PROFILE

Journalist Lyra Mckee tweeted about the “absolute madness” in Londonderry in the hours before she was shot dead on Thursday evening.

Ms Mckee, 29, rose to prominence in 2014 after a blog post called “Letter to my 14-year-old self” in which she spoke about the struggle of growing up gay in Belfast.

In the five years since, her letter was turned into a short film, she became a published author with Angels With Blue Faces, and had recently signed a two-book deal with Faber & Faber, as well as her work appearing in domestic and international publications.

Named as one of the “30 under 30 in media” by Forbes magazine in 2016, Ms Mckee was cited for her passion of “dig[ging] into topics that others don’t care about”.