with a few Corman chapters sprinkled in. But after my agent suggested doing alternate chapters, I began to get to know Corman's character better. Eventually he emerged as someone kind, and gentle. A worrier who is also very brave.
6. The world-building is great. Can you tell us how the setting developed, and what inspired the idea of using giants' bones to make things that humans need?
I like to interrogate things a bit in my stories. When I'm writing, I ask myself a lot, "Does this all makes sense within the world of the story?" So, when the idea came to me about humans using giant bones to make things, my first thought was: what is so special about giant bones? Why not use steel and wood and stone?
The answer ended up being a discovery by the people who founded the city of Fathach: giant bone was highly durable and practically indestructible. This gruesome discovery gave the humans, who wanted to build themselves a fortress of a city, a reason to hunt giants. And then it really evolved from there.
I also had to consider how humans would practically hunt giants. How did they catch them? Was it more medieval style hunting or could they be using more modern weaponry and technology? Each decision informed the next.
7. The Thing About Giants would make a great class read. What themes do you explore through the story? What kinds of discussions do you hope it will raise?
I always like stories about good versus evil. About flawed people fighting against villains who seem to have the upper hand, and I love a good triumphant ending when the bad guys get their much deserved comeuppance. The things I always respond to in books and movies are kindness, empathy, and being brave in a world that does not encourage people to take a stand. So those themes naturally end up in my stories.
I hope that classes can discuss what it means to be a human, our faults but also our strengths, and how we can be much kinder to each other and the planet. There's an important message about tolerance and the value in overcoming prejudice as well.
8. Can you talk about how you develop the 'othering' of the giants in this world? Have you drawn from human history, or are you reflecting more modern divisions in our world?
Ireland's own history probably (though unconsciously) informed the 'othering' of the giants, given our experience of colonisation. Then there's also the history of the Native Americans and what happened to them and recent examples, like Palestine. So unfortunately, there are many instances of real-life othering which likely inspired parts of this story.
I didn't set out with the intention of writing a book that involved the 'othering' of giants, or with the goal of reflecting modern divisions. But I think as a writer today, if you have your eyes, ears and heart open to the world around you, you can't help but be influenced by these things.
9. Do you have more adventures planned for this world - perhaps a film script, given your background? What are you writing currently, and where is your favourite place to write?
I am currently working on the sequel to The Thing About Giants. I've just finished the first draft, which I hope the editors will like.
One of the words that comes up frequently when readers or reviewers mention The Thing About Giants, is 'cinematic'. I would love for it to be made into an animated film (perhaps 2D hand drawn or stop motion). I was blown away by the movie, The Wild Robot, so if the team behind that wanted to bring Giants to life on the big screen, I'd be very happy!
We have an office in our apartment (we being myself and my partner, Lynn) which we use to work from home, and in the evenings, I write there. I used to write a bit in coffee shops, but tend to write more in our home office now. I have a handy electronic cup warmer on my desk, which keeps my copious amounts of tea nice and hot while I'm working!
10. When you're not writing, do you seek out new adventures in the world or are you an armchair adventurer?
Oh, I'm an armchair adventurer. There's nothing I love more than to curl up with a good book and a cup of tea (milk and two sugars, please!) These adventures can be found in middle grade fiction or in grown up scary/horror books. I'm a bit of a scaredy cat but love a good old fashioned monster story. I love reading comics and I also like playing video games on the Switch 2.
The Thing About Giants
