CBI Irish Children's Book Awards

My dear friend Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick has just won the CBI Book Award for her novel Hagwitch.
The presentation in Dublin was a lovely event, and it was great to catch up with Marie-Louise and her husband, Michael Emberley, as well as the other shortlistees, Siobhán Parkinson, Paula Leyden, Derek Landy, Sheena Wilkinson, Oliver Jeffers and Eoin Colfer, our new Laureate na nÓg.
We had a lovely time celebrating with a great bunch of publishers, agents and families, as well as all of the lovely folks from CBI.
And I was lucky enough to pick up the CBI Award for Illustration myself for my work on Mysterious Traveller by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham.
Many thanks to Anne from Hodder for our lovely celebratory lunch.
Here are some photos from the day. 

Buzzing with Books

I am delighted to confirm that I will be taking part in the Buzzing with Books Conference at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick on the 22nd and 23rd of May. 

It should be a lot of fun as the other keynote speakers are all good friends of mine. Siobhan Parkinson, our first Laureate na nÓg will be there, as will my birthday buddy Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick and her husband Michael Emberley.

The conference stems from the long partnership between Mary Immaculate College and Frostburg State University, located in western Maryland, USA, as well as from the input of other important conference partners.

I was privileged to speak at Frostburg's own Children's literature Festival a number of years ago and am looking forward to meeting up with some old friends from Maryland who will be visiting the conference in Limerick. And I also look forward to meeting some of you there too I hope.

Enchanting Cologne

I've just returned from a wonderful trip to Cologne in Germany.
The indefatigable Uschi Schröter and her team at SK Stiftung Kultur organised for a group of Irish writers and illustrators to come over for their annual Children's Literature Festival.
This year it was entitled "Enchanted Ireland".





The Cathedral is breathtaking.


A visit to the Käthe Kollwitz Museum was a highlight for me.
I was dissappointed to find the museum closed when I got there, but a sweet lady, who was setting up the next exhibition, very kindly brought me in so that I got the gallery all to myself.
For those of us who admire great draughtsmanship, Käthe Kollwitz is at the top of the list.


Uschi, Ulricka and Oisín with me at the "Enchanted Ireland" Exhibition in the Altes Pfandhaus.


We were spread out over a couple of weeks so that I missed my old pals and Laureates Na nOg Siobhan Parkinson and Niamh Sharkey, but I was delighted to be able to spend some time with Marie-Louise FitzPatrick and her husband, Micheal Emberley, as well as Oisín McGann and Judi Curtin.


The best part though, was meeting and drawing with so many lovely German children, and getting to work and hang out with my wonderfully talented interpreter Caroline.

The King of Ireland's Son in the United Arts Club

Many thanks to Laureate na nÓg, Siobhán Parkinson who gave a wonderful speech at last night's launch of the IGI exhibition at the United Arts Club.
And hats off again to Brian Gallagher for putting the whole show together.

This illustration from The King of Ireland's Son by Brendan Behan is one of the two paintings that I have in the exhibition.
It's nice to have a picture from this book in the show, as Behan spent quite a bit of time in the bar of the United Arts Club himself.

"Horses and Tortoises, Stories from Africa"

I was very honoured to be asked by Katy FitzPatrick of the Hugh Lane Gallery, to launch "Horses and Tortoises, Stories from Africa".
Here is a picture of me with a very talented bunch of authors (including my old friend Siobhan Parkinson on the far left) illustrators and organisers at the launch in the Sean Scully room of the gallery.

"Horses and Tortoises, Stories from Africa" is a collection of 10 short stories for children, written and illustrated by women from the African Women’s Network, with assistance from writer Siobhan Parkinson and artist Felicity Clear. The project is part of the Hugh Lane Gallery’s community programme, and the purpose of the book is to provide a resource through which Irish children can learn about traditional African culture. It will be sent to every primary school in the country, as well as to libraries, but won’t be on general sale – unless a publisher takes it up. Enquiries to Katy Fitzpatrick, education curator, tel: 01-2225553.