Sue Divin
About Author
Runaway Road, Sue Devin's new YA novel, follows siblings Ezra and Evie as flee across the Irish border, to escape justice. ReadingZone caught up with the author to find out more.
Sue Divin from Armagh in the North of Ireland has a Masters in Peace and Conflict Studies and a career in Community Relations. Her short stories, flash fiction and poetry, have been published in a range of literary journals.
Guard Your Heart, her debut novel, won the Great Reads Award (Ireland) and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Her second novel Truth Be Told won the McCrea Literary award.
Interview
May 2026
Sue Divin explores the care system, resilience and first love in her YA novel Runaway Road
In Runaway Road (First Ink), Ezra and his little sister Evie are on the run, making their way across country from Northern Ireland to the south, escaping an unpaid debt and a burglary that went wrong.
Travelling with them, the reader learns about siblings' bond, their resilience and their hope for a better future. It's a page-turning novel whose themes of choice, found family and first love will resonate with many YA readers.
ReadingZone caught up with award-winning author Sue Divin to find out more about Runaway Road.
More about Runaway Road Read a chapter from Runaway Road
Q&A with Sue Divin: Runaway Road
"I write to make people think and to develop empathy - that sense of walking in other people's shoes. A little more kindness
and understanding in society would go a long way. Stories can generate that."
1. Can you tell us a little about yourself, how you became a writer and the kinds of books you enjoy writing? What brought you into writing for YA readers?
I became a published writer through a competition route. Having grown up in the conflict in Northern Ireland, I wasn't aware of any routes into creative writing or being an author when I was at school, but later on, as a single parent, I got bored with TV and being stuck in the house in the evenings, got an idea and started to write. Winning the Irish Novel Fair got me a publishing deal.
Originally, I worked in teaching and currently work in peacebuilding community work in Northern Ireland, alongside writing. So far, I enjoy writing realist YA fiction - stories situated in the part of the world where I live. As a child, I rarely came across novels set in places and contexts which I recognised. I like putting 'here' on the literary map for today's readers so that they are represented and so that readers from wider afield can identify beyond the stereotypes of here and find universal connections.
To be honest, I'd never heard of 'YA' when I began writing, I simply loved writing teens. Young adult characters are fantastic to write - their courage, energy and capacity to grow inspires me!
2. What is your new book, Runaway Road, about?
The novel is an 'on-the-run road trip' set in NW Ireland in 2023. Siblings Ezra (16) and Evie (nine) are raised in care and used to feeling invisible, but after a crime goes badly wrong, they have to become invisible for real.
It's a page turner with powerful themes, settings, emotions and wry humour. Some of it is about youth justice and the chances we give people to change.
3. What was the first spark of inspiration for the book, and how did it develop from that initial idea?
I'm inspired by three things - place, voice and themes. Runaway Road had a working title of I Once Was Lost, a line from the hymn Amazing Grace. John Newton's near-death Christian conversion experience happened aboard a ship in an Atlantic storm off the coast of Inishowen, Donegal near where I live. The ship limped ashore at Buncrana. Transformed, Newtown (over time) assisted MP Wilberforce to abolish British slavery.
Threads of that history weave through Runaway Road but the redemptive metaphor, the concept of giving people today a second chance, was the inspiration which formed the core of the novel.
4. Why did you want to give a voice to what children and young people who grow up in care, and particularly the kinds of trauma they might have experienced in their past?
I love stories of triumph over circumstance - maybe it's part of the Irish psyche. Challenging myself to research and write beyond what I knew was also part of the formation of this novel. Choosing a more social and community theme where readers don't have to relate to or understand Northern Ireland was deliberate. At the time of writing there were 4000+ children in care in NI, and many more across Great Britain and Ireland. Why not include them in fiction?
I write to make people think and to develop empathy - that sense of walking in other people's shoes. A little more kindness and understanding in society would go a long way. Stories can generate that.
5. Siblings Ezra and Evie are at the heart of the story - can you tell us how their characters developed? How well do you get to know your characters before you start to write?
The bond between older brother and younger sister is gold dust in this story. Ezra tells the main story and holds most of the narrative. Evie, a highly observational, creative and neurodiverse nine-year-old, writes short, funny, interludes on her iPad, often telling the backstory. At first, these may seem random, but collectively they build to a purpose.
Character voice is vital to my writing - once I've found it, my story flows. Sometimes it takes experimentation but with Evie, everywhere I went with my notebook, she wouldn't shut up. Perhaps it's because there is neurodiversity in my family so I'm 'writing what I know'.
I enjoy the contrast between Ezra and Evie's chapters. Ezra carries the drama, the emotions, the themes. Evie brings lightness and dazzle.
6. Why did you decide to take these runaways on 'road trip' (on foot) across Ireland? What does it allow you to explore in the characters and the setting? Do you have a favourite moment in their journey?
My previous novels centred in Derry, Londonderry and Armagh. My third novel needed to stretch to new locations. For me, setting is like an additional character. Living close to Donegal, one of the most scenic counties in Ireland, it made sense to take the story there.
