Kieran Larwood author page

Kieran Larwood biography

Kieran Larwood is a children’s author and former primary school teacher. He graduated from Southampton University with a degree in English and completed a foundation year at Falmouth College of Art. His early novel Freaks was connected with the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition, which he won in 2011.

His fantasy work for children includes The World of Podkin One-Ear, a middle-grade fantasy series about rabbit tribes in the Five Realms. Podkin One-Ear was published in 2016, with later books including The Gift of Dark Hollow, The Beasts of Grimheart, Uki and the Outcasts, Podkin and the Singing Spear and The Fate of Podkin One-Ear.

Uki and the Outcasts, illustrated by David Wyatt and published by Faber & Faber in 2019, continues the Five Realms setting after the earlier Podkin trilogy and begins a new quest centred on Uki. The book is identified for readers aged 9 to 11, with a reading age of 8+.

Larwood also writes fantasy for early readers. Dungeon Runners is a series illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton, and Hero Trial began that series in 2024 with the character Kit entering the Dungeon Running League with Sandy and Thorn.

His standalone fantasy The Treekeepers was illustrated by Christopher Wormell and centres on Liska, a shapeshifter in Arborven, a city built around a tree that gives its people special powers. The Fate of Podkin One-Ear was published on 9 September 2025 as the ninth book and finale of the Five Realms series.

Kieran Larwood teaching resources

• Kieran Larwood’s official resources page links to a printable Dungeon Runners Grotville board game, a Five Realms battle-game PDF, World of Podkin map videos, a fantasy-map drawing lesson, colouring sheets, Fox Paw dice rules, an Ogham alphabet activity, printable Podkin activity sheets and writing prompts.
• Faber’s The Legend of Podkin One-Ear activity sheets provide a five-page PDF with a wordsearch, colouring sheet, Five Realms map-colouring activity, Magical Gift design sheet and book-group discussion questions.
• Faber’s Jed Greenleaf page links to downloadable teaching resources for ages 9+, with activities, notes and reading questions for classroom, library or book-group sessions.
• Faber’s World of Podkin One-Ear video page provides Kieran Larwood video introductions to key Five Realms locations, including Grimheart Forest, Munbury, The League of Free Cities, The Skylands, Eisenfell and Spinestone, plus the series reading order.
• Authorfy’s Kieran Larwood masterclass provides videos including a reading from Podkin One-Ear and Uki and the Outcasts resources for ages 9+, with curriculum objectives, comprehension questions, extra activities and creative-writing tasks covering playscripts, instructions, poetry, limericks and reports about imaginary characters.
• Talk for Writing’s Reading into Writing: Short burst writing inspired by a novel is a five-page PDF using The Legend of Podkin One-Ear for Years 3-6 writing work on characterisation, setting, suspense, vocabulary generation, co-crafted description, invented scenes, sequels and prequels.