Wishing You All A Very Happy Christmas

It's that time of year again so a nice seasonal image for you. 

It's the cover art from my version of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Wishing a very Happy Christmas to all my readers!

"The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey" Twentieth Anniversary Edition

It's hard to believe that The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, written by  Susan Wojciechowski, and illustrated by me, is twenty years old.

It has been hugely successful selling more than a million copies in the US alone and has been translated into many different languages. 

The audiobook read by James Earl Jones was nominated for a grammy and there were stage versions and musicals were also created.

In 2007 a movie version was made starring Tom Berenger, Joely Richardson and n one of her earliest roles, Saoirse Ronan.

The book won numerous awards for Susan and for me, including the Kate Greenaway Medal, the Christopher Award and the Bisto Irish Book of the Year Award.

Below you can see some of the different incarnations of The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey.

 

And here is the latest!

I'm really delighted with the new large format edition which celebrates our twentieth anniversary.

Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men

The exhibition will be officially opened by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. All Welcome.

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer.

If you are in the Dublin area over the Christmas period pop down to Dun Laoghaire's beautiful new LexIcon library to see my exhibition, "Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men"

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. 

The exhibition runs until 30th January.

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer.
- See more at: http://libraries.dlrcoco.ie/events-and-news/library-blog/pilgrims-princesses-and-beardy-old-men-exhibition-featuring-work-pj#sthash.NignjnKO.dpuf

The exhibition will be officially opened by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. All Welcome

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer.
- See more at: http://libraries.dlrcoco.ie/events-and-news/library-blog/pilgrims-princesses-and-beardy-old-men-exhibition-featuring-work-pj#sthash.NignjnKO.dpuf

Exhibition: 'Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men' curated by PJ Lynch

On Friday 20th November 'Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men', an exhibition featuring the work of award-winning Irish artist PJ Lynch, will be launched at 6.30pm in dlr LexIcon, Level 3.
The exhibition will be officially opened by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. All Welcome.

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. P.J. Lynch has worked as a children's book illustrator since leaving Brighton College of Art in England in 1984.
- See more at: http://libraries.dlrcoco.ie/events-and-news/library-blog/pilgrims-princesses-and-beardy-old-men-exhibition-featuring-work-pj#sthash.NignjnKO.dpuf

Exhibition: 'Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men' curated by PJ Lynch

On Friday 20th November 'Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men', an exhibition featuring the work of award-winning Irish artist PJ Lynch, will be launched at 6.30pm in dlr LexIcon, Level 3.
The exhibition will be officially opened by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. All Welcome.

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. P.J. Lynch has worked as a children's book illustrator since leaving Brighton College of Art in England in 1984.
- See more at: http://libraries.dlrcoco.ie/events-and-news/library-blog/pilgrims-princesses-and-beardy-old-men-exhibition-featuring-work-pj#sthash.NignjnKO.dpuf

Exhibition: 'Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men' curated by PJ Lynch

On Friday 20th November 'Pilgrims, Princesses and Beardy Old Men', an exhibition featuring the work of award-winning Irish artist PJ Lynch, will be launched at 6.30pm in dlr LexIcon, Level 3.
The exhibition will be officially opened by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. All Welcome.

dlr LexIcon presents an exhibition of original paintings by award-winning Irish artist, PJ Lynch, from the million-selling The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, and classics such as Dickens’ A Christmas Carol right up to the newly published The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, as well as PJ’s charcoal drawings for Once Upon A Place, a new anthology of stories by top Irish writers compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer. P.J. Lynch has worked as a children's book illustrator since leaving Brighton College of Art in England in 1984.
- See more at: http://libraries.dlrcoco.ie/events-and-news/library-blog/pilgrims-princesses-and-beardy-old-men-exhibition-featuring-work-pj#sthash.NignjnKO.dpuf

Two Books Shortlisted in The Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards

I am thrilled to have two books shortlisted for the The Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards.
The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, is shortlisted in the Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Junior and Eoin Colfer's super compilation, Once Upon A Place, for which I supplied the illustrations, is up for the Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year – Senior 
I would really appreciate you votes in both categories.

Click on the link below to vote.
It only takes a minute and you might win 100EUR of Book Tokens.
http://www.irishbookawards.ie/vote2015http://www.irishbookawards.ie/vote2015

PJ Lynch "Across the Atlantic Tour"

At the beginning of November in 1620, the Mayflower and her passengers were nearing the end of their gruelling voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. It took them 66 days.

This weekend I'll be going the easy way, by plane, and it shouldn't take much more than 7 hours. 

What a difference 395 years makes!

The lovely people at Candlewick Press will be bringing me around New England to talk about The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, or John Howland's Good Fortune. I love the cool name they have for my tour!

I will be visiting a lot of schools but there will be bookstore appearances and public events as well;

On Sunday morning Nov 8th, I will be at Plimoth Plantation, that wonderful living history museum that was such an inspiration to me in the making of my book.

Nov 9th and 10th there will be various events at Water Street Bookstore, Exeter, NH. 

See their website for details.

On Nov 11th at 7pm I will be doing a public event at Porter Square Books, 25 White Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

And just before I return home I will be appearing on the 14th Nov I will be at the Connecticut Children’s Book Fair at Storrs, CT.

Adventures in Charcoal: P.J. Lynch's Once Upon a Place Illustrations

There is a nice piece about my work on Once Upon A Place by Jenny Duffy in The Looking Glass Magazine.

The Very Grand Launch of "Once Upon A Place"

It has been a busy few days leading up to the publication of "Once Upon A Place" compiled by Laureate na nÓg, Eoin Colfer.

The anthology was well and truly launched on Monday night in the very grand setting of Dublin's Iveagh House. 

At one point our Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, kindly joined Eoin and me for a chat about the book.

It was a lovely occasion, and it was so great to meet with so many of the writers who contributed to the anthology. 

Many thanks to everyone at Children's Books Ireland, Gráinne and Siobhán at Little Island, Nessa and all at the office of Laureate na nOg, and of course my buddy Eoin for inviting me to be a part of this amazing project, and for making the night such a success.

Earlier in the day Eoin and I had a lot of fun at Archbishop Marsh's Library with young people from North Dublin Muslim School, and we also put in an appearance on Swipe TV with Clare and Simon.