Fiona Buckley is 13 years old and lives near Macroom, Co. Cork. When she was published, she was 12 years old and the only sixth class pupil in her school, Ballyvongane NS, Coachford, Co. Cork, where creative writing is very much encouraged. As a consequence she has been writing short stories since she was seven, but wrote her first book in the summer of 2013. Better than Goldoriginally started out as homework, but as the summer progressed Fiona started to enjoy writing it more and more.
This book, which is set during famine time in Ireland, is such an inspiration it was picked up by her publisher, Emu Ink, after being sent out by her teacher. The profits from Better than Gold are being donated to Down Syndrome Ireland, in honour of Fiona’s brother, John, who has received enormous support from the charity.