Born in Cork, Ireland and currently residing in Northern England, the classical composer and writer Ailís Ní Ríain produces work in a wide range of forms including opera, site-responsive, theatre, digital art, public realm, concert music and music-theatre and aims to challenge, provoke and engage. She won the Tom Erhardt Peggy Ramsay Award with Desolate Heaven.

"She's goin' back there. I can tell.
She's breakin' her promise.
She's breakin' my heart.
She said she never would."
Sive and Orlaith are twelve and thirteen. Yet despite their age, they are each responsible for the care of their respective parents. When the girls meet on a social day for carers, they forge a relationship that takes them on an epic journey through the twisting backroads of small towns, friendship and love.
Desolate Heaven is a story of two young girls burdened with unnatural responsibilities. It is a story of falling in love for the first time and a story about running away. It is a story about growing up too soon and about why love can sometimes be dangerous.