They're on foot because 'on-the-run' they can't use public transport or be caught on CCTV or dashcams along main roads. Following old train tracks, country lanes and beaches they witness the beauty of Ireland's 'Wild Atlantic Way' and 'Amazing Grace Coastline'.
Favourite moments? Haircuts at Inch Wildfowl Reserve, the beach swimming and ultimately, for location, it's impossible to top Fort Dunree. Alannah describes it as 'Three-Musketeers' prison dropped into Norway'. Ezra describes the area as 'Sea, cliffs, sky, all mega-sized. Vivid colours and giant in-your-face landscapes.' Visiting there always lifts my spirits.
7. Can you tell us about the story's setting, in Northern Ireland and Ireland, and why you wanted to feature both sides of the border?
The border was a theme I wanted to feature in the novel, along with diversity and inclusion. Since Brexit, the border has been a hot topic in Northern Ireland. Working in peacebuilding, I don't take peace for granted here.
Borders are also a more universal topic of conversation so readers may relate from different angles. Fiction can be a safe place from which to generate dialogue and awareness, understanding and discussion of issues can help in real life. I also live five minutes from the border, can see 'another country' from the back window of my house, and often cross for a walk or a cuppa with friends. Why not write about where I live? Many writers do.
8. You've done a lot of work in peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland - is this exploration of drug and gang violence, and how young people are caught up in it, based on what you see in your work? How do you feel about the path to peace and is there anything, in hindsight, you'd have changed if you could?
Lots of big questions there! Drug and gang violence is something many urban areas anywhere can relate to. The different edge in Northern Ireland is that some of it is connected to Loyalist (Pro-British) or Republican (Pro-Irish) paramilitary groups. I don't work directly in this, but Ezra's backstory of a connection to drugs debt with paramilitaries, though fictionalised, is based on research of real events around political rioting connected to the issue of borders and Brexit.
The ‘Peace Deal' was in 1998 but I tend to talk about two types of peace. 'Negative peace', the absence of violence, mainly happened from 1998. 'Positive peace', the presence of things like justice, respect, diversity, reconciliation, forgiveness - that's the thread readers will find through my three novels.
Would I change anything? Yes. Economic investment. Investing in jobs, education, health and housing is an investment in hope and a future. More of that, please. For the rest, buy me a coffee and we'll chat.
9. You cover many themes through the story, including grief, trauma and PTSD, first love and the care system, but what would you like your readers to take from Ezra, Evie and Alannah's journey?
When we talk about the big themes in my writing, they tend to sound crazy heavy. What is also there is courage, resilience, imagination . . . Ezra, Evie and Alannah's journey is one which may stay with readers a while after they turn the last page. Expect a roller-coaster of emotion but lean in - these are not characters who give up without a fight.
What readers will take from it may depend on who they are and their own life experiences. Some readers may feel seen and heard. Others may be encountering something new. For all readers, I hope the prevailing sense is of triumph - life has many good things despite the difficulties along the way. Friendship, family and belonging are some of the key ingredients. Value these and live with kindness.
10. What kinds of activities do you enjoy in your free time - have you done any of the walks your characters experience, or do you prefer adventures from your armchair?
Music, swimming, gardening, culture, travel, and yes, I love a good hike! Reality check - those super humans who do 10-hour hikes scaling peaks? I'm much tamer, but yes, I walked pretty much the entire route my characters hiked in Runaway Road. (It's fairly flat . . .) I probably stopped at a few more coffee carts and ate less Freddo Frogs and Beef Monster Munch than my characters, but we travelled that route together.
School Visits: Online visits are the easiest to organise since I live in the NW of Ireland but I'm happy to be contacted about any type of visit - contact information and details of what I can offer are on my website www.suedivin.com
I'm part of the Writers in Schools scheme on the island of Ireland (schools, including NI, can get costs subsidised). Usually, a one-hour visit either with a class or a year group involves a 40-minute presentation including lively readings, creative writing tips and a 5-minute video (featuring locations in Runaway Road). I thrive on Q&A from pupils, so usually enjoy 15-20 minutes of interaction at that point too. Book signings are optional if wished.
None of this is set in stone. I've seven years' experience in secondary teaching and am happy to adjust to needs/interests and to answer questions on any of my novels, themes, being an author, creative writing and/or Northern Ireland. Give me a shout and I'll do my best!
Sue Divin introduces her earlier now, Truth Be Told (Macmillan)
Author of the Carnegie-nominated Guard Your Heart, Sue Divin's new book, Truth be Told, returns to contemporary Ireland with a story about families and a divided country. When Tara and Faith meet across the divide, and realise they look identical to each other, they start to uncover secrets buried in a tragic past. Author Sue Divin tells us more about Truth be Told, and what brought her into writing for young people.
Read a chapter from Truth be Told Read a chapter from Guard Your Heart
Runaway Road
Truth be Told
Guard your Heart
