Could you tell us a little about your debut YA novel, Then We’ll Be Happy?

Sure! The novel follows seventeen-year-old Sam, who has cerebral palsy. When he is excluded from yet another school tour, he has to spend the day with Patrick, somebody who previously bullied him but is now himself also in a wheelchair. This drives Sam to create a campaign for an accessible bus but in doing so Sam gets more than he bargained for.

At its heart, it’s a story about finding your team in many senses of the word. But to find out what I mean by that, you’ll have to read the book.

Have you always wanted to write, and did you always know you wanted to write for a young audience?

I would say I have always been creative, but writing has been a fairly new development for me. I was the only wheelchair user in my school growing up, and I used to always talk to my friends about the lack of disability representation, so when I got out of the school system and had a bit more free time on my hands, I decided to write.

Truthfully, I’m more of a theatre person than a book person, but I didn’t know anybody in the theatre industry, and although getting a novel onto the shelf of bookstores takes a village, the initial writing phase is just you, the author, so it seemed like a good place to start.

You have a very active role in increasing positive representation when it comes to living with disability and sharing what that’s like, from public speaking to your own writing. What does it mean for you to have your book out there for young people to read, particularly those who also have disabilities?

That’s very kind of you to say. I am a person who is very grateful to have been given the opportunities that I have. When I was growing up, the representation of disability in media were often depressed, medical stereotypes, so I wanted to write something more grounded. The point of this novel is not to increase positive representation but to increase nuanced disability representation.

Just like any character, disabled characters can have a full range of emotions: happy, sad, or sometimes not knowing what to feel. The fact that the people of Chicken House saw what I was trying to do with this book and helped me turn it into reality means the world. And while it is impossible to know what readers may take from it, I know that teenage Alan would’ve loved this type of story when he was in school!

What is your favourite thing about your protagonist, Sam, and why? Did you have a favourite scene you wrote for this novel?

I think my favourite thing about Sam is his imperfections. He doesn’t have everything figured out, but he keeps going. For this reason, the pub scene was very interesting to write, but that’s all I can say without spoilers!

What do you hope readers – of any age – will take from this novel?

I don’t think it’s for me to say what readers get out of stories, but I hope readers can use this book as a springboard for starting conversation. I know the plot focuses a lot around finding community, but I think that is something that story in general is also good for. Conversation and maybe a few laughs along the way.

What are your top three book recommendations for young people right now, and what did you enjoy reading as a child?

I think Elle McNicoll is just fantastic in both her YA and adult novels, the latter of which is one of my current reads.

Nathanael Lessore is genuinely laugh out loud funny, anytime I listen to one of his stories on audiobook. I know it’s going to be a good time.

There are also lots of great Irish writers: Allison Weatherby, Stephen Daly, Jenny Ireland, Sue Divin, and Dave Rudden, to name but a few – all phenomenal writers and lovely people as well.

My favourite author, when I was a teenager, was John Green; he has a new book coming out later this year, which is an adult book, and I’m very excited to read it. I know he is quite well-known. But if you haven’t read John Green’s YA books, I would highly recommend them. 

Do you have any writing advice for our readers, particularly young writers who are just starting out on their journey?

Writing doesn’t actually have to mean physically writing.

If that is a barrier for you, you can create stories in another way that is more accessible to your needs. Technically, when I write, I dictate; most computers or writing software now have some way of speaking to the computer. You can even do it on a mobile device.

Now I will say that you will need to go back and correct it manually, as in my experience it only picks up part of what you say. Dictation does eliminate the fear of the blank page, and in a way, for every draft you’re writing, you’re actually writing two because when you go back and correct it, you might start to add things, but the important thing is that you’ve got started!

When my novel was picked up to be published my grammar wasn’t the best, but over time I learned publishers, for the most part, aren’t looking for perfection, they’re looking for a good story, so don’t let your tools get in the way!

Can you tell us about anything else you’re working on right now?

I’ve got nothing contracted as of me writing this, but I do have lots of ideas, so hopefully I’ll get to publish another book at some point. My ideas range from contemporary to fantastical, so I’m not sure which direction I’m going next, but I’m excited to find out!

Then We’ll Be Happy by Alan Carrigan is out 30 July 2026, published by Chicken House.

Alan Carrigan

Alan Carrigan is an Irish novelist and screenwriter with quadriplegic cerebral palsy who has worked as a script editor for Ink and Light Films and D11 Stories, and was one of the writers selected for Screen Stories 2025 with Tilting the Lens and Screen Ireland. 

His own work focuses on character-driven, witty, and nuanced stories, most of which feature the types of authentically disabled characters he needed but rarely saw growing up.

While his words can be found on the page, his eyes are often glued to a stage, as he is a big fan of musical theatre.

Could you introduce us to your book, Kamizen: Fortress of Lost Memories?

It’s a middle-grade fantasy about a boy called Jonty who meets a mystical bonobo in Yorkshire and is offered the chance to enter through The Gate of Memory so that he can recover lost memories belonging to his beloved grandfather and help him finish his memoir about life as a primatologist.

What can you share with us about the inspiration behind the book?

Inspiration, I find, is a mystical thing in itself – if I could pinpoint the exact source, I would drop a GPS pin and camp there for the rest of my writing life. Thinking back now, I would say there were several whispers in my ear. I wanted to write a story about the relationship between a child and grandparent. One of my all-time favourite stories is Tove Jansson’s The Summer Book. I then wondered if I could combine that with my interest in primatology and jazz, as one does on a quiet afternoon. And because of the experience I had with my father’s dementia for over a decade, I had been reading widely about the science of memory. Everything slowly fell into place.

… memories are what make us human and it’s through stories that we remember those who no longer remember us.

The story combines real-life sensitive topics with a highly fantastical world. How hard was it to balance the two? And what do you hope readers take from this story?

The book is aimed at children eight and over. My children witnessed my father’s cognitive and physical decline from a very young age. They had never known him other than “Grandad is poorly”. Many families I imagined were in the same boat. So I wanted to write a story for my children and fellow passengers about preserving the memory of a person before the anarchy of dementia changed them – a time before grandad became poorly. I don’t think I necessarily planned it this way at the outset, but the message I wanted to convey gently is that memories are what make us human and it’s through stories that we remember those who no longer remember us.

I didn’t find it too difficult carrying out the balancing exercise between telling the fantastical story and handling the topic of dementia. The reality of end stage dementia is that it’s relentlessly grim, but you can’t write a children’s story (or an adult one) with relentless grimness. Nobody would read that and nobody should. You sow enough hints about the reality and let your readers water it with their imagination, because the primary duty you have to the reader is that your book is there to entertain them.

There are so many wonderful characters in the book, including a talking bonobo and lots of brilliant yōkai characters. Were all these taken from Japanese mythology and folklore, or did you create anyone specially for this book. And, also, did you have a favourite to write?

A few characters were borrowed from folklore and myth. The kappa is one of the best known yōkai, alongside the tengu. The earth spider is also from a legendary tale. The talking bonobo, however, is entirely my invention, although there is a yōkai known as a satori, which has monkey-like features.

Lafcadio, the Irish kappa, wrote himself. Once I figured out his voice, he was telling me how he would say things and crossing out what I’d written. And to give PaperBound an exclusive, did you know the paintbrush yōkai, Kaita Zanko has several layers of hidden meaning? Kaita is the past tense of “to write” in Japanese. Kaita Zanko is an anagram of Takai Kozan, patron of the Edo period artist Hokusai and himself a painter of nightmarish yōkai.

Zanko is a one-armed yōkai in tribute to Shigeru Mizuki, one of Japan’s most treasured manga artists and folklorists who repopularised yōkai among postwar audiences.

This is your debut book, but it also came out first with Audible. Could you share a little about your experience with the creation of the audio book, and your journey to publication?

Audible acquired the book first and Scholastic bought the print rights shortly after. I had simultaneous edits and a smooth journey through production on both counts. The team Audible assembled was out of this world and you can tell from the quality of the production. There are so many highlights from the time, but two that stand out are: (1) when I was sent the audition clip for Tomoya Errington, who went on to be cast in the lead role. He stars in every single scene and is brilliant in every way; (2) when I first heard Timothy Spall playing Gramps I was walking along Tottenham Court Road and burst into tears as he sounded so much like my father (it happened opposite Waterstones, where I ended up holding my book launch!).

What has been the best publishing experience so far? And has there been a worst?

Working with Polly Lyall Grant and Karen Ball, my editors at Scholastic, and the wider team there has been a joy and painless experience. I wish I could find something to quibble about to give a juicy answer, but I’ll have to disappoint you! Best publishing experience? I received my first copy of Kamizen on my mother’s birthday when she happened to be staying with us, so I let her open the parcel without telling her what was inside. That was a lovely shared moment, entirely coincidental. 

Can you tell us about anything else that you are currently working on?

I am reverting to writing longhand for a new project that may result in a highly illustrated middle-grade novel about a boy, a forest spirit and an unforgettable summer in the mountains of Japan.

What piece of advice would you give an aspiring writer thinking about writing for young people?

Know your audience. If you have children, watch what they’re watching – see what makes them laugh and holds their attention: you can translate some of this to print fiction. You should already know what they’re reading and be familiar with the latest titles. Most importantly, in the words of Inspector Harold Francis Callahan, “you’ve got to ask yourself one question.” Why would a [insert age] child want to read the book I’m thinking of writing?

Kamizen: Fortress of Lost Memories by William Yamaguchi Dobson is out now, and published by Scholastic.

William Yamaguchi Dobson

William Yamaguchi Dobson worked as a barrister before turning his hand to writing fiction. His childhood in Japan and love of manga influence his stories. When not looking after his children, he can be found reading or writing and likes to start the day with a cup of matcha and a smile.